Guard Dog

So... Russian women like guys with money? Wow there's a shock! There are 206 countries in the world. Being rich is a boon to getting laid in every one of them!

Did they just cut the story from the the Silmarillion or is there unreleased material there?

Well, I was going to post this in the Politics thread but I see it burned down last night. So I'll put it here. He-Man is running for the Florida State Senate: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article153533869.html Sort of... He has the powerrrrrrr!

Alligators are a protected species. They do allow trapping and hunting by permit because they can be a hell of a nuisance when there are too many of them. But to pull over and pick one up on the side of the road just to screw with it is weapons grade stupid IMO.Or any other critter for that matter. But these two will likely spend a few weekends picking up beer cans on the side of the road with $300 less in their pockets. It would be funny though if they see a little alligator sniffing beer cans to see if any was left while they are at it!

I found this interesting. There is a thing here in the US called Qualified Immunity for Police officers. If they have to use deadly force in the execution of their jobs they receive criminal and civil immunity from the consequences of those actions. As long as the actions were justified. Then about 15 years ago there was a case where a police officer internationally (or recklessly) created a situation where deadly force was required to defend themselves. In that case the US 9th Circuit found the police WERE liable if they created the situation by a violation of law or the rights of the citizen involved. For example, if a cop enters your home with no warrant or probable cause and finds you there with a gun and shoots you, they are in big trouble. That is called the Provocation Doctrine. Which is exactly what happened in Los Angeles v Mendez. Two LA County detectives entered the home of Angel Mendez and his girlfriend with no warrant. The found Mendez inside with a BB Gun. They shot him and his girlfriend (who was unarmed) multiple times. Mendez survived but lost his leg as a result. Mendez has sued obviously and it went to the same 9th Circuit Court. They decided in favor on Mendez and held that the police were "liable for the shooting as a foreseeable consequence of their unconstitutional entry even though the shooting itself was not unconstitutionally excessive force under the Fourth Amendment". The case was then appealed to the SCOTUS who published their decision yesterday. The link is at the bottom. It's a long read, 14 pages. But my understanding of it is they struck down the Provocation Doctrine by a vote of 8-0. Now some media outlets are calling this a win for the police but that's not exactly they way I read it. The Court is not saying the police didn't violate the 4th Amendment rights of Mendez. They did. They are saying the fact that they did can't be bootstrapped into an excessive force claim. In other words they are two separate issues rather than one. Personally I thought the Provocation Doctrine made a hell of a lot of sense. I don't hold the Police in the same warm regard as many of my fellow Americans seem to. Many of them, maybe even most of them are decent folks trying to do a good job for their community. But a lot of them are badge heavy authoritarians who lack the character or intelligence to be trusted with firearms or legal power. And far too many are shockingly ignorant of the laws they are out there enforcing. If you are going to arm people with guns, and the legal authority to kill, seize, confiscate, and imprison, you should be holding them to the highest standards with no tolerance for violations they know are wrong. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/16-369_09m1.pdf

So anyway, a couple of nitwits in South Carolina are cruising the back roads and having a few beers when they see this little alligator crossing the road. So they pull over, catch it, and give it a few beers while taking pictures of it. Molesting alligators is a crime. Plus I'm sure that gator was under 21. They then turned the gator loose in a nearby pond. Now I had a good laugh over the thought of a drunken alligator in that pond. I also had a good laugh at thinking how they wasted beer on an alligator that didn't want any. I had a bigger laugh that they posted evidence of a crime on social media. And the biggest laugh of all is the alligator thinking to himself "Bush Light? Really? If they are going to pull that s--t couldn't they have at least given me Goose Island IPA???" http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/05/30/sc-men-who-said-forced-alligator-to-drink-beer-may-face-charges.html

Are you sure that wasn't the 1980's Ghostbusters? That one didn't suck.

Happy belated Birthday!

Only five more years to go!

Screw it... I can't make the embed media work... I don't know why. Here's the link. It's funny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21lhiKfc1p4&feature=youtu.be

That ticket would totally be worth it! https://signalscv.com/2017/05/28/man-receives-ticket-hitting-88-mph-delorean/

You gotta love minor league ball: http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/minor-league-brawl-features-some-of-the-dirtiest-stuff-possible-including-a-guy-firing-a-fastball-into-scrum/ar-BBBDa9d?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp In other new the Rays took the Twins to 14 innings yesterday. I was doing some work around the house and had it on the radio all day.

Well as requently happens here in the US a holiday tends to morph into other things as time passes. Veterans Day used to be Armistice Day to mark the end of WWI. Memorial Day actually goes back to the post Civil War south IIRC. The tradition was to place flowers and flags on the graves of fallen soldiers. That tradition is still practiced today nationwide. I don't remember when it became a real holiday but I believe it happened rather gradually.

On the subject of PBS, it will suprise none of you if I have a problem with my tax dollars going to fund a TV and radio network (other than AFRTS). But since it was a tiny drop in a big budget bucket and for around forty years of it's existence it was filling a void when most TV viewers could only watch 3-4 major networks and a handful of independent stations, none of which could be called educational. But in today's times with nearly endless streaming and traditional options, many and more of which far exceed PBS in educational and cultural value, does PBS still have a place? Is it still worthy of those few drops from the budget bucket that fund it? I'm going to say no.

Remembering today all of my fellow citizens who ran towards the sounds of the gunfire in defense of this nation and it's interests. And most especialy those who did not return. And hoping that next Memorial Day there will not be one more name to be rememberd than there is today.

The Road maybe? In defense of Quayle he only looked foolish during election years. They managed to keep him locked in his office for most of the two years in between. That limited his opportunities. And that video calling Homer Stokes from O Brother where Art Thou a Tea Party Republican is not cool. First of all in 1930's Mississippi you better believe he was a Democrat. Second of all the Tea Party thing was all about, and only about, Government spending. It took no position on social issues at all. Yeah, I know you didn't make the video... just sayin.

Deepest sympathies to you and your family Tale.

Just read the news about Greg Allman. Man that sucks. I think tonight I'll have a glass of Kentucy's finest, play some Allman Brothers and remember better days when all the rock legends were still with us.

If you have any pull with them tell them to get out right now.

When I was growing up corporal punishment was fairly common. My parents practiced it albeit sparingly. It was commonplace in public schools. It isn't effective. But not for the reason most people think. It's ineffective because kids figure out early on they can't hit you hard enough to really hurt you. And it's over really quick. I remember I got into a fight in 4th Grade. The punishment was a choice of the paddle of a 3 day suspension. That was an easy choice. I didn't have to tell my parents I was paddled. Staying home for three days would require a more detailed explanation. It was the same thing at home. Would I rather get three licks with the belt or not be able to play outside for a week. That's another no brainer. "C'mon Dad let's get this over with. I'm going to play ball".

Surprised a felon can even run. They can't vote, right? Also were a lot of early voters so they were locked in Well... technically he's not. He wasn't convicted of anything yet. And I suspect that reporter will be "persuaded" not to press charges one way or another. Of course if someone like you or i tried that we'd already have been arraigned. Probably with a black eye and bloody lip and an additional charge of assaulting a police officer by hitting his fist with our face.

It occurs to me today, as I try to salvage data off my dead laptop, that the quality of consumer electronics produced in the world today s not all that it could be. I'm sure the good folks at the Lenovo factory in Taiwan did their very best. And I did get four years out of it. But then I read the Mars rover Opportunity is now entering it's 13th year on Mars. For 13 years this thing is a solar powered electric remote controlled vehicle on a planet that only gets 60% of the solar energy of Earth. Sometimes less during dust storms. It has an on-board computer long since surpassed by cheap cell phones that controls two cameras and 12 other instruments as well as a high powered microwave radio. It operates in an environment that has 40% of earth's gravity and 1% of it's atmosphere but still has quintuple the density of suspended solid particles of Earth (.0043 grams per cubic centimeter). To quote Anakin Skywalker, sand gets into everything. And it's been doing all this for 13 years with no maintenance. The only other thing that lasts that long are Ford trucks. My Lenovo laptop has been gently treated and never asked to run anything harder than Skyrim and it still gave out in less than a third of the time. Of course I think JPL spent somewhere around $350M building Opportuity. My laptop cost $750. I guess you get what you pay for. Just something I was thinking about today.

The Democrats lost another election last night. In Montana The republican candidate Gianforte defeated the democrat and libertarian candidates for the vacancy in the state's sole congressional seat. Now the twist is he did this after assaulting and beating the heck out of a reporter a few days ago. Now, generally the Democrats no freedom Big Brother Government Control Your Life shtick does not play well in western states. But the Dems generally do OK in Montana. The fact that they could not even beat a felon certainly is another indicator of how low they have fallen. If it's any consolation Gianforte will not even be the biggest dirtbag in the estimable body he s about to join.

In today's news the evolution of primates continues unabated. A few months ago it was reported they had entered the stone age. Now they are branching into organized crime: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2132748-monkey-mafia-steal-your-stuff-then-sell-it-back-for-a-cracker/

OK I'm literally hanging my head in shame right now. When I clicked on this thread I literally thought the OP meant St. Petersburg, Florida. Which would be about as exicting as a trip to the grocery store. When I saw those beautiful pictures I realized my error. Please keep going Bogarus.