Hey - let's go to Vegas for the weekend. All we have to do is get a second mortgage...

Las Vegas was once a playground for everyday travelers. Now, many visitors are finding the price of admission harder to justify as the city leans harder into luxury hotels, celebrity-chef restaurants, stadium weekends and costly events, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

For budget-minded travelers, the new Vegas can feel like a city of upcharges. A $26 minibar bottle of water at Aria, for example, sparked social media outrage in 2025. It became shorthand for the frustration that visitors are being “nickel and dimed” at every turn, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the blog “View from the Wing.”

In 2025, Las Vegas visitation fell to 38.5 million, down 7.5% from 2024, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority . In 2024, visitors generated a record $55.1 billion in direct spending, but not many of them left town feeling they got their money's worth. The sticker shock is especially visible at the dinner table. 

Joël Robuchon inside MGM Grand lists a degustation menu starting at $525, as detailed in Stubborn Seed’s Las Vegas Price Breakdown.

 

Restaurant Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace features a 9-to-10-course Krug Chef’s Table experience for $1,000 per person, according to OpenTable. On the Strip, gaming accounted for merely 26.1% of total casino revenue in 2025, while hotel rooms made up 33.5%, data from the Nevada Gaming Control Board indicated.

If ya need me, I'll be at  Denny's, with my chair pulled up to the buffet line. 

Who can afford that shit?

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One minute here there, the next - POOF...

Let's face it - he wasn't gonna beat Susan Collins - the RINO incumbant anyway, so the Dems threw him under the bus. Platner has quit his Senate race after a bombshell rape allegation triggered a Democratic revolt and threw the party’s hopes of flipping a key seat into chaos. The newcomer bowed out just weeks after winning the Democratic nomination in Maine, where party chiefs are now scrambling to find a replacement.

The Demorat honchos up there will find someone more leftist - more liberal than this gu could have ever been, so it'll be interesting to see which sheep they throw to the wolves.

His exit comes after Jenny Racicot, a woman he dated during an on-off relationship that ended five years ago, accused him of raping her in 2021. Platner, 41, has denied the allegation, calling any claim of non-consensual behavior “categorically false.”

 

This is what character assasination is all about. Nothing ever has to be proven. The mere accusation is enough to derail him. The only guy I know of who ever got away with it was Mr. Bill. Crazy, right?

Another relic bites the dust...

Say goodbye to your landline phone. In 2024, AT&T announced its plan to eliminate its traditional landline phone service across nearly all U.S. states, including Florida, in its service area by 2029. Customers will be transitioned to newer services such as cellular networks or fiber options. AT&T officials said that customers will not lose voice or 911 service. 

An AT&T spokesperson said in a July 7 email that the change was necessary because aging copper-based technology was unreliable and expensive to repair, and not many people were still using it. "In Florida, we have seen a 91% decline of customers using copper-based landlines in the past 10 years," the spokesperson said.

In most states, AT&T can simply move forward. But in California - of course - the telecommunications company has been battling state law and the California Public Utilities Commission. On June 29, the Federal Communications Commission approved a petition by AT&T to end the service, although there are still procedural hurdles and a federal court case in the way.

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When we were growing up in the 50's, this was perfectly acceptable. If the cops came by, they'd call the Sanitation Department and have them come out and put a sprinkler cap on the hydrant. It had the same general effect, but it wasn't the same as having your buddy control the flow with a piece of wood or the lid from a milk box. Check out the kid with both arms up in the middle of the pic. Looks like somebody else's head was photoshopped on to his body. Yikes.

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Kids from St. Thomas come over to help St. Johnians celebrate Carnival ending over the 4th of July weekend. Carnival is an annual event, featuring steel drum bands, moko jumbies, majorettes and twirlers, and some truly manificent costuming - especially for the ladies. Loud, colorful, hectic and just an absolute fun fest for everyone gets to enjoy it. I really do miss a lot about what living on the rock meant.

The St. John Celebration - we always just called it Carnival - is a month-long summer festival in the U.S. Virgin Islands that runs from mid-June to July 4th. It honors Caribbean heritage, emancipation from slavery, and U.S. Independence Day. The festivities feature traditional food, steel pan music, pageants, and high-energy street parties.

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Californians will have to pay for two new taxes next year after Gov. Gavin Newsom approved the state budget in June in what the California Taxpayers Association described as “the largest tax increase in state history.”

Newsom and Democratic lawmakers agreed on proposals that would raise health insurance premiums and slap a new charge on software downloads in an effort to make up federal revenue loss from an antagonistic Trump administration, Democrats said.

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A friendly reminder again for all of our friends in NYC...

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A slithering, slimey, snakes-on-the-run nightmare has been unleashed on a Chinese village after nearly 900 snakes escaped a flooded breeding farm. Don't even bother to ask why they'd have a breeding farm - snakes are farmed in China primarily to supply lucrative domestic and global markets for traditional medicine, high-end culinary meat, luxury leather skin, and pharmaceutical venom extraction.

According to local officials, the snakes became loose on July 6 after the Liulan Reservoir collapsed amid extreme weather linked to Typhoon Maysak. Extreme weather brought by a devastating typhoon caused the farm to collapse – giving the runaway reptiles an opportunity for escape in Dengwei village.

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Handmade gifts are extra special when

they're for someone extra special.

Click on the picture for more information on this bracelet

 It's one-of-a-kind and comes with free shipping.

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/BjacksonJewelry

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I see this broad popping up - and out in some cases - all over social media, and especially the Brit tabloids. Aside from big hair and big tits, exactly what is the appeal here? There are certainly better weomen golfers out there, right? So I ask - what's her appeal? It can't be just the juggs, although nowadays I guess every attention whore in the world is flashing skin and playing the 'dirty girl' for likes and hits and cash, so I guess that all just makes all us guys out to be nothing more than sophomoric morons with mamary attractions. How low we go, and I say we only collectively, because - honestly - this kinds bullshit doesn't do a single thing for me beyond making comments like I have here. Juss' sayin'...

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Would that I could have - but didn't...

 

There is definitely an Italianate feel to Malta’s capital city. Its narrow cobblestoned alleyways certainly remind me of many found in San Remo. This scene shows St. Ursula Street in Valletta, Malta, a historically significant street known for its steep staircase.

The area is part of the capital city's UNESCO World Heritage Site, characterized by dense, historic limestone buildings and narrow alleyways. Numerous boutique hotels and shops, such as the "Grand Harbour Hotel," are located along this and adjacent streets.

Malta was number two on my personal list of where to move to when I was leaving New Jersey. Somehow, The Villages won out. Probably for the best. Those hills woulda killed me eventually...

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Handmade gifts are extra special when

they're for someone extra special.

Click on the picture for more information on this bracelet

 It's one-of-a-kind and comes with free shipping.

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/BjacksonJewelry

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When you buy anything on Amazon going from a link

on this blog, I get credit for whatever you buy. 

Granted, it's only pennies, but every penny helps, right?

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The Kid knows perspective's a bitch (maybe)...

 

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Handmade gifts are extra special when

they're for someone extra special.

Click on the picture for more information on this bracelet

 It's one-of-a-kind and comes with free shipping.

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/BjacksonJewelry

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If you get the chance, pick Francine...

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MARKED DOWN TO $ 38.00 TONIGHT ONLY.

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Fat Freddys Cat hits Kitty Cruncies lottery...

 

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I never even knew what human trafficing was until Biden told me...

This specific 37% metric traces back to historical United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) global reporting assessments. The agency has previously highlighted that the proportion of women convicted or prosecuted for human trafficking offenses is exceptionally high compared to standard global criminal benchmarks, where females typically represent only 10% to 15% of total convictions for major crimes.

Human trafficking offenses involve the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel individuals into labor or commercial sex acts. Governed federally by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), the crime is distinct from human smuggling and is prosecuted under statutes like 18 U.S.C. § 1591 for sex trafficking and 18 U.S.C. § 1589 for forced labor.

Federal offenses generally require an action (e.g., recruiting, transporting) combined with a means (force, fraud, coercion) to achieve exploitation.

For sex trafficking victims under the age of 18, prosecutors do not need to prove force, fraud, or coercion. Traffickers frequently face additional concurrent charges, including money laundering, firearm possession, and federal racketeering.

In locations like Florida, trafficking individuals is a severe felony defined under state statutes such as Florida Statute 787.06.

Hats off for this decked-up HillBetty...

Took ya long enough, Donny...

He's finally taken his hands out of his pockets. Enough's enough as they say. President Trump threatened to “take over Kharg Island” Wednesday and carry out additional strikes on Iran as tensions reignite — saying there was “not a thing” Tehran could do to stop the US.

Trump made the threat to seize the export hub for about 90% of Iran’s oil while outlining a range of possible actions as he foreshadowed a second night of US attacks.

 

“In one day, we could knock down every single bridge in Iran. There’s not a thing they can do about it,” Trump said during a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the sidelines of the NATO summit. “If we have to, we’ll take them out. They have desalination plants. We’ll take them out if we have to.”

Just a note from me. I hate all wars. I'm a veteran. I hate seeing innocent people die because their so-called leaders are assholes. All that said, he was foolish to think that he could ever negotiate anything with these maniacs. Like he said - 'enough is enough'. Sad but true.

I can see my own back!

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Handmade gifts are extra special when

they're for someone extra special.

Click on the picture for more information on this bracelet

 It's one-of-a-kind and comes with free shipping.

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/BjacksonJewelry

 ...  

When you buy anything on Amazon going from a link

on this blog, I get credit for whatever you buy. 

Granted, it's only pennies, but every penny helps, right?

...   

You wore WHAT to the airport? C'mon, babe...

We all been there, seen that. People trying to get on a flight wearing pajamas and a bathrobe - or much worse. Bare feet? No thank you. Bikini? Really? Dressed like a hooker? Babe - seriously. 

Like this broad with her side tits screaming 'HERE WE ARE!!!' Granted, they are pretty pretty to look at, but if I can't play with 'em, what's the point in showing them to me - and everybody else on the friggin' plane? 

If we lived in a world where you could publicly congratulate her on her stupendous boob job, well, things might be different. But we don't live in that world. Say 'nice rack, honey' to her and she'd scream 'pervert' and 'rape' or some shit till she started crying. 

Seriously babe, if it's only 'look don't touch', put a friggin' sweater on, will ya? 

There's kids on this fuckin' plane ferfucksakes...
 

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