Guard Dog

I lived in South Florida for many years up to 2009. I knew many Cuban folks who fled Castro there. I love when people who had never been there explained to them what it was "really" like. Those were usually the same ones who tried to tell them was communism was "really" like too. Usually they would just look at you like you were a particularly unpleasant mentally handicapped child that just crapped your pants.

Happy Birthday to our buddies Pac Man, Inky, Blinky, Pinky, & Clyde. They are 40 years old today!

Scientists Made a Mouse That's 4 Percent Human

Justin Amash is not running now. Don't know who I'm going to vote for. But I do know who I'm NOT going to vote for.

To tell you the truth I think this quarantine is my new religion. I'm finding I'm much happier not interacting with people. Our bi-weekly WebEx calls are all the social interaction I want. And even that seems tedious.

Those who have been following the "shut down crisis" know Governors Newsome in CA and Whitmer in MI have gone a bit power mad. The barber who defied Whitmer had his business license revoked at Whitmer's personal order. As far as anyone knows that is the first time since George Wallace of Alabama personally revoking a business license. The Democrats are quickly become the American version of the Jacobins.

What is the future of the US Marine Corps The short answer seems to be a return to it's roots as a rapid reaction force. The Corps was never intended to be a self contained war fighting entity. Beginning with WW2 it became that and has performed well at it. But it is a small service. A tool for a specific purpose. IMO it makes sense to use a wrench to turn a bolt and a hammer to drive a nail.

It depends on what that debt is. The majority of US debt is unfunded future obligations. Although the government does pay for things on credit. That is what bonds are. China owns a goodly amount of it. But that kind of debt is the least worrisome because it can be monetized by devaluation of the currency. Of course that option is only on the table so long as the currency is stable. Right now the US Dollar is still the place to be. That will likely change at some future point. Whether the US economy implodes after that will depend of the political leadership of the day understanding what is happening and adjusting appropriately. If that does not inspire a great deal of confidence you are not alone there.

Those folks went through here today like a swarm of locusts. Everything picked packed and hauled away. I have 12 steel pans full of shelled black eyed peas for canning. Sixty ears of corn to shuck, wash vacuum seal and freeze. Another 100 are in the solar dryer now and will be for two more days. That will be part of my home made chicken feed. That is just tonights work load. There is yellow squash & zucchini to prep for freezing, green beans for canning, jalapenos, and vidalia onions too. Work work work

The farmers market is part of the Tipton County flea market. That is what is gone. It was only open on the weekends but two consecutive months of no business was too much I guess. I expect another one will turn up or someone else will take over. But for the moment it's gone.

The farmers market in Covington has closed for good. Another casualty of Corona. So get this.. my garden is ready for picking. Four and a half acres of various veggies. I have the means to can/freeze/dry preserve about a quarter of it. Usually I sell the surplus in Covington. So I started calling the local food banks to donate the surplus. Can you believe they won't take it? There are three and they all told me the same thing. No fresh produce. Canned or dry goods only. I can't believe people who give away food to people who need it don't want a donation of food! The pastor of the Covington Methodist Church is a VFW member. His church makes hot meals at a "community kitchen" for families in town. He was happy to take all the surplus. Some of the kids from the church are coming to help me pick and fill hampers today. Sunny & Bela are going to LOVE that. They love meeting people. Duke and his wives will need to be locked up. He is NOT friendly to any humans but me.

Well, it has happened. It may not be fair to paint them all with the broad brush but far to often even the ones that are "good" examples of policing rally around the ones that are not in order to protect the integrity of the institution. Even when the actions are inexcusable. There was a case in Minnesota where a woman witnessed a sexual assault in progress. She called the police. When they showed up she approached them to direct them to the location. One of the cops pulled his weapon and shot and killed the witness. Why he did it is a matter of speculation. I think he was tense and panicked. But as vile as the action was the way his fellow officers defended him and made excuses for him was every bit as repugnant. Up to the point he was fired and charged with murder. Then they just pretended it never happened. Police officers do not engender a great deal of respect and the truth is they have only themselves to blame. If you don't want to be viewed at thick necked, heave handed sadists the first step is to stop being that and stop defending it when it happens.

In the 20 or so years it has been a thing there is no statistical decrease in violent crime that can be attributed to it. The notion that while what you have is bad it "might" be worse without it just fails logic. No argument from me on your second statement.

As an aside the quote is not exactly relevant because the police are not the agency to "punish" crime. They don't put people in prison. The DO put people in jail but they don't keep them there. Their function, ideally, is to investigate and apprehend. After that it's the courts and criminal justice systems. Also rife with flaws but, not the topic we are on here. That is what Franklin and Adams were referring to. It does not happen often. If it is even one percent I'd be mildly surprised. But I would not give revoking that power a second thought over that one percent. That is an unacceptable failure level when the lives and safety of innocent people are at hazard for it. The idea of accepting 1% of warrantless raids and searches leading to the death or abuse of innocents as the cost of doing business is utterly appalling. The police should be held to a higher standard. Does that make their job too tough? Maybe. But too bad, this is what you are held too. Don't like it? Perhaps policework is not for you. To obtain a warrant for a search, arrest, etc the police must convince a judge they have reasonable cause to believe a crime has taken place nd the target of the warrant is a suspect or material witness to the crime. There is a "neutral" third party that is a check on their activity. Under the conditions that allow a warrantless search and seizure (which also include exigent circumstances such as someone screaming for help as an example) they don't even need to know if a crime has happened before kicking down doors with guns drawn. Exigent circumstances have always been a thing. But it is fairly new to allow them to do it without them. Even if you accept that 99% of police officers are honest and conscientious civil servants trying to do right (not at all a point I will concede) that is entrusting way too much power in one group of human beings over another. Especially since they typically pay no penalty for being wrong. It's a recipe for abuse, brutality, disaster. Whis is what we are getting even if in small quantity. What qualified immunity means is that if a police office is acting in their capacity as a police officer, in good faith, and in compliance with the law and regulation, no matter what they do they are immune from criminal or civil prosecution. The cop kicked down your door, beat the holy f--k out of you and shot the family dog in front of the children then found out he was in the wrong house. Too bad for you. He thought it was the right house. It is a privilege granted by the municipalities that charter police forces. And it is something I think should be revoked nationwide. Making people responsible for their actions has a wonderful way of cleaning s--t like that up.

Not really applicable. But I've been waiting to use it for a while. No knock raids place entirely too much faith in the police. Far too many times they enter the wrong residence and shoot everyone in sight. Only to find out after they were wrong. And if they are wrong tough luck for the victims because police have qualified immunity from suit or prosecution. I posted a story here last year where the entered a residence on exigent circumstances. One of the cops felt threatened by the family dog so he drew his weapon and tried to shoot it right in their living room after kicking down the door. The cop missed and shot the homeowners daughter in the face. Turns out they were in the wrong house. Sorry about that. Good luck in court. We have qualified immunity. The cop got fired but that was it.

"That it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer" Benjamin Franklin

@213374U that is the beauty of crypto, Bitcoin in particular. It is immune to inflation. It's also immune to monopolization because it is finite and will never be the only game in town. Any attempt to monopolize the supply will be self defeating. But... what is it worth? That is the worrisome thing for crypto investors. I bought one Bitcoin a year ago. I simply considered it a $3367 lottery ticket. It never occurred to me I might use it to buy something with it. It may happen though. But as fast as crypto goes it can crash. All it takes is for someone to say "sorry, Dollars. Euros, or Yuans only"

It hasn't been that since the 70's. All we have now is the Party of Economic Implosion and the Party of Economic Implosion Faster. I'm not even sure which is which.

Spending and Deficit Set All-Time Records: Feds Spent $3.3 Trillion Through April While Running $1.48 Trillion Deficit Tick tock tick tock.... If you are invested in US bonds get out. The default is inevitable. If you are invested in stocks... well, don't sell if you are down, but large cap is the place to be. If you are in debt get out no matter what you have to do. If you are not stay out at least for a little while. Commodities or tangible investments are the place to be IMO. Remember, gold, silver, real-estate are never worthless. Be VERY wary of crypto-currency right now. Remember it has no value other than what everyone THINKS it has.

Have to say I do like the analogy: With 'multiple shots on goal,' NIAID Director Fauci is 'cautiously optimistic' about COVID-19 vaccine success

How can you be a king/queen if you don't hold court?

A little of both! I was running my own business with other partners a few years ago. We received a buyout offer from a competitor and the vote was 5-2 to take it. Since I was the design engineer, implementations engineer, director of operations, vice president of supply chain & logistics, warehouse manager, and installation team supervisor and a few other hats as well, the new company retained me on a 1 year contract to consult. After that it was a quick handshake and "the door is right over there". I found myself out of work. With a nice sum of money in the bank true... but still unemployed. I sent a resume to the TDEC in response to an opening I saw on their website. Two interviews later I landed this job. Somehow. But working in a state job has only hardened my anti-government ideas. Tennessee is pretty frugal compared to some states but it still wastes tax money like it was a bodily function. But a big part of my job is saving the state money so I like to think I'm helping a little bit.