Who is pulling the strings

If there isn't, there should be. 
It must be said, that a large percentage of public Republicans and conservatives fall under the "huckster" rubric. They may even believe in what they are selling, but their main goal is to make money from selling "conservatism." They are fortunate in the fact that they don't have to deliver a physical product. They mostly sell hot air. 

In addition to this, it should be noted that "conservatism", per se, and politics, in particular, are not religions to most conservatives or the general public. They already have belief in a higher being. Thus they are not as fanatic about politics. 

This is not the case for leftists. Because of the sucking-black-hole-in-their-souls-which-can-never-be-filled, they look for religion in the lies propagated by humanist false prophets; to wit transgenderism, climate fraud, KFF fraud, communism, etc, etc. Their feeble and failing grasp for an earthly heaven, leaves them in constant despair as they know they follow a false doctrine.  Thus they must push even harder to bring the rest of us to the misery which haunts them. That is the true meaning of their "equality."  It is a very strong motivator. And we all learned of it as children, "Misery lovers company." 

We're definitely on the same page. And what you wrote sounded a lot like Timothy.

This is not the case for leftists. Because of the sucking-black-hole-in-their-souls-which-can-never-be-filled, they look for religion in the lies propagated by humanist false prophets; to wit transgenderism, climate fraud, KFF fraud, communism, etc, etc. Their feeble and failing grasp for an earthly heaven, leaves them in constant despair as they know they follow a false doctrine. Thus they must push even harder to bring the rest of us to the misery which haunts them. That is the true meaning of their "equality." It is a very strong motivator. And we all learned of it as children, "Misery lovers company."

Rush would never have said it that way, but you are channeling Eric Hoffer. 

I just didn't think they were $10,000 cheap. I thought a corrupt politician had more dignity than that, if only feigned dignity.

Guess what the motto is of this year's G20 gathering in India?

One Earth One Family One Future  

If that has a familiar sounding cadence. Let me remind you of its origins.

Ein Volk Ein Reich Ein Fuehrer

The fascists/tyrants of the earth are still pursuing the Gleichschaltung der Welt. Old goals, new technology. 

A pretty good presentation that basically leaves out the elephant in the living room: The "Climate change" fraud is central to forwarding the less-people agenda. Unless you expose that aspect, I'm afraid it's just whistling Dixie. In fact, his presentation simply further anchors the belief that CO2 is a deadly poison that we need to deal with.

Well, the Leftist are. This is precisely how they can justify their desire for fewer people.

Well, yeah. But I don't think this is unique to Walmart. I think the American character has so eroded that a very large percentage of people feel entitled to a few five-finger discounts. And those self-checkout machines make it easy, and in more ways than one.

An antagonistic attitude is somewhat justified by having to ring up your own items. And I know this feeling well. I admit to having a few "screw this" moments and just punching in a number for something that I knew it wasn't because I couldn't find the real thing.

And they steer you towards these self checkout machines because they never have enough people manning the full-service lines.

So there is a bit of "us vs. them" built in where even honest folks get a little irritated. It is very rare to be able to use the self-checkout lanes without the machines choking on something – and quite often more than once. It's become a bit of an art to try to scan your own groceries at Winco.

If you put the paper bag down on the weighing surface first in perpetration for filling it, the machine will often detect this and lock up the machine until a person comes by to help. So what I do first it take a bag (which are stacked on the weigh table) off and set it aside. Then I scan the first item and, in one motion, put it inside the bag and put the bag onto the weigh table. That usually works, but I encountered a problem with this technique just the other day. It thought I was trying to slip something past it because the weight was more than it expected.

And very often things won't scan properly. And if you do have an error that requires one of the employees there to reset your machine, they are usually busy helping someone else. So these self-checkout lines are nut-driving. And they develop (at least in me) a hostile attitude toward them. No, I'm not trying to steal anything. But more than once I said "screw this" and just punched in the wrong code.

But if one is already inclined to five-finger discounts, these self checkout lines are made for it. Add to this that more and more stores have become so "nice" that they are squeamish regarding shoplifters and you have a recipe for increased loss.

Mdm. Flu once again shows herself to be a sensible person. I much prefer the full-service checkout. It's faster (if one is available) and, at least at Winco, the employees are friendly (but not too sickly-sweet friendly). So it's a better experience than wrangling with the self-checkout machines.

And very often at the self-checkout machines, there is a line and thus you have to wait. But it's often the path of least resistance. The full-service checkout lines are always full. I think Winco has about 8 full-service lanes. At any one time (even during very busy periods), maybe three of them are in use.

I haven't been to the mall in years. I'm not agoraphobic, but there would not be much practical difference in terms of shopping. The malls and regular stores are often egregious to try to navigate. I wouldn't go into Staples again if you paid me. Their lines are so slow...and primarily because of all the nonsense they have...often trying to sign you (or someone else up) for their "loyalty card" or whatever. "Loyalty." What a perverse name for it.

I'm convinced that a significant reason that Sears bit the dust was because they made getting through their checkout lines like running a gauntlet. Last time I was in the Sears store at Kitsap Mall was obviously several years ago. But they were at the time trying to do their checkouts via iPads. And it wasn't working well.

I hate the tech Overlords, but Amazon becomes the path of least resistance. I just get tired of dealing with all this marketing idiocy. And if a few people grab a five-finger discount, yes, that bothers me. But in many instances, I can understand it. Corporate stores have become a concentration of big-box idiocy.

But that could just be our area. I think there is a lot to be said for home deliver because, let's face it, shopping for necessities is not one of my joys in life. I don't mind the grocery store so much. But there are a lot of downsides of mixing with the Great Unwashed...one aspect being that so many of them are unwashed. And you thought Arkansas had the reputation for unwashed Hillbillies. Good god, whatever the truth is, you haven't got anything on us.

My brother often comments on how awful the clientele is in the Shelton, WA Walmart. "White Trash" is not too harsh of a term. Makes him weep for the future of humanity.

Good luck on your arthritis. Hopefully they can develop a pill that fixes that. I know what it feels like, even if what I had (poisoned by Spike Proteins?) fairly recently wasn't arthritis. Best to you.