Month: June 2022

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They Said this would never happen.

The SAID it couldn’t happen.

They said that they weren’t making a database. They said the information was safe. They said anyone who questioned them was a child hating, war mongering, insanely violent, racist, monster.

Yet here we are.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting a California DOJ breach of every single Concealed Carry permit holder in the state. Initial reports said the breach was limited, but subsequent reports now state the breach was all the records.

Other news outlets report that the data exposed not only those who had concealed carry permits, but all those who applied for permits, granted or not.

Breaking news… It appears now that even the information about people who’d obtained a California Gun Safety Certificate had their data exposed. FYI a California Gun Safety Certificate does not mean you own a gun, it only provides proof that you’re aware of pretty basic gun safety rules and some of the California laws surrounding gun ownership.

The California Gun Safety Certificate is a quick and easy way for California to collect $20 every 4 or 5 years and have you pay the California DOJ for the privilege of having your name, address, and other personal information put into their database. The safety certificate is a big nothing burger, but it’s required before you can purchase a gun.

All the better to identify law abiding citizens who may, possibly, need to have their homes raided by a SWAT team at 2AM, if California decides that person might, possibly, just maybe, need to have red flag search and seizure of property contained in their home.

Back in Oct of 2016, The California DOJ had another “oopsie” and released the names and addresses of 3500 firearms instructors.

I haven’t checked, but I seem to recall there was some kind of gun control law moving through the California Legislature which was encountering a lot of opposition. I don’t remember if the firearms instructors were being vocal about opposing the legislation at the time. It would be an interesting coincidence if they were.

California wants a complete gun registry. The California DOJ wants to know about every single gun in the state. Even if those guns were legally owned by a citizen prior to them moving into the state.

California lawmakers claim this is to provide better safety to the people of California. They often use the safety of California children as their justification.

Really? Using Children? How about lawmakers actually address the problem of crime in the state? That would be a refreshing change.

Lest I forget… the California DOJ approves of guns via a very expensive testing procedure that gun manufacturers must pay for, and must also provide every variation (even if the variation is color,) of gun for testing.

If a manufacturer chooses not to provide a weapon and pay a fee, then the California DOJ will say that gun can’t be sold in California. The funny thing is that the California DOJ will drop guns from the approved list after that gun may have been approved for several years. Does that mean anyone owning such a gun is now in possession of an illegal firearm? Is that otherwise law abiding citizen committing a felony?

The fact is, there are some guns which are family heirlooms (think grandpa’s gun). Others that were gifts. All legally owned, and handed down father to son, or brother to brother. California, wants all of these guns to be subject to registration and investigation. How does California deal with these guns, many of which were likely never approved for sale by the California DOJ ?

While California dilly dallies around investigating, those weapons are supposed to be handed to a licensed gun dealer for a fee until California “approves”. Which means, that those guns are now not under the physical control of the owners. Should the gun go missing, and be used in a crime… The owner of record is still responsible even though the gun in question, wasn’t in their possession due to California’s regulations.

It doesn’t matter to the California legislature, that the guns may have been sitting in a law abiding citizen’s safe for a decade or more and haven’t been used in some horrendous mass shooting.

Various gun owners associations have repeatedly pointed out that such a gun registry doesn’t help Law Enforcement, nor does it make law abiding citizens safer. Law abiding citizens aren’t the folks engaging in the rampant gun violence plaguing California. Criminals are responsible for the gun violence. Guess what? They’re probably not buying their guns legally!

What such a registry does, is allow weaponization of various police agencies. It provides unscrupulous politicians an avenue of retaliation against those who might speak in opposition to them.

Or, as in this latest data breach…

The California DOJ has exposed the names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, home phone, and other personal data to anyone who might wish to engage in identity theft, target certain judges, citizens, or law enforcement personnel, or who might be looking for a target of opportunity to steal guns.

Great job California DOJ! Well Done! Instead of insuring the safety of law abiding citizens… You’ve painted a target on their backs!

On the plus side… You’ve destroyed any credibility of a gun registry!

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Well, lost another friendly acquaintance today…

No they didn’t die.

We were riding in my car and happened to pass by a F*&K BIDEN sign.

My passenger muttered, “fucking Trumper.”

I chuckled then asked, “What makes you think that household is a Trump household?”

My Passenger replied, “That Fuck Biden sign.”

I pointed out that simply not liking Biden doesn’t mean someone is automatically pro-Trump. It could just as easily be a commentary on the job Biden has done in the past 18 months.

“Nah, Biden is so much better than Trump”, my passenger said.

I posited this, “If you remove emotion about Trump from the equation entirely and evaluate only Biden’s performance. Are you better off now, 18 months after Biden took office than you were prior to Biden taking office?”

That got my passenger thinking, but they didn’t reply.

I continued, “For example, The day Biden took office, one of my small 401Ks was worth 17K, almost double what the original investment was. Today that 401K is worth 12K. So in 18 months The Biden Administration policies have disrupted the economy sufficiently that I’ve lost almost all the gains. Even during COVID at the tail end of 2019 and through 2020 that 401K investment continued to gain in value.”

My passenger retorted, ” Well COVID hurt the entire country.”

I replied, “To be sure, COVID did have an effect. But why has that effect catalyzed in the first 18 months of The Biden Administration? Further why has the economy faltered so dramatically? Why are we looking at a recession? Why has the supply chain not recovered? Why have base fuel prices, not just gasoline, but diesel and other petroleum goods risen so dramatically? The previous Administration had one full year of COVID as has the Current Administration.”

My passenger said, “Well Trump made a mess of the government and Biden is fixing it. That is going to take time.”

I said, “Okay, then by your logic Trump somehow screwed up the government and the economy, effectively creating a house of cards waiting to fall, that Biden needed to fix?”

“Well yeah,” my passenger said.

I offered, “There are two ways to deal with a house of cards. One is to tear it down and start over, the other way is to leave it the hell alone.”

“So you’re a Trumper?” My passenger asked.

“Nope. I’m a fucking realist! If you don’t understand something, don’t fuck with it! That’s one of the more simple rules of life. If the Biden Administration didn’t understand whatever machinations Trump may or may not have put in the government, they shouldn’t have started hacking away at them. Beyond that, I’m very concerned that our country has gotten to the point that simply being critical of Biden elicits the assumption that whoever is speaking critically of The President, must automatically be a Trumper. That kind of polarized thinking is exactly the kind of thinking that leads to civil wars, or violence in the streets.”

My passenger said, “There can’t be a civil war here.”

“Oh? Why not?” I asked making a right turn.

“The military is controlled by The President. He wouldn’t allow a civil war to happen,” came my passenger’s reply.

I replied, “That, by definition, would be a civil war. Just FYI… The US military, and I don’t have exact numbers, is probably outnumbered 30 to 1, or more by able bodied, and armed, people of the United States. Some units may stand down in the face of an illegal order to fire on the very people they exist to protect. The Biden Administration giving such an order would likely cause chaos in the ranks, resulting in more units standing down as they questioned whether they were serving The Constitution, and The Republic, or a dictatorship. The practical upshot would be that their effectiveness would be further reduced. Also consider our military is very effective in a wide variety of engagements. But our military and in fact, most militaries fall short in urban / guerrilla warfare. Vietnam and Afghanistan underscore that point nicely. Generally speaking, the people of the United States would have the home turf advantage, since it is unlikely US Military units would be locals to the areas they’d be called in to quell.”

“They’d have to follow orders,” my passenger said.

“Or what? They’d be shot by their own comrades? Imprisoned? Either way their effectiveness would be reduced, and the rage of cold, hungry, broke, homeless citizens would be further inflamed at the atrocity being committed in their name. It’s a no win scenario for The Biden Administration to call out the military.”

We passed another 4 F*&K BIDEN signs in people’s yards.

“Why are there so many Trumpers in this town,” My passenger asked again.

“Because they’re not Trumpers. They’re exercising their First Amendment Right to express themselves. There are more of those signs everyday because more people disagree with the policies of President Biden. Two of the last four signs weren’t there last Thursday.”

“They should be taken down by the police. They’re disrespectful!” My passenger asserted.

“So you’re a communist?” I asked.

“NO! How could you say that?” My passenger demanded.

“Well, you just said criticisms of The Leader were disrespectful and should be confiscated. Isn’t that one of the hallmarks of Communism or Dictatorships?” I asked.

Continuing, I said, “I’ve been thinking, I may have to get one of those signs. I’m extremely displeased with President Biden’s performance too.”

We rode on in silence.

My passenger did have the courtesy to thank me for the ride as they disembarked. I don’t think they’ll be riding with me, or speaking to me, in the future. Of course, since I’m a decent human being, if they were to ask and offered to pay for gas, I’d get them where they wanted to go.

Possibly with a F*&K Biden bumper sticker affixed to my car…

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Hard Choices

I remind you, that it is not immoral to secure your oxygen mask, before helping others with theirs.

In a disaster or industrial accident, It is not immoral to save those who have a good chance of survival by providing medical resources to them, while providing pain killers, but not wasting medical resources, to those who are suffering but who will not survive.

These are admittedly stark choices. Yet we’re all familiar with them. During the COVID pandemic doctors and nurses essentially made these decisions in hospitals nationwide.

We accepted this without question.

The talking heads on our screens went so far as to say, those who did not comply with masking, vaccines, and isolation… Should be left to die.

That these “Journalists” weren’t called out on such statements and their disappointment that millions of (R) voters didn’t die is a sign of how far “Journalism” has fallen in this country.

Why, given these harsh but acceptable realities do we refuse to accept that we cannot help every single less fortunate country?

Our farming community is warning that there will likely be more food shortages in the coming months.

Yet we continue to send grain to other countries. We continue to allow people to swarm the southern border, are we condemning these poor souls to starvation?

Inflation and high fuel prices are predicted to be with us until at least 2023. It will cost more to heat our homes in the winter. It will cost more for electricity and water, year round.

Getting to, and from work, will cost more. Bus fares, taxis, or train fares, will all go up regardless of how they’re powered.

As we’ve seen, gasoline for automobiles has skyrocketed, making commuting to work more expensive, and working from home more desirable.

Median housing prices have topped $400,000 according to Consumer Affairs. This will drag rental prices up, further pricing low middle, and low income people out of decent housing.

These folks will not be able to buy a home, and as their rent increases they’ll be pushed further under water, making it hard for them to simply hold on to what they have.

Can you really work from home if you’re sharing a one bedroom apartment with 5 other people? How’s that important teleconference going to work with people coming and going in the background?

Adding millions of immigrants with varying skills, literacy, and language abilities, to the population will only increase strain on state and federal resources. Additionally, doesn’t this fuel rental scarcity and rent increases?

Would a landlord prefer to evict people already in apartments who may occasionally have trouble paying their rent on time, for a guaranteed income paid for by Government aid to house immigrants?

There is a growing scarcity of medical professionals. More skilled doctors are retiring all the time. Some cite burnout from COVID, others cite stresses imposed on them by insurance bureaucracies and lack of qualified staff.

Will newcomers to this country soon be adding to the hoards of people already waiting for care in emergency rooms? What effect does that have on already stressed medical professionals? If the burnout among medical professionals increases won’t the quality of healthcare be diminished as a result?

Will hospitals and Emergency Rooms have to add full time translators to their staff just to communicate? What will these realities, and those I can’t imagine, do to cost of medical care?

Our government’s solution to the problem is to keep taking people in, and spread them around the country. That works in the short term. But longer term, unless the inflow is stopped, all the current solution does is create desperation, ghettos, and hopelessness.

The tragedy is that many of these people have traveled thousands of miles at great personal risk, some of them taking on incredible debt to criminal organizations, only to be put right back in conditions similar to those they left.

How disheartening must it be to go through all that hardship and suffering only to end up in a place that looks exactly like where they left, their job prospects are the same or worse, everything is more expensive, and they don’t understand the culture or the language to boot.

This is why, until recently, most first world nations had very strict immigration quotas and enforced them. It wasn’t about cruelty or malice. It was the practical realization that groups of immigrants (illegal or otherwise) need time to assimilate into a new culture. Time to find productive employment, and time to move out of assisted housing to stand on their own.

That these same first world nations so vehemently criticized our nation’s attempts at curbing illegal immigration is another matter.

Now that they are being overrun themselves it would be easy to smile and tell them, “See, we told you so…” That would be counterproductive, fair, but counterproductive.

It will be interesting to see what these countries say to our nation when they start their deportation flights. At least one, maybe two EU countries are doing exactly that. They’ve seen they can’t help, and are trying to send people back to their points of origin.

A better solution would be for the United States, and these EU nations to make it known;

“DON’T COME! Your situation will be no better here. Don’t risk your lives or the lives of your family. You’ll only be deported, and what money you spent will be wasted.”

For the US, we need to complete the border wall. There are those who’ll say people find their way around and over the wall. Yep, they do. But not hundreds or thousands in a month.

The wall won’t stop the flow entirely, but it may reduce it to a manageable level. A level that allows proper hearings, proper evaluation of asylum requests, and a way for the system to work as it’s intended. This would allow those who legitimately request asylum to be housed, fed, integrated into communities, and welcomed.

The time is coming when we’ll have to accept it’s time to put our own oxygen masks on, and leave the fate of others… In their own hands.

It’s not fair.

The antelope on the African savanna doesn’t think it’s fair the lion is eating him. That doesn’t stop the lion. The lion doesn’t think it’s fair that he’s been hungry for 5 days either.

Life rarely deals out equitable outcomes. The sooner we accept that, the sooner we’ll be able to make changes that will allow us to help those we can help.

This is why I’m in favor of immigration control. I think it’s cruel to allow people to believe in a dream of The United States, strive to get here and then destroy them with the reality that they’re no better off.

Afghanistan had a major earthquake. Sorry!

The Taliban…

The Fucking Taliban! Is asking for aid, a.k.a. CASH to help with their recovery efforts.

I wish I was in a position to tell them two words via diplomatic channels.

“FUCK OFF!”

Clean up your own mess. That’s what a functioning government does. If you can’t take care of an earthquake, you don’t deserve to be in power.

For me, it’s that cut & dried. I’m sorry a thousand innocent people lost their lives, that’s where my largess ends.

We fought you terrorist assholes for 20 years. Biden left you 80 Billion in arms and equipment, (which is now showing up in black markets around the globe).

You assholes have more than enough assets to clean up the mess. That is, if you can take 10 minutes to write a check, or a month of black market profit and put it into your country, instead of your pockets.

Why should America or any other civilized nation prop up your failed government? It’s far simpler and cheaper to allow your people to see what kind of failures, and how corrupt you are.

Maybe someone will loan your people a bulldozer to shove all your body parts into a mass grave full of pig offal. Because when they figure out you’re stealing bread from their tables, they’re gonna rip you apart with their bare hands.

We have problems of our own. Our politicians, who may not be much better than the Taliban when it comes to corruption, will be looking to cover their own asses if shortages continue, or increase in the civilized world.

Tell you what Taliban… Call Venezuela see what they can do for you.

Until then, you Taliban jackasses better sleep alone. It will probably be the women you take to rape, that slit your throats.

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Good God! Please make them shut up!

I’m totally sick of the Abortion shit!

Although there have been some headlines that have made me laugh.

Sex Strike! Abstinence trends on Twitter in wake of Roe v. Wade ruling

As if a man would want to have sex with this one…

She looks like she stepped off the set of John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars

Then there’s this one.

Not at all a flattering angle.

The general consensus among lots of Men seems to be; “Your Terms are acceptable”

Women, really need to realize, Men don’t need them to pleasure ourselves. We might prefer to have a woman in our beds. But if the pain in the ass level is too high, we’ll find alternatives.

One need only look at the sex toy industry, or even a single online catalog and you’ll find there are a multitude of very pleasurable substitutes that cost less than Dinner and Drinks on one date.

All of the above are reviewed at GQ The Best Sex Toys for Men

The beauty of some of these toys is that they’re easily cleanable, or in some cases entirely disposable. Oh… Don’t forget a decent lubricant!

Then there’s Pink.

Who is she? Why Should I care? I don’t think I’ve ever heard any of her music, and see zero need to do so now.

Then there’s this one from Elizabeth Warren…

Biden Needs to Make ‘Federal Lands in Place Where Abortions Can Occur’

When I read this one, I pictured this

We know how the US Government is about reservations…

Then there’s this from AOC

AOC: Arkansas abortion ban ‘will kill people’

That title was provocative enough that I pulled up the video. She does justify her statement somewhat.

All that being said…

Nowhere in the constitution does it say, “Sure, hack up that baby growing inside you, then scoop the pieces out of your womb.”

Abortion is not birth control it’s fucking murder. I don’t give a runny shit how you try to sanitize it.

I’m in favor of abortion in the case of rape. No question about it. A man who rapes a woman doesn’t deserve to reproduce, ever! Further I’d say castrate the fucker, cut ‘em off sack and all, when he’s caught.

Don’t bother with a nice clean surgery center, a decent knife, and four stout men. (Two to hold his legs open, one to pin him down, and one to wield the knife! As you can tell, I don’t have any mercy for rape.) That alone would have a chilling effect on rapists across the country.

I’m in favor of abortions in the case of incest. Our species shouldn’t be weakening itself by narrowing genetic diversity. Just look at the Royals of Europe.

I’m in favor of abortions in the case of mother’s life versus continuing the pregnancy.

What I’m not in favor of is abortion just because the couple, (Yes, the Man and the Woman) were too stupid, or too lazy, to avail themselves of the myriad options available to prevent the pregnancy in the first place.

Abortion, generally speaking is not about women’s health it’s about covering up that the couple was irresponsible.

It’s about a woman taking the rights of a man too. There are some men, who want children, and who may only have one time in their lives when they can father them.

The implied message of Abortion is that men can always father children. Who cares if half a dozen of their potential offspring are murdered before they have a child?

That’s not always the case. Lower male fertility rate statistics show it clearly.

How many men find out too late that they’re functionally sterile because of pollution, hormones or chemicals, in the water, or other factors?

How many men look back on their girlfriends or fiancé’s who got abortions and wish they’d had the joy of holding their child in their arms?

I’ll grant you there may not be a huge preponderance. I’m willing to bet there are men jerking off into cups at fertility clinics for sperm counts, while their wife waits in the lounge, who wish they’d had a say when their ex-girlfriend took off to an abortion clinic.

My view will not be popular. Fine. It’s the way I see it. You don’t have to agree, just as I don’t have to agree that rampant abortion is just hunky dory, or empowering.

This SCOTUS ruling doesn’t ban abortion. All it does, is say that abortion is not enshrined in the Constitution. It kicks the issue back to the states for their legislatures to decide.

The SCOTUS is supposed to rule on the constitutionality of laws. That’s it, they’re not supposed to legislate from the bench. Congress makes the Laws.

And yes, theoretically this could reverse Gay marriage. It could also theoretically reverse rulings on inter-racial marriage.

I don’t think it will.

There’s a difference between marriage and abortion.

Marriage is about pursuing individual happiness, and living the life you choose to live, with the partner of your choice. Both parties enter into a marriage with open eyes and are presumably adults exercising their rights to live in freedom.

I hold that neither the State or Federal government has any say in the matter. Marriage is essentially a contract.

That laws and rulings had to be made to limit State and Federal interference in the lives of citizens regarding who they could marry, speaks volumes about the level of control the State and Federal governments unconstitutionally exercised.

Abortion fundamentally denies the right of an unborn child to life. This violates one of the first principals enumerated in The Declaration of Independence.

Looking at it this way, by extension, the unborn child could be protected by The Constitution. A case could be made, that the SCOTUS should stand to give voice to citizens who cannot yet speak for themselves.

The SCOTUS didn’t go that far. I think it would have make an interesting and compelling case…

If they had, then abortions in cases of rape, or incest would have to be denied too.

Reading through The Constitution, there are references to being “Born”. This implies a live birth, and could be construed to mean that an unborn child is not yet protected by The Constitution.

I could see this view too, and wouldn’t be surprised to find this was the reason SCOTUS enabled abortion in 1973. Using this line of reasoning, the woman’s rights would in fact supersede the rights of the unborn child.

This brings the whole issue to the question of, “When does life begin?”

For the founders, life began at birth. The squalling child drinking in those first deep breaths. They knew that a life was growing inside a pregnant woman. But for them the fruition of that growing life was birth.

Our technology has given us deeper insight.

If we could show The Founding Fathers images from inside the womb, if we could show them that still growing babies look human and react if they feel threatened or pain. I’m confident that they’d go back and revise The Constitution to include unborn children.

Some politicians say, “It’s just a clump of cells…” That is true at first. But once those clumps of cells differentiate into brain, heart, eyes, and take on a human appearance. It’s a human being in my book.

I’m confident that The Founding Fathers would be horrified by what the abortion industry has done.

I sure as hell am.

To all those politicians from other countries voicing their opinions about the SCOTUS decision…

Shut the Hell up!

This is our country. Our Constitution.

You have Zero say in how we govern ourselves.

Your input is neither requested or desired.

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Calendar Cleaning! That’s better!

Where did all these observances come from?

A while ago, I subscribed to an online Calendar that neatly stuck all the US holidays into my digital Calendar.

It was nice at first. Everything that I wanted to know was there. I could plan long weekends and knew when it was likely to be a bad day to go to the bank or post office.

As is usual for me with these things, I simply forgot about it and was content that I wouldn’t have to enter holidays that moved around from year to year depending on Fridays or Mondays closest to the actual date if the holiday fell on a Saturday or Sunday.

Years go by. There was small additions to the observances, but they were pretty mundane. One here, one there, in a month. No big deal.

A few more years go by.

Today I opened my calendar to full month view for the first time in I don’t know when.

WTF?!?!

My once simple calendar was now loaded with all kinds of observances and holidays that mean nothing to me. There were literally hundreds of Civil Servants days. Obama Day? Librarians Day? 4 different wordings of Juneteenth? Columbus Day, Indigenous Peoples Day, National Indigenous Peoples Day?

In some cases there were so many observances on a single day that the “All Day” section of the calendar was saying +9 more because it couldn’t display them all in the space provided.

There were also duplicates… So Many duplicates! (I hate duplicate data.)

Come on…

Unless it’s a national holiday and therefore a day off from work, or the banks are closed. I don’t care.

There was a time when it was nice to see “National Secretaries Day” but now, it’s become easier to find a day without some observance or another than to pay attention to all the observances.

It’s all become noise, a distraction. Is my calendar free for that day? Who can tell at a glance anymore?

After spending a few minutes trying to figure out the best way to flush all the random crap that had become meaningless. I decided instead to simply unsubscribe from what had once been a very useful service.

My calendar took 2 minutes to reconcile itself.

When it was done…

AHHHHH! Once again at a glance, I can see my schedule without having to open the day to specifically check.

My appointments, and mine alone show up. Their little green tags clearly show how much of my day they occupy. They’re not being overwritten by events and observances that don’t matter.

My historical calendar is visible again. This is a calendar that I created years ago with neat facts about the day in history. Amelia Earharts take off, the first man in space, the first woman in space, the date of the Norman invasion, that kind of thing. In each of these entries notes section I’d put detailed information about the event.

Suddenly Anniversaries, Birthdays, and my stuff is all there, with the original color coding I’d selected, instead of a muddy mess.

You know, it’s not so hard to enter “Real” Holidays into my calendar. There are some that require special treatment, but it’s a small price to pay for a clean readable schedule.

This is what happens when you pander to everyone.

Maybe we should pick just a few biggies and leave the rest to be observed by those who care?