What was that Famous Story about a Man making a Fake Coin out of Ice in order to Buy Heat for his room? I believe it was set in England.

A Man Lived in a room that had a Coin Operated Heater. He Would Put a Shilling in the Machine, turn the handle and the heater would run for a few Hours... So... Since he Often Did Not Have Money... He made a coin shaped mold on the windowsill outdoors and filled it with water... When it Froze, he put the coin shaped ice into the machine and "bought" heat for a few hours... Then the Fake Coin melted removing all evidence of the Crime... 

If you remember the name of this Famous Old Time Tale please Leave a Comment or email me at gregvan [at] yahoo [dot] com.

https://www.tribstar.com/features/historical-treasure-coin-operated-gas-meter-an-early-form-of-fuel-conservation/article_b578dd13-c11b-5541-bcd1-abac2a8b536c.html

When walking down “Main Street” at the new Vigo County History Center, you will pass the Wabash Theater, Meis Department Store and a general store. Next you will notice a set of wrought iron stairs from Terre Haute Gas Company. The beauty you see sitting on the stairs is a gas meter, made by American Meter Company and “established” in 1834 in New York City. The company made its presence in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. This particular model seems to have been manufactured in Philly.

What makes this piece very interesting to us, is that it was coin-operated. Much like a jukebox or slot machine, you paid as you played.

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/179766/coin-operated-gas-meters

SG Said: 

I stayed for a week in a furnished London flat in 1995. It had a wall mounted combi gas boiler for DHW and central heat.

One morning we had no heat or hot water and could not light the boiler. My traveling companion was steaming and wanted to call the rental agent. I said “Wait a sec, let me check something”.

The gas meter, behind an access panel in the kitchen, had a mag stripe card slot. The LCD display read “£0.0”.

There was a new card sitting on top of the meter. I stuck it in, heard a click and the display read “£50.0”. Presto! Back in business.

Saved by the habit of reading old English novels. That’s where I found out about coin operated gas meters. Since the temperature there almost never drops below freezing, they don’t have to worry about frozen pipes.

SOG Said:

I actually used to have one on display in my office at the gas company. One of the interesting things about those meters they typically worked with nickels. So for those clever folks who wanted to steal gas they made them selves little trays the shape of nickels filled them with water and froze them. They then used the frozen nickel shaped fake coins to get the meters to work. The old timers would know the customers were stealing gas because instead of finding coins in the meter they found "WATER".

Republicans Are Dying Faster Than Democrats. WHY? Old Age, Bad Choices, Poverty and Guns. Here's a Simple Solution!

#RunawayFromTheGOP

Become a Democrat, Green, 

Libertarian or an Independent!

One Realistic Solution To Dying Young is to STOP Making Bad Choices... The Republican "Drug of Choice" is Alcohol... and Drinking Causes Brain Damage, Auto Accidents, Fistfights and Cirrhosis of the Liver... Simply Quit Drinking and That FOG in Your Brain Lifts... Ever Notice RUDE JULIE ANNA? He's a Classic Example of "WET BRAIN" a Lifetime of Drinking Alcohol has Left Him Unable to Think Clearly!

Republicans LOVE GUNS! Another Bad Choice! Did You Know that The Number One Cause of Death by Gunshot is SUICIDE? and the Number One Cause of Death for Children is GUNS... and Most Children that Die of Gunshots DIE AT HOME... The Republican Love of Guns is Killing Off Their Children!

 

The Republican Party is

Doomed... DOOMED!

Arrest Trump Again & Again & Again & Again - meme that fits the FaceBorg "My Story"

Click Here to Buy This Hat!

*

Click Here for All my Latest Gifts

Zazzle Gregvan

and now for something Completely Different... 

Calvin and Hobbes:

"Calvin? Calvin, sweetheart?"

In the darkness Calvin heard the sound of Susie, his wife of fifty-three years. Calvin struggled to open his eyes. God, he was so tired and it took so much strength. Slowly, light replaced the darkness, and soon vision followed. At the foot of his bed stood his wife. Calvin wet his dry lips and spoke hoarsely, "Did... did you.... find him?"

"Yes dear," Susie said smiling sadly, "He was in the attic."

Susie reached into her big purse and brought out a soft, old, orange tiger doll. Calvin could not help but laugh. It had been so long. Too long.

"I washed him for you," Susie said, her voice cracking a little as she laid the stuffed tiger next to her husband.

"Thank you, Susie." Calvin said.

A few moments passed as Calvin just laid on his hospital bed, his head turned to the side, staring at the old toy with nostalgia.

"Dear," Calvin said finally. "Would you mind leaving me alone with Hobbes for a while? I would like to catch up with him."

"All right," Susie said. "I'll get something to eat in the cafeteria. I'll be back soon."

Susie kissed her huband on the forehead and turned to leave. With sudden but gentle strength Calvin stopped her. Lovingly he pulled his wife in and gave her a passionate kiss on the lips. "I love you," he said.

"And I love you," said Susie.

Susie turned and left. Calvin saw tears streaming from her face as she went out the door.

Calvin then turned to face his oldest and dearest friend. "Hello Hobbes. It's been a long time hasn't it old pal?"

Hobbes was no longer a stuffed doll but the big furry old tiger Calvin had always remembered. "It sure has, Calvin." said Hobbes.

"You... haven't changed a bit." Calvin smiled.

"You've changed a lot." Hobbes said sadly.

Calvin laughed, "Really? I haven't noticed at all."

There was a long pause. The sound of a clock ticking away the seconds rang throughout the sterile hospital room.

"So... you married Susie Derkins." Hobbes said, finally smiling. "I knew you always like her."

"Shut up!" Calvin said, his smile bigger than ever.

"Tell me everything I missed. I'd love to hear what you've been up to!" Hobbes said, excited.

And so Calvin told him everything. He told him about how he and Susie fell in love in high school and had married after graduating from college, about his three kids and four grandkids, how he turned Spaceman Spiff into one of the most popular sci-fi novels of the decade, and so on. After he told Hobbes all this there was another pregnant pause.

"You know... I visited you in the attic a bunch of times." Calvin said.

"I know."

"But I couldn't see you. All I saw was a stuffed animal." Calvin voice was breaking and tears of regret started welling up in his eyes.

"You grew up old buddy." said Hobbes.

Calvin broke down and sobbed, hugging his best friend. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry I broke my promise! I promised I wouldn't grow up and that we'd be together forever!!"

Hobbes stroke the Calvin's hair, or what little was left of it. "But you didn't."

"What do you mean?"

"We were always together... in our dreams."

"We were?"

"We were."

"Hobbes?"

"Yeah, old buddy?"

"I'm so glad I got to see you like this... one last time..."

"Me too, Calvin. Me too."

"Sweetheart?" Susie voice came from outside the door.

"Yes dear?" Calvin replied.

"Can I come in?" Susie asked.

"Just a minute."

Calvin turned to face Hobbes one last time. "Goodbye Hobbes. Thanks... for everything..."

"No, thank you Calvin." Hobbes said.

Calvin turned back to the door and said, "You can come in now."

Susie came in and said, "Look who's come to visit you."

Calvin's children and grandchildren followed Susie into Calvin's room. The youngest grandchild ran past the rest of them and hugged Calvin in a hard, excited hug. "Grandpa!!" screamed the child in delight.

"Francis!" cried Calvin's daughter, "Be gentle with your grandfather."

Calvin's daughter turned to her dad. "I'm sorry, Daddy. Francis never seems to behave these days. He just runs around making a mess and coming up with strange stories."

Calvin laughed and said, "Well now! That sound just like me when I was his age."

Calvin and his family chatted some more until a nurse said, "Sorry, but visiting hours are almost up."

Calvin's beloved family said good bye and promised to visit tommorrow. As they turned to leave Calvin said, "Francis. Come here for a second."

Francis came over to his grandfather's side, "What is it Gramps?"

Calvin reached over to the stuffed tiger on his bedside and and held him out shakily to his grandson, who looked exactly as he did so many years ago. "This is Hobbes. He was my best friend when I was your age. I want you to have him."

"He's just a stuffed tiger." Francis said, eyebrows raised.

Calvin laughed, "Well, let me tell you a secret."

Francis leaned closer to Clavin. Calvin whispered, "If you catch him in a tiger trap using a tuna sandwich as bait he will turn into a real tiger."

Francis gasped in delighted awe. Calvin continued, "Not only that he will be your best friend forever."

"Wow! Thanks grandpa!" Francis said, hugging his grandpa tightly again.

"Francis! We need to go now!" Calvin's daughter called.

"Okay!" Francis shouted back.

"Take good care of him." Calvin said.

"I will." Francis said before running off after the rest of the family.

Calvin laid on his back and stared at the ceiling. The time to go was close. He could feel it in his soul. Calvin tried to remember a quote he read in a book once. It said something about death being the next great adventure or something like that. He eyelids grew heavy and his breathing slowed. As he went deeper into his final sleep he heard Hobbes, as if he was right next to him at his bedside. "I'll take care of him, Calvin..."

Calvin took his first step toward one more adventure and breathed his last with a grin on his face.

Credits: samuraitiger19 - from reddit

Note from the author - on reddit: "Wow... just wow... I am speechless here guys. I did not expect such a reaction to my story or prompt. I am not worthy of your praise or your gold. I am truly humbled. Thanks so much! I'm truly glad so my story touched so many people".

Exorcism at Mar-A-Loser: Thousands of Patriots Join Us To Dance Naked, Beat Drums, Burn Sage and Drive "He Who Shall Not Be Named" OUT! #LockHimUP

Link to a MAP of Where Mar-A-Loser IS!
https://goo.gl/maps/MFvSLXxzNcjRTjoW8

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Here is a Blog Post I Wrote Long Ago

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Unemployed? Hungry? Mad as Hell? 

EXORCISM At The White House! Join US! 

#TrumpMustResign #LockHimUP 

Of Course,
NOW Trump Does Not Live in The White House...
He Was BANISHED for Endless Failure and Lying... 

q

My Autobiography: Growing Up in Los Gatos, California in the 1960s by Gregory Vanderlaan and Living in San Jose, Washington DC, Chico, Eureka and Orangevale, CA. https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/03/growing-up-in-los-gatos-california-in.html

and Here is Yet Another Example of tRUMP's FAILED ECONOMY...

Headline: The 20 biggest companies that have filed for bankruptcy because of Trump's Failed Economy. 
Ranked by assets alone the magnitude of bankruptcies this year has already surpassed that of 2008. And that’s not including what could happen when the government’s Paycheck Protection Program, which aims to keep small businesses up and running with loans that can be converted to grants if certain terms are met, runs out.

The largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy so far has been that of car-rental company Hertz. Unable to hold on after the travel industry effectively hit the brakes, the company is now selling off much of its fleet in a bid to meet demands from creditors. Others in sectors ranging from oil and gas, to retail, to aviation have similarly suffered in navigating the pandemic.

https://fortune.com/2020/06/29/companies-filing-bankruptcy-2020-during-coronavirus-pandemic-covid-19-economy-industries/

Old Sacramento restaurant files for bankruptcy...  https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2020/07/17/old-sacramento-restaurant-files-bankruptcy.html

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

The ANSWER To the Pop Quiz is...
All These Guilty People are TrumpNiks!

WHAT DO THESE PEOPLE HAVE IN COMMON??? Roger Stone=Guilty, Paul Manafort=Guilty, Mike Flynn=Guilty, Michael Cohen=Guilty, Rick Gates=Guilty, George Papadopoulos=Guilty, Alexander Vanderzwaan=Guilty, Maria Butina=Guilty, Paul Erickson = Guilty, Duncan Hunter=Guilty, Chris Collins=Guilty, George Nader=Guilty
CAN YOU SPOT THE FREAKING TREND???

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Please Campaign Online in Favor of Legalization of Medicinal Psychedelics. Write to Your Senators and Representatives. Or at the Very Least, Like and Share this Post. There is Absolutely No Valid Reason for Doctors to Be Prevented from Prescribing Certain Medicines... If You Can think of a Reason The US Government Should Continue to Behave Insane, State it Here... Now... Go Right Ahead... https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2017/06/legalize-medicinal-psychedelics-let.html

and Then Sandy E Wrote of Facebook...

I'm still getting used to having a normal president again! For 4 years, it felt like when I was in a relationship with an emotionally abusive narcissist. No matter how hard I tried to make sure everything was perfect so I could keep the peace, my ex-boyfriend always found reasons to bring drama and chaos into my world, especially the longer we stayed together. I found myself trying harder and harder to make sure that there was NOTHING that could possibly set him off because I just wanted our time together to be peaceful and happy. But no matter how hard I tried, it was never enough. He was MADE of drama, and he brought it with him everywhere. It didn't matter how perfect everything was on my end: when he showed up, he always brought stress and chaos into my life. I eventually had enough, and I ended the relationship and blocked him everywhere, and I never looked back. Almost 4 years later, I'm still alone, but I know I'm better off alone and living in peace than having to live with all of that drama and chaos. 

Having Trump as the president gave me a similar feeling of stress and chaos. Nothing Trump did ever made sense. Instead of deferring to the science in regards to the pandemic, Trump brought in quacky doctors who supported his crazy theories that masks are bad and we should be taking hydroxychloroquin. When governors tried to do the right thing by having mask mandates in their states, Trump tweeted stuff like, "Liberate Michigan!" in an attempt to create chaos in those states instead of unifying everyone to come together and do the right thing to slow the spread of the virus and get it under control. He encouraged people to go AGAINST the guidelines instead, which created more problems and chaos. His tweets were another story. Every morning, I woke up wondering what craziness he tweeted during the night which would create more drama and chaos in the country. I had a constant feeling of anxiety and stress while he was president. That feeling is gone now. It's crazy. When Biden took over, everything just switched back to the way it should have been all along...much like how the peace came back into my life after I finally ended my toxic relationship and blocked my ex out of my life. The peace I had been working so hard to bring to our relationship came back and stayed, because there was no longer someone constantly trying to disturb the peace and introduce chaos. That's how it feels now, with Biden as president. It feels calm, peaceful, and safe. When he speaks to the country about the pandemic, or police reform, or racism, or whatever other issues we are dealing with, he doesn't speak in the divisive way that Trump spoke. Trump spoke ONLY to his base, and he painted everyone on the left as the enemy, and he also painted the press as the enemy. Biden doesn't do that. We AREN'T each other's enemy. Some of us disagree, but it doesn't make us enemies, and it's really awful to hear a president, who is supposed to be leading ALL of us, speak as if half of us are the enemy of the other half. Biden doesn't speak that way, and no other president in my lifetime ever spoke that way until Trump came along. I will never understand why anyone would prefer someone like that as their leader rather than someone who shows equal respect and concern for ALL of us. If you are on the right end of the political spectrum, you're NOT my enemy just because I'm on the left. We are just two Americans who love our country, but have different ideas about the direction we think the country should be going. That's democracy! We're not supposed to act like enemies, and we're certainly not supposed to have a president who treats half of us as enemies instead of regarding ALL of us as Americans! And in regards to the pandemic, Biden constantly encourages us to get vaccinated, and he reassures us that there is enough vaccine for all, and he got his vaccine publicly while Trump got his privately, which is another bizarre thing Trump did. Why is he the only living president who DIDN'T get the vaccine publicly? He got the vaccine, so why didn't he do it publicly like a true leader? 

I'm just so glad that the country is no longer being run from a place of drama and chaos and irrationality!

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

HEADLINE: Weekly $600 Federal Unemployment Boost Will End July 25th... Trump stares down a ticking economic time bomb... Government aid propping up the economy could soon disappear, schools are scrambling their plans and new shutdowns are slamming businesses — just before a key stretch of the general election.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/17/trump-economy-time-bomb-366871

Are You Tired of So Much Losing Yet? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/opinion/coronavirus-economy-unemployment.html

Trump's Tent City
Note the Marine Corps Flag 

American History: DJIA: BIGGEST POINT LOSSES
3/16/2020: 2,997 points

Selling accelerated during the final hours of trading this Monday as the coronavirus task force updated the nation on the crisis. In response to a question, President Trump said the crisis could extend until August.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2,997 points or nearly 13 percent. The worst point drop on record and worst turn since the 1987 financial crisis.

The markets also ignored an emergency rate cut the prior Sunday in which the Fed cut rates to near zero.

QAnon Sucks... Satire MEME - gvan42

The Wingdings Say:

Investigate

#Ivankagate

#TrumpLiedPeopleDied

Trump's Failed Economy - Unemployment

The Failure of tRUMP's So Called "Booming" Economy... Soup Kitchens and Drive Thru Food Banks... Like The Great Depression of the 1930s... https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-failure-of-trumps-so-called-booming.html

ANTI-tRUMP Protest at the White House - Set Off a Few 140dB Personal Alarms - Let's See If tRUMP Can Pretend Shrieking Alarms are A Show of Support... and Love... https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2020/05/anti-trump-protest-at-white-house-set.html

Trump Supporters Can TRY To Live In A Fantasy World BUT IT WON'T WORK! Pretending Reality Does Not Exist is DOOMED TO FAIL... Truth and Facts are Difficult to Ignore... Especially Trump's DISASTER ECONOMY... Suicides Have Increased, Opioid Overdoses Have Increased, Alcoholism Has Increased... Prices are Higher, Wages are Lower... OPEN YOUR EYES AND NOTICE REALITY! https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2019/12/trump-supporters-can-try-to-live-in.html


How to Prevent Your Own Brainwashing... UNPLUG From the Mind Control TV Networks... They are Lying In Order to Take Advantage of YOU! They Command BUY, BUY, BUY More Useless Plastic Crap! and CHARGE IT if you have no money. https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/02/how-to-prevent-your-own-brainwashing.html

Crime is Much Worse in Republican States than Democratic Ones. Crazy Gun Laws Cause More Murder. The Hopeless Poverty in "Red" States Causes Increase in Theft, Burglary and Armed Robbery... VOTE DEMOCRATIC.

https://www.thirdway.org/report/the-red-state-murder-problem

• The rate of murders in the US has gone up at an alarming rate. But, despite a media narrative to the contrary, this is a problem that afflicts Republican-run cities and states as much or more than the Democratic bastions.
• In 2020, per capita murder rates were 40% higher in states won by Donald Trump than those won by Joe Biden.
•  8 of the 10 states with the highest murder rates in 2020 voted for the Republican presidential nominee in every election this century.

Red states report higher rates of violent crime than blue states... 

https://gigafact.org/fact-briefs/do-red-states-rank-higher-in-violent-crime-rates-than-blue-states

According to 2019 FBI data, seven out of ten states with the highest per-capita rates of violent crime voted Republican in the 2020 election. In contrast, seven out of ten states with the lowest rates voted Democrat. 

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The Republican narrative on safety is absolute nonsense. People are MUCH SAFER in “BLUE” states...

All across the country, Republicans are focusing their closing message on public safety. And by some accounts in the press and the polls, it seems to be working.

One problem. It’s absolute nonsense.

Republicans do a much better job scaring people about safety than they do making people safer.

Let’s just take a look at three states, for example: California, Texas, and Florida.
Which state has the lowest firearm death rate between Florida, Texas, and California?
California has the lowest firearm death rate.

Which state has the lowest homicide rate between Florida, Texas, and California?
California has the lowest homicide rate.

Which state has the lowest violent crime and property crime rate between Florida, Texas, and California?
California has the lowest violent crime and property crime rate.

But it’s not just crime.
Which state has the lowest infant mortality rate between Florida, Texas and California?
California has the lowest infant mortality rate.

How about drug overdose rates?
Florida’s drug overdose rate is 160% higher than California’s.

How about COVID-19 death rates?
Texas’s COVID-19 death rate is 166% higher than California’s.

The facts are on our side.
Democrats should not surrender on this narrative. Not between now and Tuesday, and not afterward either.

We should FIGHT.
Because the truth is, it is the laws and policies in states led by Republican governors that contribute to these numbers.
People are safer in “Blue” states like California.

And that’s the truth.
Thank you,
Gavin Newsom

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

We have a murder problem in America — especially in red states... 

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3274797-we-have-a-murder-problem-in-america-especially-in-red-states/

Republican-controlled states have higher murder rates than Democratic ones: study

https://news.yahoo.com/republican-controlled-states-have-higher-murder-rates-than-democratic-ones-study-212137750.html

CALIFORNIA’S REPUBLICAN COUNTIES HAVE WORSE CRIME TRENDS AND HIGHER VIOLENT CRIME RATES THAN DEMOCRATIC COUNTIES 

Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 

Mike Males, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow

http://www.cjcj.org/uploads/cjcj/documents/californias_republican_counties_have_worse_crime_trends.pdf

and then on FaceBorg... 

David Covarrubias Said:

Republicans are so pro "freedom of speech" that they fought to stop our protests… they claim ANTIFA was a violent organization when it wasn’t even an organization at all… Did you ever see us smashing heads in with hammers or running over and murdering peaceful protestors with cars? Or showing up with assault weapons to silence freedom of speech at protests? Did we storm the nation’s capitol in an attempt to overthrow the government and reverse the vote? Yet they wanted to ban protests and even declare protestors as terrorists… Remember this? But this is all OK for Trumpsters and weak Republican “leaders”… Leaders who’s morality-of-the-day is based in political strategies alone… but all of this is to save American Freedom!!!… Give me a break! They aren’t even OK with the right to vote… From gerrymandering, to voter intimidation, to unfounded voter challenges, to literally breaking into voting machines; they have proven time and time again that they don’t love freedom at all (unless it is for themselves); they just want to win… This is why they will vote for a hypocrite who pays for abortions while preaching pro-life… They would rather suppress a woman’s FREEDOM to decide over her own body than put a person in office who actually has the qualifications to lead… This what they call freedom?

I remember going to Peaceful rallies and having Piles of MAGA wanna be brownshirts waiting at the parking lot just to intimidate us…. Freedom of Speech?

Pathetic for being hypocrites and even more pathetic for believing their own hypocrisy…. My $0.02.

Darryl Cherney

  · 

The phrasing of issues and slogans and the reactive responses are so often just awful. Examples: Stop calling the Jan. 6 people the "stop the steal" movement. They are the "Steal the elections" people, the very opposite. They are not election deniers--they are election stealers. Inflation is caused by republican oil company executives raising prices. Crime is rampant in republican majority cities. Abortion rights are an economic issue--ever pay for raising a child or try to work a job while raising one (which is a job)? Not to mention the "right to life" "movement." It's the forced breeding movement. Always call it that or something similar (note how men's responsibilities are 100% omitted from it). And it's not the pro-choice movement--it's the abortion rights movement. And what's the crap about abortion on the same day as birth? Why has no one rebutted that isn't even possible?! And anti-choice people who vote for people who have abortions aren't hypocrites--they are duplicitous. They are oppressors and bigots and know what they are doing. Defund the police? What a stupid saying. Reform the police, sure. Defund is never going to happen so why give the other side ammo? And stop saying tRump believes this or that--you can't know what someone "believes." You can only know what they say or do. Media: stop saying things are good for democrats or good for republicans. Democrats should not be happy that republicans do stupid things or vice versa. I want to know what's good for the country! Lastly, the concept that only republicans can win and therefore anytime they lose the election must be fraudulent--that shows criminal intent not some misguided notion.

Sharon Mattingly 

For all that they have tried to argue that the midterm election is a referendum on President Joe Biden’s handling of the nation’s high inflation, House Republicans today released a 1050-page “report” laying out their priorities for what they expect will be their takeover of the House.

The report begins as an attack on the FBI, claiming it has been politicized under the Biden administration and is now “broken.” It goes on to echo years of complaints from former president Trump, from his insistence that the FBI “spied on” his 2016 campaign through his complaints about the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago to recover classified documents he took with him when he left office.

Only the first 50 pages of the report are new prose. Kate Riga of Talking Points Memo read the rest and noted that about 1000 of the pages simply reprint letters Republican representatives have sent to members of the Biden administration, including 93 copies of a 5-page letter they sent to U.S. attorneys.

The House Republicans’ plan was apparently to grab headlines with an apparently big “report” and make people uneasy about the Biden administration. The document makes it clear that their priorities if they take the House will be to investigate Hunter Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the evacuation of Afghanistan, immigration policies, and, perhaps above all, Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice (DOJ). But the report is a self-own in that it makes clear that the Republicans have no intention of actually trying to deal with inflation and are instead going to push the investigations that keep their grievances before the media and feed their base.

The House Republicans’ decision to double down on Trump just before the election shows exactly how they plan to govern after it. Leaders like Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would like to downplay the role of the former president and keep voters focused instead on the economy, an issue on which they feel they can make headway as the world is still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. But extremists in the House are signaling that they are all in for Trump.

Indeed, the timing of the House Republicans’ warning that they plan to launch numerous investigations might well be an attempt to protect the former president by taking the spotlight off Trump’s growing legal troubles.

Today, the former president’s allies told media outlets that shortly after the midterm election, Trump expects to announce that he is running for president in 2024. Knowing he is a lightning rod, Republicans have wanted him to stay out of the spotlight before the midterms, but he now has a reason—aside from the fact that he can never seem to abide being in the shadows—to announce his candidacy.

As Maggie Haberman of the New York Times tweeted: “Trump is facing multiple investigations that his advisers anticipate will heat up again after next week’s midterms, particularly into the documents held for no clear explicable reason at Mar-a-Lago. His advisers say he thinks DOJ will move differently if he’s a candidate.” (The Department of Justice has said its procedures will not be affected by any such announcement.)

Trump’s dangling of a presidential bid is almost certainly related to his looming legal troubles. Yesterday, his ally Kash Patel testified with limited immunity before a grand jury investigating the handling of the classified documents Trump took to Mar-a-Lago, meaning he had the option of testifying honestly without penalties or lying and risking perjury charges on this topic. Patel has maintained he is a hostile witness, but there is reason to think he will not shield Trump. Constitutional lawyer and law professor Laurence Tribe commented: “This will break the dam.”

Also, today was the deadline for Trump to produce documents for the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, and the committee this evening announced that it was in conversation with Trump’s lawyers about that production. It continued: “We have informed Trump’s counsel that he must begin producing records no later than next week and he remains under subpoena for testimony starting on November 14th.”

And the January 6th committee has continued its interviews, recently talking to the Secret Service agents who were in the presidential motorcade on January 6, 2021.

Trump has clearly made the calculation that his own interests are best served by teasing the idea of his running for office, despite the fact that many national Republican lawmakers have hoped he would keep his head down.

It is not clear that the idea of a resurgence of Trump will motivate Republican voters. Indeed, so far, election data for next week’s election is not showing the red wave that media has recently tried to argue was in the offing. Pollsters Simon Rosenberg and Tom Bonier both have focused less on polls and more on the early vote, which so far has shown Democrats overperforming. Races are still very close, but the idea of a red wave appears to be premature. The results of the election will come down to voter turnout.

In the midst of all this drama, the social media site Twitter, which was recently acquired by entrepreneur Elon Musk, appears to be imploding. Advertisers are fleeing, and this morning the company fired a raft of employees, apparently illegally in many jurisdictions because he did not give them the warning that laws require. They are now suing.

This afternoon, Jeff Seldin, the national security correspondent for Voice of America News, tweeted that two organizations representing state election officials who have used Twitter to get out reliable election information, including the National Association of State Election Directors, are watching Twitter’s changes with concern. The mass layoffs cut the teams dedicated to fighting election disinformation and communicating with campaign staff and journalists. Further, it currently appears that account verification, which makes it clear if an account is official or not, will end on Monday, the day before the election.