Guard Dog

I’ve been in a real funk lately. I didn’t even realize how bad until I happened to look at the date on my laptop. I was completely stunned we are so late into June now. I was guessing we were somewhere around the 17th. Well plus I’m averaging about six hours of sleep every two days, and not continuous at that. That certainly doesn’t help. In the past I could defeat insomnia with bourbon. I’m finding melatonin to be much less effective now that I’ve given up that particular vice. on the upshot I have gotten a lot of reading done. Five books in four weeks cover to cover.

WTF is this s—t? this is where I remind everyone that Republicans = Democrats =Republicans = Democrats. There are no good guys. Just two tribes of would be tyrants battling for perpetual power.

Agree. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best

Biden gave his speech on crime control today. Needless to say it was all about “regulating” guns. Some of it was both practical and necessary. Cracking down on dealers who don’t follow background checks. Cracking down on traffickers. That definitely should be done. Especially since all of that is already against the law. But he also talked about banning assault weapons whatever the hell they are. I assume in his mind that means the scary looking ones. But who could say because everyone seems to have a different definition. He did throw a few snide remarks at the people who oppose gun control because he just can’t help himself. But nothing unexpected. The rest he talked about was crime prevention. He’s certainly putting the right people in charge of government for that. His candidate to head the ATF wants to arrest people before they commit crimes.

Dodgers at Padres tied 3-3 in the 8th. This series has all the drama you could want.

Supreme court rules against warrantless automatic searches 9-0. i’d call this a win.

And Hillary Clinton‘s hard drives.

Royal Caribbean to allow unvaccinated passengers with restrictions separate cabins. Separate dining facilities and times. Some activities they will not be allowed on. They won’t be allowed to use the pool. I guess if you wanted to know what it was like to be a black man in America in the 1960s book a trip on Royal Caribbean without getting vaccinated.

John Macafee found dead don’t know for sure but it seems like he hung himself in his prison cell in Spain after the Spanish court ruled he could be extradited to the United States. At least the libertarian election cycles will be spared his BS from now on. So there is that. Now if only we could do something about Spike Cohen

Supreme Court backs suspended student 8-1 in free speech case The only thing that’s surprising about this is that it was not 9 to 0.

I imagine it’s pretty quiet too

Insomnia is a bitch. Just saying

The Marlins laid an egg. The rays laid a bigger one. Since that went off I’ve been flipping back-and-forth between the Dodgers at the Padres and the Giants beating the Angels. The NL west is the most interesting division in baseball. Except for the Diamondbacks. They are roadkill.

Oh I completely agree the value of a free college education as well as room and board are not negligible at all. And in the details of this particular case the student athletes were looking to pay for educational supplies like lab equipment that the scholarship did not cover. It would be less of a burden had they’ve been allowed to work a job outside of the University. In fact in this particular case the court use the words modest or “in kind” with regards to the benefits being sought. I completely agree it would be inappropriate to pay them like professional athletes. With one exception. If the university is going to profit from their names or their images specifically in respect to merchandising they should get a taste of that. Rather than drive up any kind of cost for other students permitting student athletes to be compensated for the use of their names or likeness would probably put a halt on the practice rather than increase the burden of someone else. But that’s just a guess.

Speaking of freeing slaves... In N.C.A.A. Case, Supreme Court Backs Payments to Student-Athletes Another step in the right direction. As I have said in the past, College Sports is a multi-billion dollar business. Without the student athletes it does not exist. They are receiving something valuable for their time and efforts. There is no question there. But be participating in sports they are not permitted or sometimes just hindered from earning money for use on necessary things the scholarships do not cover. That is what this ruling is supposed to remedy. There is still a very big elephant in the room however. NCAA and institutions still use their likeness and names to sell merchandise. They deserve to get a piece of that. If your name and your likeness are not yours then what is?

Sure there’s ambiguity around that. Several colonies were already at war with England before the declaration. There’s also ambiguity about when the United States actually became what it is. I’m not even 100% sure when the name was adopted. But I’ll tell you about one thing there is no ambiguity. When the sun rose on December 6, 1865 slavery was legal in one state. When the sun set it was legal in no states. Edit: just to be clear. I am in no way arguing against Juneteenth being made a holiday. I think that’s a fine idea. I also think it would’ve made more sense if December 6 were made a holiday instead.

Too many people not enough utility power capacity

So…. Some singer I’ve never heard of says the US Flag should be replaced with one that is more “inclusive for all Americans”. The Fox News website is just all kinds of triggered over it. Most of the folks I know on FB too. Which is kind of dumb because who cares what one person on Twitter thinks. But I think it’s a good idea. I nominate this one to replace the ol’ Stars & Stripes. I think it’s VERY inclusive:

Waiting for lunch to be served

Shady I hate to admit this but prior to hearing about it from you I was not even really aware of its existence. Or if I was I just didn’t remember.