Guard Dog

I am so sick of hearing Ruth Bader Ginsburg being championed as some arch defender of civil rights. She was nothing of the sort. She was a defender of the civil liberties that she believed in and a militant opponent of others. And damn what the law said. Yes I know, De mortuis nil nisi bonum. But we also owe it to ourselves to be truthful

It is a much better game now than it was a year ago. It was clunky, buggy, and seriously unbalanced when it first rolled out of the gate. It has been considerably streamlined and is much better for it.

For breakfast I put a bag of instant oatmeal in a coffee cup and used the Keurig coffee maker for the hot water. Just one problem. I forgot to remove the K-Cup that was in there first. So I ended up with oatmeal in coffee. I tried it anyway. I figured I like coffee and I like oatmeal, maybe they will be good together. I was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Dinner tonight was two pan fried fillets of real Hatchee River catfish. So fresh it was literally swimming 24 hours ago. I breaded them with hand ground cornmeal and served with steamed green beans and summer squash. Everyting on the plate with the exception of the oil used in the pan came from my garden or property. That is freaking cool IMO!

Sunny and I walked down to the Hatchee yesterday afternoon for a little fishing. Right around sunset I caught a nice sized catfish. Guess what is for dinner tonight!

in other paradox news Imperator Rome is getting a complete overhaul with the next patch. New UI new game mechanics and it sounds like a lot of elements from crusader kings three are going to be introduced there. Also in stellaris we have a new DLC to look forward to. Well, you can count me in on both of them.

Reading about the plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan. I really don’t understand what their endgame was. What did they hope to accomplish by all this? Any concessions they got would be fake. And it’s not like they’re going to get to walk away from that. Maybe that kind of thinking just defies rational reasoning. Maybe guys like that just do things to do them. Hey I am 100% forgiving your life for the cause if you believe in it. I have said in the past with great conviction that I would defend my home and my property to my very last bullet. But this one doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

Still working from home. State offices have not reopened yet. And as I posted earlier my home office never will reopen. What that means for me remains to be seen. Right now the theory is we continue with virtual offices with physical facilities for our district in Memphis when needed. That would not be so bad. You have to give corona credit for one thing. It has moved the Internet in the direction of realizing it’s true potential. meanwhile in a totally non-technology related direction I’ve been looking at a method to start a fish farm on my property. It would be easy if I could redirect the creek but I can’t get around that damn state navigable waterway law. I’ve already widened a portion out of it to form a sort of little swimming pool but that’s about as far as I dare to go.

While we’re at it we can make the citizens pay to use public toilets to. Another Roman innovation.

US to impose tariffs on $1.96B worth of aluminum sheet goods Hmmm…. I don't recall Congress taking this up. What was that you said? They didn't? Really? But how could that be? I seem to recall in the US Constitution Article I Section 8: It's the FIRST GODDAMNED SENTENCE! THIS is why the country is f---d. This in not Trump. They should have put a stop to this s--t with Wilson. Trump is just the latest in a long line. Sometimes I think we'd be better off abolishing the Executive Branch.

The red lights are flashing in the ****pit. But there is no pilot: https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/08/economy/deficit-debt-pandemic-cbo/index.html Guys, I want to stress to you that there is nothing that can be done about this. No possible outcomes of the 2020 election will help. To fix this problem the US Government must freeze spending for at least five years. No extra spending, no pay raises for SSN or folks who work for the govt. A real freeze. In five years (give or take) normal economic growth will make this manageable again. Don't think taxing will help. According to Kiplinger there are 8.3M American households with assets over $1M. The average assets of this elite bunch is $4.6M. This groups includes the billionaires. If you seized every nickel they had, killed them and sold their organs on the black market, sold their children into slavery, and used their pets for school lunches this will get you to $3.8T. Congratulations you just covered Uncle Sam's spending deficit for one year! And now you are fresh out of millionaires. Cutting spending is another way to go. No not reducing the rate of increasing spending. CUTTING it. Spend less in 2022 than in 2021. No politician is going to face their voters and say no more bread and circuses. Although they should. So, what can YOU do? If the train goes over the cliff inflation is a real possibility. Possibly runaway inflation. The only way the political class knows how to handle debt is to monetize it. Devalue the currency. They are been doing this and calling it "stimulus" for years. In the case of inflation there are more and more dollars chasing the same number of assets. So the cost of the assets goes up. Here is the problem. They money you have in saving or investments does not change in quantity. It just loses it's buying power. It loses it's value. If you have a $1k in savings as an example. If the cost of everything goes up by 50% your saving as been cut in half. So my advice is this: Get out of debt. If you are out do NOT go in. Invest in real assets that have value irrespective of currency. Not Gold. It's seriously overpriced. Still invest in stocks if that is your thing but stick with large cap companies with minimal debt service. If/when inflation comes debt will be a killer. DO NOT buy US Treasuries or bonds. They are NOT a good credit risk. The default is inevitable. It is a fait accompli. Just my $.02

The political spectrum is not a line. It’s more like a horseshoe. The two extremes are closer to each other then either is to the mean.

I am very glad Reagan and Goldwater are not around to see what has become of the republican partyI am very glad Reagan and Goldwater are not around to see what has become of the republican party

You have had the worst luck lately! Feel better

All this talk about who "won". The Rays won! They beat the Yankees 8-4 in Game 3. There was nothing else worth watching on.

Well, religion is pretty much what anybody makes of it. But the point I was going for was the church experience not so much as the religious experience. Being taught from a young age that you are a part of a community and that everybody in the community is valuable cannot help but have a positive impact on people. There’s something to be said about small town and rural life. Entire generations of people grow up together. You know each other, you know each other‘s families, there are strong community bonds and churches are a big part of forming that. Here in Covington there is a church softball league where all the churches field a team and compete with each other. Even the Jewish temple. it’s a pretty big deal in town and everyone seems to enjoy it. In urban environments there are many more people but they are surrounded by legions of strangers. For one reason or another Community bonds tend not to form. once again I am no sociologist so this is purely my own opinion based on my own observation. It’s not like I’m out there participating in this kind of thing. I am after all the crazy old man living in the woods by himself

You know what? I'd be OK with this. State and local governments are far more persuadable and in tune with their constituent populations. Plus if you find your current resident State heavy handed and ornery then it's easy to move to a different one. There is no escaping Leviathan-On-The-Potomac. States already do a good job administering concealed carry permits (which is a privilege not a right). So getting the goddamned Federal government out of gun control and regulation and making it solely a state and local government issue is a win. As long as they are mindful of Scalia's caveat that prohibition is NOT reasonable regulation. Population density is certainly a possible causation. God knows I was a LOT happier when I realized I was the only human in visible range in any direction I looked. But I am rather anti social. But I have found, anecdotally, that folks in small towns are much happier and community minded than folks in urban or even suburban communities. The reason I most attribute to the disparity, and this might make you laugh, is the prevalence or religion and (as a consequence) moral instruction of kids. That is not to suggest children brought up without a heavy dose of religious instruction are not given moral instruction by their parents. Many certainly are. But valuing community and Gods fellow creatures are a pretty big part of the church experience. IMO only, the first step to not murdering or exploiting fellow humans is to be taught that they have value. That their lives are meaningful beyond what use the individual thinks they might be. Like I said, purely my own opinion.

I'm curious. To what do you attribute that fact? I have an idea that may or may not be correct. In fact the actual reason for that fact may not be knowable. But what is your best guess at the reason this is so?

We just figure it’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees

Last one

https://www.yahoo.com/news/no-charges-filed-against-white-191229680.html Just the cost of doing business? All these calls to defund the police are misguided. Perhaps a better idea would be to disarm the police. Non lethal munitions and weapons only. It seems like cops are panicky, frightened, and undisciplined types whose first reaction in any situation is to shoot everyone in sight.