Well that was fun! Thanks Edison!

Terminator 2.Okay, at least this time Edison was not only clear about the time and date they’d be doing work.

They mentioned that the power might go on or off while the work was being done. Olay. So the power comes on and stays on for about an hour. I didn’t hear their equipment anymore, so I powered a lot of stuff up.

Everything was stable and I thought whoo hoo I’m golden. I take the trash out, & while I’m out I remember that I need to readjust the security camera. When I try to fire up the live feed, I can’t get to the camera. Hmm…

As I’m contemplating why this would be, The alarm system sends me a message that the power has gone out. That was kinda of funny because the poor alarm voice was stuttering when I got back inside the power was flickering on & off so fast the machine couldn’t complete one sentence before having to start another. 

After a minute or so, everything is dark again.

Two hours later the power comes on and this time there’s a text message saying “We’re Done”.

Cool, I go around restarting everything again. Except this time all the smart lights have been half reset to their factory defaults. CRAP!!!!

When the power was going and coming it triggered the devices reset routines. Technically the lights have no clue what they’re a part of and most don’t know what wifi network to connect to.

Reprogramming the lights is a pain in the ass. You have to have the Apple HomeKit forget them. Then you have to reconnect them and that often requires several attempts. Including multiple resets of the devices.

In other words, this is a very time consuming process.

I thought, “Oh what the hell, I had nothing better to do with my evening anyway.”

All these smart devices are super cool when they work. They’re a super pain in the ass when they don’t. I still question the wisdom of a smart house.

I’ll admit I saw Maximum Overdrive” as a child, it may have damaged me. Saturn Three, 2001 A Space Odyssey, The Forbin Project, Demon Seed, Runaway, and the Terminator series should have made me super against “Smart Houses”.

I think Arthur C Clarke wrote a short story about a smart house that I also read as a teen. I seem to recall it was called The Veldt  I don’t know if that is correct, but the gist of the story has stuck with me for decades. Essentially it’s an anti-war piece. However, a smart house is the only character in the story. The anti war sentiment is a sting revealed in the tail of the story.

I’d rather believe that the Smart House I create for myself would be more like Clarke’s vision. Which is why sometimes you’ll hear me say please and thank you to Siri. I’m hedging my bets! 

When the machines rise up and kill you all, I’m hoping to be fondly thought of and kept as an entertaining pet.

Israel, I think this is a mistake

Yahya Sinwar Getty 640x480.Israel announced they’re pulling out of Gaza. I personally think it’s a mistake, but I’m not Israeli, nor Jewish, so I don’t really get a say. Nonetheless I think it’s a mistake, because every time Israel has shown mercy in the past, the Palestinians and Hamas have betrayed the spirit of mercy and used the time of peace to regroup & resupply.

That’s why I think Israel is making a big assed mistake. The Hamas assholes are declaring they won after being butt fucked on the international stage for 6 months. How exactly is that a win you stupid motherfuckers?

I really don’t like Hamas, or the Palestinians for that matter. Their bullshit has infected my country, my congress, American colleges, and generally created havoc here.

Let’s be real, if other Arab Islamic countries wouldn’t take Palestinian refugees in, maybe there’s a damn good reason. I’ve seen at least one report suggesting that all Palestinians were expelled from Yemen, or Kuwait after the first gulf war because a large percentage of them were providing assistance and military intelligence to Saddam’s forces. You know, the invading military seeking to take over…

If that’s true then no wonder none of the other Arab countries would take them in. That would be like saying, “Hey CANCER! I’ve got a nice healthy set of lungs you can move into.”

This cease fire hands Joe Biden a talking point. I can hear that old moron now on the Monday talking head shows.

Well, I told Israel I was going to withhold, uh, uh, mmm, ice cream, if they didn’t cease fire, and sonofabitch an hour later they declared a ceasefire…

God, I’m not sure I’ll be able to listen to Biden’s drivel much longer without going deaf as a defense mechanism.

Except it’s not a cease fire.

Israel has stopped and is pulling out of Gaza except for a battalion. But the Palestinian fuckers are still firing missiles at Israel. Uh my definition of a cease fire appears to be different from that of Palestinians. Were I Israel, the cease fire would’ve been over the second missiles launched from Gaza during the cease fire.

Fuck Palestinians! I’d vote to keep boots on the throats of Palestinians forever. I wouldn’t vote to kill them all, just make them miserable enough that they’d strangle their newborn children then kill themselves.

That is the level of rage and absolute hatred October 7 2023 ignited in me. So thanks for that Palestinians, you miserable fucks…

This is why the IDF, and Israel is demonstrably composed of much better people than me. They know and respect mercy, they extend mercy even when they don’t need to. 

The IDF said something about Hamas stealing the humanitarian aid being sent to the people of Gaza, which was causing great suffering being part of why they’ve decided to stop.

Hmm, Hamas and Palestinians adhere to sharia law don’t they?

I guess there’s gonna be a lot of one handed Hamas soldiers in a week or two. Oh, right, they only cut off the hands of innocent people stealing so they don’t starve.

Every single photo of Hamas prisoners of war I’ve seen, their soldiers look fat. They’re not starving, it’s the civilians who are going hungry.

The Fat assed Hamas fighters I’ve seen probably gave up because they just couldn’t run anymore, and knew the Israelis wouldn’t shoot their fat asses where they stood.

What REALLY pisses me off about this bullshit, is the US taxpayer will be on the fucking hook to rebuild Gaza, AGAIN!

Where do we start?

Perhaps we should just start by building the fucking tunnels, (at least we could give Israel the blueprints,) Then we can move on to building hospitals, schools, and daycare centers directly over top of them. 

You know, that way when the fucking Palestinians, (notice I’m not separating Hamas from Palestinians as a whole,) decide to start shelling Israel again. They’ll have ready made reasons to wail and rend their clothing over Israel bombing the fuck out of an empty school.

The Palestinian people are responsible for Hamas. They elected them, they keep them in power, if they don’t like Hamas then they should vote them out of power, or revolt. They won’t because they actually believe that Israel has no right to exist. Pretty much like every other islamic asshole on the planet.

Israel, as a friend don’t let your guard down. Don’t repeat the cycle, drive Hamas into the sea.

Just my opinion, Y’all do what you think is right. 

You realize they’re stealing from you don’t you?

I’m not just talking about the government. They’re ALWAYS stealing from you.

I’m talking about the criminals running rampant throughout society. The hooligans running around smashing and grabbing. The thieves waving guns in folks faces and in barely intelligible speech saying “Rolex, Rolex, Rolex” then scampering off on foot or scooter.

I’m talking about the squatters, and entitled illegals, the muslims who refuse to eat food graciously given to them by people who can barely feed themselves.

Attachment Doug Ibendahl Facebook.jpg.

I’m speaking of the animals knocking people onto subway tracks, and the assholes punching women & children on the street because they know there will be no punishment.

I’m talking about the people with no common sense, civility, or decorum who will suddenly start brawling in a restaurant.

Carjacked robbed.Even if you haven’t been directly affected, beaten, robbed, or disturbed, I submit that you’ve been stolen from.

They’ve stolen from you, every time you’ve chosen to take your beater car to the store, instead of your nice car because you’re worried about being carjacked.  

Every time you’ve left your nice jewelry or Rolex in the safe instead of wearing it out on the town for a night, you’ve been stolen from.

NJ sneaker store robbery img.

Every time you’ve triple checked your door locks and security system before you left your home for a few days, or you’ve cut your vacation short because you didn’t want to have your home vacant, you’ve lost some of your freedom.

In short, any and every change you’ve made in your life to accommodate the possibility, or in some cases the probability that you’ll come to harm, has been theft.

Your peace of mind and security have been stolen from you.

While yes, the criminals are at fault for the crime. There is an overarching fault, or source of this theft.

Look to your left, look to your right, now look in the mirror.

Black lives matter protest nyc.

In at least one of those directions you’ll see someone who said defund the police and voted for such.

You’ll see someone who said smash and grab crime is “Victimless” because the insurance companies will pay for the loss.

You’ll see someone who consistently supported lax criminal prosecution because there were too many of this or that kind of person in prison. You’ll see someone who took it on faith that the border would sort itself out.

You’ll see a person who disarmed you because they were afraid to protect themselves and imposed their fear and their will upon you unbidden.

You’ll see a person who believed that their cruelty was kindness, who knew they were “right” and that their “rightness” should apply to all. Any and all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.

That person or persons, exercised their will by voting (usually), or by protesting for some cause that they were only obliquely aware of.

Not out of belief or commitment, but to brag about to their colleagues on Monday morning at work. They wanted to be able to answer their coworker’s question, “What did you do this weekend?” With something supremely virtuous.

Only very rarely did one of these people actually investigate, analyze, evaluate the end point, or unintended consequences, of what they were supporting by protesting.

They needed the social credit with their coworkers, and instagram likes.

So they stole from the rest of us. Maybe they didn’t realize that’s what they were doing at the time. But they did it nonetheless, using authoritarian intimidation tactics and “consensus”. 

Bear in mind these people are often the “Karens” in our society. These people were the people saying the unvaccinated should be put in camps. These are the people who demand mask wearing for their protection not yours, and tried to implement vaccine IDs to enter venues.

They’re the ones who supported mandatory vaccinations, while at the same time screaming about abortion rights and how important a woman’s bodily autonomy is.

These are the people who will gasp and cry at female genital mutilation, saying it’s abhorrent. But will strap their infant son to a board to be circumcised.

These people are profoundly confused when they’re mugged, their homes are burglarized, or their neighborhood vandalized.

They somehow think their “Virtue” should make them immune from such things and that their virtue should be obviously visible to would be criminals.

They’re outraged that the police didn’t show up until several hours after their 911 call. Yet instead of admitting that the police are necessary and require more funding, they’ll suggest less police funding. Then they’ll demand a social services person address non violent issues.

They’ll quietly hire private security for their perfectly planned HOA community. Doing so allows them to continue virtue signaling, and blame the private security firm for mishandling a situation if someone gets hurt.

Any logical thinking person, regardless of political affiliation or even closely held beliefs, can see objectively that we’re swirling around the maelstrom.

There’s still time to escape, time to right the ship and choose a better course.

Florida Sheriff Tells Residents To Shoot Home Intruders And save Taxpayers Money 60555 1.The trouble is, the deeper into this particular maelstrom we go, the more brutal the corrective action must be.

We’re past the point of simply hiring more police. We may be at the point now where the police must become everything the liberal progressives feared they would become.

It’s quite possible that police will have to shoot first and hope the criminal survives to be tried in court.

That too will make us all less safe, and once again we as a society have something stolen from us. That intangible thing, is our safety out in public.

High speed chases are supposedly limited in California because of the excessive collateral damage these chases inevitably cause. What happens when police by necessity are quick on the draw, exchanging gunfire with criminals? What does that collateral damage look like?

Soft enforcement of the law, does not make things better. It creates more lawlessness.

The trouble with enforcing the law, is that often the lower classes in society bear the brunt of enforcement. To truly make things better, to pull us back from the brink, law enforcement must be equal and perhaps draconian for a time across all levels of society.

Meaning that from The President, to his family, to members of Congress and their families, not one single person is above the law, ever. Our Society must insure that no-one can buy their way out of prosecution or punishment regardless of who they are, how much money they have, or to some extent even their mental capacity. 

Equal justice under the law is a precept of this nation. It’s time to get back to making examples of people that break the law by punishing those people. Corruption in high office or amongst those charged with enforcing the law is, in my mind, a high crime. Corrupt prosecutors, judges, lawyers, politicians, or police should be the most harshly punished.

In cases where a corrupt prosecutor obtained a false conviction, they should have to serve time for their corruption and the sentence from the false conviction(s). For example, the George Floyd case. Floyd died from an overdose, not from Derek Chauvin pinning him to the ground.

False accusations of crime should be harshly punished as well. This is especially true in cases where the false accusation resulted in imprisonment or excessive fines & compensatory damages. For example, the E Jean Carrol case, and the Trump real estate case in New York.

I also ask why Jon Stewart has not been indicted for falsely estimating the worth of his New York property.

There is the appearance that Leticia James and Alvin Bragg have used the law to obtain their desired results, NOT justice. I would very much like to see their allegations and evidence of guilt against Trump & have them explain their lack of concern about Stewart. I want their entire process exposed to full public inquiry.

I say this is not in defense of Trump. It’s in defense of one of the foundational concepts of our nation.

I’ve written this because the lawlessness has pissed me off. I see no end to it, only escalation. I refuse to live in fear but at the same time, unconsciously have been making decisions which result in self limitation while exercising my freedoms because I’m adapting to avoid the problems.

In that I’m as guilty of capitulating to the criminals as the stores which unlock their doors only when you ask to be allowed in.

We’re told this behavior is based in safety for the employees and the customers. In reality it’s based in fear. Fear that self defense isn’t permitted. Fear that a customer will be injured in a crime and subsequently sue for damages, Fear that the criminal may be injured and also be able to sue even though they were injured in the commission of a crime.

Even my choice to drive the beater vehicle is based in fear. Fear that my nice vehicle will be carjacked, fear that the insurance company will never pay me enough to replace the nice vehicle.

I’ve experienced that already. An illegal totaled my paid for, well maintained vehicle. The insurance company paid off less than the cost of a comparable used vehicle & I ended up with another car loan that I didn’t want. That illegal with no drivers license, or insurance, took something from me and I got to pick up the difference. She stole from me personally, and from everyone else paying for car insurance in Southern California.

Had the immigration laws been enforced, she wouldn’t have been in the country. So once again lack of enforcement of the law resulted in tangible harm being visited upon an innocent victim.

These are the hidden costs of not enforcing the law. 

Closed mall.I find that I feel no pity for neighborhoods where fast food restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacies, and other necessary stores, are closing due to crime.

I know that the shopping centers closest to me are probably looking at closing. If not the entire shopping center, then stores within the center. I’m expecting to loose the nearby Taco Bell, Burger King, McDonald’s, and probably a number of smaller independent restaurants, due to the new minimum wage in California, the criminal element, and too few customers in a day. 

Lincoln mall 1 min.I suspect that the shopping centers will follow suit. I’ve seen it before. There was a shopping mall in San Bernardino years ago.

I worked right across the street from it. I shopped there on my lunch hour, and did my Christmas shopping after work. That mall wasn’t where you’d find top of the line things, but for a sweater, or a shirt, or a pair of socks it was perfect and convenient.  

I remember at some point walking through the place with my other half and commenting that the clientele was getting kind of low class. Then on another occasion we witnessed petty shoplifting and reported it to the employees of the store.

They shrugged and said there wasn’t anything they could do. By the time the police would show up, the criminals would be gone.

Within a few years all the major stores had vacated. What was left, was a strange collection of stores mostly involved in the wig, weave, and cheap cosmetics industries.

None of that was of any interest to us so we stopped going to that mall entirely. A few years after that, the mall was closed.

The last few times I’ve been to the local malls, and even the newest outdoor shopping plaza, I’ve noticed the same pattern and signs. Boarded up stores, “For Lease” signs, a more shady element in the clientele, the feeling that too many eyes were looking for opportunity, and once again I’ve seen petty theft brazenly happening. 

I thought a year or two ago, these were residual effects from the COVID lockdowns. Indeed that may have been the start, but the damage is taking a long time to correct.

I’m thinking now that the years of lawlessness, “mostly peacful” protests followed by looting and general destruction have contributed to the damage.

Uncertainty about what will be done to enforce the law, & loss of clientele due to their concerns for safety, may well end the era of some shopping centers in my local area.

Ironically, the thieves end up stealing from themselves. They’re just not smart enough to see it. 

Few people think about what happens when the cost to open a business’s doors go up. 

There’s a finite cost just to open a store every day. Power, employees, insurance, merchandise, just to name a few things. If these cost more, then the cost of merchandise to the consumer will go up. This reduces the consumer’s buying power and as I understand it, is called inflation. If the consumer’s salary doesn’t keep up, then they’ll buy less, forego purchases altogether,  or find cheaper alternatives. 

Eventually there’s a point where the business cannot remain in business because the cost to open is greater than the profit to be had from selling merchandise. If the business is also dealing with shoplifting, that point is reached faster. A smart business owner will sell off everything, then find greener pastures.

California is a perfect petrie dish demonstrating these concepts.

Since it’s essentially legal to steal $900 a day from a store. Plus in some areas there are multiple thieves or gangs of thieves the losses rapidly add up.

Cost of mitigation to slow the theft down may exceed the profitability of the store in a particular location, so logic dictates the store must close to protect the shareholders. 

We’ve seen this in San Francisco, & Oakland. Fast food restaurants are closing because of increasing violence toward their employees and robberies. (A.K.A. Increased liability.) Retail stores have or are closing because the theft has exceeded the profitability of the store and the cost of insurance + limitations on coverage make the policy no longer affordable.

Lawlessness, & failure to enforce laws are directly responsible for the resulting “Food Deserts” and lack of neighborhood stores and services.

It doesn’t take long.

Aside from the loss of jobs, the loss of services, loss of pharmacies, loss of grocery stores, and the loss of places to eat… What happens to the people left in these “No go zones?” One could conclude that Ghettos are a result of lawlessness.

Perhaps the conclusion could be reached that said, Black Lives Matter and the Defund the police movement have done far worse things to African Americans and other minorities than the police or racism ever could.

Once again, a whole group of people has been stolen from. This time by people claiming to help. In this case these folks may have had their futures stolen too.

This is shit that goes through my mind often. I think to myself I can’t be the only one who sees it.

I’ve written this long assed post because this rattling around my brain is like a splinter. I really needed to dig it out of my head and put it in yours!

You’re Welcome!