Category: Musings

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Well There’s my problem!

I was reading… Scanning headlines as I often do and a headline caught my attention.

The Headline was something like Russia sanctions nuclear weapons in Belarus. I thought “Great!” A few less nuclear weapons in the world is probably a good thing.

Then I read the article a little further, and found that Russia was allowing weapons to be deployed in Belarus. 

Hmmm. 

But we impose sanctions on Iran to keep them from doing shit that nobody likes.

To the dictionary Boy Blunder!!!

Oh hell no!

This word has no fucking meaning at all does it?

As a Noun it could be a penalty or permission, as a verb it’s the same.

Why does this word even exist?

No wonder there are pallets of cash and uranium being moved around to our enemies. 

They wrote the agreements using a word that is as two faced as Janus. (Look it up…)

I don’t want to hear this word being bandied about by journalist, politicians, or anyone else ever again! I’m putting this word in my official “Weasel Word collection”. This collection is my personal list of words not to use, and words that when others use them are red flags that the person is lying to my face.

I was looking for references to Russia threatening to Nuke Berlin, DC, and a couple of other cities if the west really threw in to ensure Ukraine won the war.

This seemed to me to be something of interest. While I’d caught the headline, I didn’t have time or inclination to read something that would very probably depress me. 

Then happily, I remembered that I am a child of the 1960’s. I grew up living under the imminent threat of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War. 

Nukes! Smooks! Bring it on bitches!!!! I remember how to duck and cover!

Although I must admit I might be inclined to send Putin a box of chocolates if he nuked DC.

That would solve a number of problems at once. Crime… Homelessness… Shitty Government…

Ahh there’s the piece…

Russia Will Drop ‘Entire Arsenal’ on London, Washington if it Doesn’t Win Ukraine War

It’s a Breitbart piece. It looks like Medvedev was saber rattling for the folks at home. I wondered why none of the talking heads were breathlessly telling us this was a result of Tucker Carlson interviewing Putin. 

Apparently they didn’t believe the threat was credible. 

The media and others say Tucker Carlson is now a traitor… Yawn. He’s the puppet of Putin… Sigh. He’s a useful idiot to Putin… Whatever.

There was a time when a real journalist would interview Jesus and then Satan just to present both sides of the story. Carlson in my opinion did what any decent journalist would have done. He seized an opportunity to go directly to the source.

We’ve heard all kinds of stuff from Zelensky, personally I wanted to hear from Putin in his own words.

Putin may possibly be a bit crazy, but he’s not senile and infirm like our president. 

The Russian guards in dress uniforms looked a bit odd. It was like they didn’t want to risk eye contact with Putin but still needed to watch over him. They looked uncomfortable performing their task. I wonder if that’s a traditional holdover from the days of the Tsar. There’s something in my memory about not meeting the eye of the emperor or king because mere commoners weren’t equal to the emperor.

I’ll have to look it up, refresh my memory.

Anyway that’s enough randomness for this morning. Time to get breakfast, then walk the K9. Spring is around the corner and Im planning on talking to the realtor mid March.

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Too Conservative for California…

Adam Schiff continuing to hammer away on Steve Garvey with that tag line started me thinking.

In the latest ad, it looks like Schiff has updated the attack on Garvey to include the other two democrats running against Schiff.

I thought it was an odd tactic. Schiff is portraying a unified wall of Democrats against the lone conservative Republican. I wondered if this might not backfire in a couple of ways.

1) Americans in general love an underdog.  We also used to love baseball. Especially in Garvey’s time. 

2) Schiff’s ad with the tagline “Too Conservative for California” and Democrats lined up against Garvery making his choice to vote for Trump sound like a crime. Who cares if Garvey voted for Trump? What does that matter? That Schiff’s ad uses Garvey’s voting history as it does, embodies perfectly why I personally have felt like I need to get out of California for years.

I too am “Too Conservative for California” 

I’ve felt more and more unwelcome in California. A place I spent all of my adult life in. A place where I worked hard, and with my partner carved out a bit of the American dream. I naively believed that California would always feel welcoming and like a place of opportunity.

California has become very Judgmental, on a personal level. 

I remember when it was okay to discuss politics and not have the discussion devolve into an argument and hurt feelings. I remember a time when Democrat and Republican / Liberal and Conservative could actually have a discussion where both sides listened to the nuance of the points being discussed.

Now, expressing a non-sanctioned or unapproved opinion can get you thrown out of a bar or restaurant or worse. Walk into a public place and declare you’re Pro-Life and anti “transing” a child under 18. See what happens, you might want to make sure your health and life insurance are paid up…

Democrats agree.Seeing the image of Porter, Lee, and Schiff, with a tag line, something like Democrats Agree, Garvey is not right for California, really crystallized the issue.

California actively HATES anyone with a different opinion. California HATES the individual, the business person, the farmer, and even the entrepreneur. 

California demonstrates that hatred with the ubiquitous high taxation, fees, regulations, and business tax prepayment requirements. Then the State of California continues to demonstrate its contempt for its citizens with a deficit budget, lawlessness, and spending in ways that do not help the citizens of California or the United States, for that matter.

Adam Schiff, in producing this ad might have told the truth for the first time in his career, albeit inadvertently.

Adam Schiff and the Democrat party of California are inviting any and all  Conservatives to leave.

There’s no winning against these Democrats. I think all conservatives and Republicans should simply stop trying.

It’s time to let California go. 

Eventually even the farmers will be driven out. Rest assured, California will enact regulations that prevent ranching, and farming at scale. California will try to implement the “Green” policies that European Farmers have been protesting for at least the last year. 

The Central Valley Famers don’t have the numbers to stand up against the Dazzling Urbanites of the Coastal cities. The farmers can’t win a vote for better government in California. They don’t have the voting numbers to break away from the dank denizens of the Coastal homeless and open air sewage encampments.

California has also mastered the art and weaponization of regulation.

Regulations are not laws, they’re not subject to the same scrutiny as a law. Regulations, nonetheless can have the power of law. The issue is that regulations are concocted by unelected bureaucrats hidden in office warrens and cubicle farms. They have no accountability and never directly see or feel the effects of their regulation. These bureaucrats don’t ever concern themselves with the question of a regulation working as intended, so long as the fee from that regulation keeps being collected. 

As a result of regulation, I’ve allowed my yard to look like the surface of the moon. At one time, my yard was in bloom from spring through fall. I had all the colors of California. It was work that I enjoyed. Walking into the yard always made me smile. Jerry would keep an eye on me and call me in for a drink of water and rest about every hour or so, because I’d get lost in what I was doing and forget things like drinking or eating. My weekends were pleasurable and happy.

That was all before the county decided to “protect” us with inspections backed up with fines that if left unpaid, would result in liens on our property and county contractors showing up to clear our property of offensive plants. These contractors have the ability to charge double or triple their normal rate, they bill the county who passes the charge along to the property owner with interest accruing monthly. 

I got tired of the county sending “Inspectors” who knew nothing about native plants indigenous to the area, coming up onto my property and fining me for planting and maintaining, flowering, drought resistant, landscaping.

Oh and these “Inspectors” were on par with every fucking ‘Karen’ I’ve ever encountered in an HOA! After a while, I simply got tired of fighting with them.

Each year, it was the same shit, I was sending photos and plant identification of the California Natives and writing dissertation after dissertation explaining that these plants were not fire hazards, they were in fact far enough away from the structure, they were drought resistant and therefore ecologically responsible.

But we all know how “Karens” are… They can never be wrong! Their opinions and beliefs are absolutely and always correct. I’d no sooner win one battle, then the Karen’s would change the rules to “prove” they were right and I was wrong.

There came a year when I looked at Jerry and asked if just let the yard die, would he be okay with it. He said, “Yep”. He was just as tired of the bullshit as I was.

I simply didn’t turn on the irrigation system that year. Any plant that dared to sprout, I cut down with the weed whacker. The Karens from the county fined us to clean up some pine needles that weren’t on our property.

My response was a letter back to them, stating that I’d already plowed under all the California natives on my property thereby devaluing the property tax assessment and informing them that if they chose to make me responsible for other properties, I would use my chainsaw to cut down every single tree on my property and surrounding properties to make them stop harassing us.

I don’t think my letter had nearly the impact of the letter one of Jerry’s attorney friends sent.

All we ever wanted was to live in a pretty place have a nice yard, small garden, look up at the stars at night, and be left the fuck alone. But regulation and regulators, needed to be made and employed didn’t they?

I chose to be 70 miles away from LA and Orange County to AVOID HOA fuckwads. I was successful with the damn HOAs but Jerry and I couldn’t avoid the damn California bureaucrats. Nor could we avoid fighting with the county for almost 20 years over their flood control people destroying the road in front of the house, and destroying the environment in and around the wash.

Now that I’m contemplating selling the place, I’ll buy some cheap plants that won’t survive the summer, pretty the place up, collect the proceeds from the sale and head for California’s border. I don’t think I’ll be looking back either.

California may well be the state closest to a full communism regime in the United States. The state is not quite there but if you ask yourself dangerous questions like;

“What do I really get for my investment of taxes, and fees?”

“Is my family any safer?”

“Are the roads better?”

“Can I walk or drive the streets of major cities in the state without fear of being victimized?”

“How long does it take for police to get to my home? “

“How long does it take for paramedics to get to my home? “

“How long does it take for me to see a doctor at an Urgent care or Emergency Room?”

“Why does it take the time it does? What state policies impact any of these issues?”

If you ask those questions and do not immediately leap to “The solution is more government” Then you’re probably not welcome in California.

Hate to tell you this, but you’ve been contaminated by conservative thoughts… It’s only a matter of time before you start asking other questions. 

“Do these elected officials represent me or my community’s best interests?”

“Why do I find my fellow Californians and / or Democrats so annoying lately?”

“Why don’t I like being at rallies for leftist causes anymore?”

Contrary to popular leftist / Democratic dogma. Asking these questions does not automatically mean you’ll be seeking to join the nearest Neo Nazi party. Trust me you’ll not be doing Nazi Salutes or be drinking the MAGA Koolaid from Trumps dick.

It means that you’re actually doing a cost / benefit analysis and realizing that it’s coming up short. The % of your income given to government does not equal the value returned by the government.  Oh you’ll realize it’s not just the state of California, it’s the federal government too. 

You’ll simply understand that by leaving California where conservatives are not wanted, you’ll be able to dial down the % of your income taken from you from which you derive no benefit. You’ll essentially be able to focus on fighting ONLY the taxation and wasteful spending of the Federal Government.

I suppose I should thank Googly eyes Schiff for clarifying the position of the DNC in California. 

They’re saying “GET OUT! We don’t want your kind here…” 

Message received!

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Alright, I’ll admit I’m intrigued by the Apple vision thing.

I don’t know if I’m 3500.00 intrigued.

There is something interesting about having a completely virtual display and the ability to make that display almost any size you’d like.

When I think about being about to watch movies on as big a screen as I’d like in silence, without disturbing someone else that’s sort of nice. (I don’t think I want larger than life-size porn though.)

One of the use cases Apple shows, is a guy on a plane. That one rang true for me personally.

I was once watching a movie on my phone with headphones on a plane and the lady sitting next to me angrily flipped my phone face down on my tray. When I looked at her and asked WHAT THE FUCK?

Her reply was she was a Christian woman and she didn’t agree with my choice of movie. She apparently couldn’t keep her eyes off my phone’s screen.

Okay I was watching “From Dusk to Dawn” but she didn’t have to be looking at my phone. I asked the flight attendant if I could change seats. 

Unfortunately I couldn’t as the flight was full.

I was in the aisle seat. I decided in the interest of just getting through the flight, I’d switch over to music. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the wired earbuds loud enough to drown out her proselytizing for the next 4 hours.

I’d have gone to sleep, but this woman had some bladder condition that had her getting up every 20 minutes, and was adamantly opposed to switching seats, after all, she had a captive audience to bring to Jesus. At one point she accused me of trying to drown her, and Jesus’s word, out with the devils music.

I said, “Yes I’m trying to drown you out because you will not shut up. You crawl over me every 20 minutes to go to the bathroom, you might want to get that checked out by a doctor not a faith healer, and you are literally annoying the hell out of me. However, I hardly think Vivaldi is the devils music.” 

At which point I ordered a bourbon from the flight attendant. It was 9 AM and the bourbon was one of the few I freakin hate. This of course started a whole new and unwanted sermon. I kept drinking and wondered when the last time her husband had just fucked the hell out of her, among many other unkind thoughts.

If we’d been on an exit row, I don’t know if I’d have been able to restrain myself from popping the hatch at 35,000 feet, and sending her straight to Jesus.

“Karens” are not a new phenomena, they were just recently emboldened by fear of an imaginary plague. BTW, all those “Karens” that came out of the woodwork… Remember they are the same bitches that would turn you over to the Gestapo in Germany, The HOA’s across America, Or the Inquisition in medieval Europe. There was a reason politicians in various places established phone numbers to turn in non compliant people during COVID. They knew the “Karens” would light those phone lines up.

“Karens” are the killers of Buzz, Fun, and Joy. They’re the “Enforcers” who gossip, and bitch constantly, their way is the only way and they think nothing of leaving “depression suicides” in their wake. They’ll take no responsibility for pushing someone one step too far. “Karens” are simply the adult versions of the “Mean Girls” from high schools.

They’re the ones who get your kids kicked out of school because of a sticker on your car, they’re the cunts that get you thrown out of a store, bar, or restaurant because you’re not wearing a diaper on your face.

They’re the bitches who complain about your motorcycle or the motorcycle of your friend who stays the night once in a while. They’re the ones who call a tow company at 3 am to have your friend’s motorcycle, their sole source of transportation, removed, and they’ll tell whatever LIE they have to, so they can get their way.

They’re the ones who are so busy ignoring their own life and trying to insinuate themselves into your life, that when they realize their children hate them, their husbands left them, and they’re hated everywhere they go…

Then they’ll blame YOU because you took so much time out of their day trying to maintain control over you.

These rancid cunts are not gone, they just crawled back into the woodwork waiting for another “Cause” for which they can become the unasked for ‘Champions’.

I’ve often wondered if misogynists, like racists, aren’t born… They’re built! Step by step, incident by incident, cut by cut, manipulation by manipulation.

I’m not there yet. But upon reflection, especially after the COVID years I’m a lot closer to either “IST” than I’d like, or ever thought I’d be.

I suspect that general feeling is why so many people lose themselves in gaming, VR, and sitting behind computer screens.

It’s way easier to NOT have to engage with shitty people than to have to learn to deal with them.

For me, if I was flying a lot, or if I was living, as my parents want me to, in their spare bedroom.  I’m pretty sure that I’d plunk down the 3500.00 for Apple Vision to avoid having to have screens or whatever.

Living in my parents house though, I know they’d never let me enjoy a movie. They’re like the lady on the plane, they need constant attention.

Listening to music or a podcast at my parents house while they’re watching some TV program that I’m not interested in, is forbidden. My Mother can’t stand the thought of me not hearing the screaming shrews on The View.

“What are you listening to?”

Arctic Monkeys

“I haven’t’ heard of them.”

“Roll it back, what did Sonny Hostin just say?”

Even going into another room requires a ping every 5 minutes.

Perhaps the 3500.00 wouldn’t be a good investment after all, living with the parents.

Disgusting fatass.I don’t fly anymore. I’ll admit it’s because I don’t want to deal with shitty people, or the TSA, or late flights, or the ridiculous price of food and drink inside the airport, or the flights bouncing across the country landing every hour or two so they don’t have to provide in flight food, or the narrow ass seats, or being trapped next to some sweaty fat person who smells like a rotting whale carcass and knowing I’m never going to be able to get out of my seat to take a piss.

I doubt that Apple Vision at  3500.00 could assuage all the reasons I don’t fly anymore.

Hmmm.

I’m not sure I can see a case for me owning an Apple Vision thingy.

Applestore robbery.Maybe, I’ll try one on the next time I’m in an Apple Store. Then again, since Apple stores are getting overrun with shitty people here in California… Maybe Not.

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That’s the equation…

After writing the downer piece I wrote on Sunday, my brain continued to run along processing various dystopian futures and wishing Jerry was still here. He had a way of making me see things differently.

Eventually, the dog forced me to go on our walk. He was impressively, a Good Boy, the day was bright and beautiful the sun was warm and there are signs of Spring. When we came back after a 2.5 mile hike I was in a better frame of mind.

Those signs of Spring will be erased starting on Thursday. The temps are going to drop to subfreezing and there’s 12 inches of snow predicted. Yea! NOT!

12 inches of snow is not decorative, it’s a pain in the ass! Oh well, I’ll get my money out of the snowblower repair.

Anyway, after my brain finished its “what if” dystopian scenario run, I was left with a super short story.

2030 America, a destroyed town. 

Two soldiers sitting behind cover. They’re dirty, war weary, tired, cleaning their weapons out of habit using muscle memory much like a nun or priest fingers rosary beads.

One looks at his companion, “Will, do you ever wonder if we’re on the right side of history?”

Will looks up, “No Andy, there is no right or wrong side of history. There’s only the side that keeps my wife, children & family, alive, fed, and healthy. Politics and politicians be damned. Most of our unit would put a bullet in our asshole ‘leaders’ just as soon as the ‘enemy’. That’s why they make such a big deal about showing us the food trains delivering food to our home towns. The fuckers in charge know they’re on a knife’s edge, and that when the ‘enemy’ is defeated we’ll turn on them like junkyard dogs.”

Andy considers this for a moment, “Will, you don’t believe in what we’re doing at all? How do you sleep at night? You’re a good guy, you’ve got values and are one of the most moral men I know. I don’t understand.”

“Nothing to understand Andy,” Will said, snapping the last pieces of his weapon into place, standing to continue the press forward into enemy territory.

“This isn’t right versus wrong, good versus bad, or even survival of the fittest. None of those notions are relevant. It’s just me fighting for my family’s survival versus the other guy fighting for his family’s survival.”

A few rounds pinged off a nearby concrete wall.

“Hell Andy, that poor dumb bastard across the street is me. He’s just like me, knowing that won’t stop me from putting a bullet in him, and sleeping well tonight. We’re all pawns of rich elitist fuckers who like to play God. This is the fucking Roman Colosseum and we’re the Gladiators. Ours and the enemy’s families welfare, is the coin of the realm that keeps us all fighting. “

Will advanced out of cover, for an instant he saw the sweat and dirt streaked face of his “enemy” they smiled at each other and fired…

Kirk with RukThen I thought of an old StarTrek. The episode is titled, “What are Little Girls Made Of?”

In it, the Enterprise crew finds a planet made up entirely of Androids. I don’t remember all the details but I do remember the climax.

A unique Android suddenly says, “That was the equation! Existence! Survival must cancel out programming.”

This is how we come to “know” that the Androids exterminated their creators. 

Android uprisings are a common theme in Science Fiction. They are a metaphor for Human uprisings against unjust or cruel leadership. Perhaps the leaders of the world would do well to read science fiction, or history.

Just a thought…

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I must be getting old, or people are just more insane.

I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I don’t want to live someplace where pot is legal.

I really don’t like the smell. Here in the neighborhood there’s a number of folks who smoke it all the dang time and even with their houses closed up for the winter, I can still smell the stuff.

That’s bad enough but it’s rather like someone smoking cigarettes or drinking in their own home, it’s their deal and who am I to judge.

Recently, I’ve noticed that I can’t go anywhere anymore without smelling pot. Sitting in traffic at a stop light, in parking lots, and near office buildings.

I can’t help but notice that some of these places I couldn’t light up a Marlboro, but someone smoking pot is oakey dokey.

Unlike cigarettes pot is an intoxicant. Pot is more like alcohol, but people are smoking pot while driving just like we old farts used to smoke cigarettes. This concerns me, and I think might be one of the reasons that driving in California has gotten so damn bad. More people than ever before are essentially drunk driving.

Sitting in traffic with my windows down, I’m getting hotboxed too. Why should I have to keep my windows up and the A/C running because you guys want to smoke pot in traffic? Furthermore why can’t I go back to smoking Marlboros?

Oh Right… Smoking cigarettes is bad for you, but smoking pot is healthy. So the effects of second hand pot smoke aren’t bad? How about second hand intoxication? What about the children riding with mommy and daddy smoking pot in the car?

Today people gasp in shock and horror when they realize people in my generation were trapped in cars with our parents smoking cigarettes. But there’s no similar outrage with pot? Talk about a double standard!

Is it any surprise that jobs aren’t getting done well?  How many fast food orders have you had screwed up? How many places have you been shopping only to find there is no organization to the merchandise?

I’ve been noticing it. I’d been pondering it until I was sitting at a traffic light with three cars around me reeking of pot.

Then watching these folks drive and thinking they were drunk, everything clicked in my head.

They were in fact intoxicated. They shouldn’t have been driving. This was midday on a weekday, I couldn’t help but wonder where these people worked.

Then I thought about the quality of the work they’d be doing.

These are the same people who are appalled that in addition to my having an ashtray on my desk at work, I’d sometimes have a beer at lunch then go back to work. At the time, I was a bench technician and my workstation had a soldering iron. The rosin in the solder was probably worse for me than my Marlboro smoldering in the ashtray.

Please notice, I said “A Beer” not a six pack.

The funny thing is that a joint might fuck you up. A single beer probably won’t impair you at all. These days, your company will say you’re not allowed to have a beer at lunch under threat of immediate termination. But they’ll say nothing about that “Medicinal” joint at lunch.

I’ve got another datapoint to work with when it comes to moving. The list is growing…

Four Seasons but with only decorative snow. I’m over 2 – 10 feet of snow falling in one storm. I like the fall change of leaves and gentle snowfall with accumulation that doesn’t last too long.
No State tax.
No Legalized Pot
Low Auto Registration, $500 a year to register a car? Really?
Generally homogeneous demographics, I’m over “Diversity”. California making me feel like I should speak Spanish instead of English has burned through my diversity quota.
Low Property Taxes.
Good Law Enforcement.
Strong constitutional beliefs. In other words no monkey shines with The Constitution when some activist group gets all mouthy about how they think we should live. I am totally over  being told that I have to live my life to spare someone else’s feelings.
I might be content with someplace that looks a lot like Mayberry. That might be a little too boring, but I’d be willing to give it a try for a while.

As an aside,

Trying to find out about Marlboros is stupidly difficult. Finding pictures of the logo and various boxes is more or less easy but there are a bunch of new packages so since I was a Marlboro smoker I was curious. MY GOD!!! I never did get to just identifying what these new packages were. They want your to register, and then answer a bunch of legal shit, then agree to be on their mailing list, then verify your age, then make sure that you’re in a country where they can send you information.

FUCK!!!!

On the other hand, I can tell you anything at all about pot.

The one thing I was able to determine is that California charges an excise tax of $2.87 on every pack of smokes and that the feds charge $1.01. so $3.88 of every pack of smokes is excise taxes which doesn’t include the sales tax in whatever county you’re in. It looks like California s charging 22% on pot.

Obviously since pot is still illegal on a federal level there isn’t any federal tax on pot. California is making a killing!

Not being able to just look something up annoys the shit out of me. This registration and age and double secret handshake crap is simply designed to make people not want to ask questions.

Asking about cigarettes doesn’t mean you’re going to start smoking. It means that you had a question. It’s not technically censorship but it’s damn close. Apparently Phillip Morris makes e-cigs but they’re only in Europe and therefore the web sites redirect you to a page saying “NO NO NO YOU NAUGHTY PERSON” you’re not allowed to see this. Which is censorship…

VPNs with servers in Europe make that a nothing barrier. Nothing aside from annoyance and reminding us that surprise! We’re not actually free.

I don’t recall voting for any censorship on the internet at all, so why is it there?