Election Day has come and gone…

Well, not actually gone. 

It’s devolved into what appears to be blatant cheating along with the usual allegations of voter fraud.

Due to the mail in voting, it’s going to be weeks until we have a winner declared and even then, the legal wrangling will likely last for months if not years.

So ultimately, even if the Democrats lose… they’ve still won because they’ve managed to cast a pall of illegitimacy over the President. 

Likewise though, if the Democrats win, they’ve cast the same pall over their candidate. This is the lesson of mutually assured destruction.  Apparently, the Democrats didn’t learn the lesson during the cold war. 

The new Democrats and their ultra progressive allies obviously never learned the lesson and quite frankly are behaving more like Communists, Bolsheviks, or flat out NAZIs than I’ve ever witnessed. 

Frankly, I’m so disgusted I can’t think straight. 

I fear for my county, and I fear for our future. Not because of one President, but because of the cultural shift that’s occurring and this (In my opinion) wrong headed thinking of win at any cost.

Historically the win at any cost philosophy has proven itself to extract a very high price.

Even now, people are questioning law, order, government, and anything official. 

Folks are also demonstrating a surprising willingness to tear down and destroy anyone or anything that they disagree with.

This path is littered with war, poverty, crime, and genocide. 

It doesn’t matter if you’re killing people over religion, color, or politics, people still die and xenophobia in various forms kills more than people. xenophobia kills progress and enlightenment, and gaining of knowledge. Ask Galileo about that.

xenophobia: [noun] fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign.

By that definition, anything strange or foreign could loosely be politics, religion, belief,  or custom.

Is this where we’re headed? Are we careening down a path to wanton destruction on both sides?

I find myself asking if I want to deal with this. I’m old, and tired, all I wanted was to quietly retire, go fishing, or hang out with folks my age, in peace.

If I don’t want to deal with this – insanity, what are the alternatives? 

Sadly Portland you’re dead to me

Much like Seattle and San Francisco.

Portland at least grew it’s own roses for the funeral.

It’s really simple. As beautiful as these cities are from the air, and they are beautiful, I have ZERO desire to visit them. Why the hell would I knowingly walk into cities where I’m not only a target, but where I can’t be responsible for my own protection and the police have been gutted?

Why would I want to visit one of these cities now? Places where the wrong word or the slightest of incorrect reactions could get you beaten by a mob?

Doesn’t do much for your tourism does it?

57 Days and nights of rioting? Really?

You people are out of your damn minds. And even if the rioting stops (and it will), the people responsible for all this civil unrest will still be there, just below the surface, waiting for another excuse, or opportunity to mete out their particular brand so-called justice.

Seattle, and San Francisco are no better. Los Angeles is heading the same direction. Los Angeles is slightly different because it’s always been a dangerous place. You know what you’re getting into there, and you never travel in certain districts alone or at night.

I remember a scene from Logan’s Run. The hero and pretty girl are heading to a part of the city overrun with rabid children. There’s a voice from their conveyance repeating, “Warning, You are now entering a personal hazard zone,”

That’s how I feel every time I go into Los Angeles. A similar message should be playing on every flight landing in cities in the Pacific Northwest.

I don’t know anymore what these people are rioting about. I don’t know the cause of their lawlessness and further… I don’t give a shit. They can burn their homes and cities to the ground, then start slaughtering each other, over scraps of bread or some imagined insult or lack of respect. I don’t care.

If the feds march in and just start shooting the rioters, I won’t shed a single tear. Nor will I be shocked. In fact I might make popcorn and watch the show.

This is what happens when stupidity, lawlessness, and anarchy are allowed to go on for too long. It loses its impact, and the original message is long since forgotten.

All I see now is people who look and behave like they’re straight out of Fallujah. In my eyes they are no longer human, or worth saving. They’ve become rabid animals and the only way to deal with that, is to put the animals out of their misery.

I would enjoy seeing the Mayors, Governors, and so called city leaders literally ripped apart by the very rioters they’ve been making endless excuses for. They’d serve as an object lesson to other weak willed political leaders.

I know I sound harsh.

I worry for my friends in Portland because the bullshit is happening right there outside their apartments. I’ve told them it isn’t going to get any better until someone steps up and says “NO MORE”.

My friends respond with, “It’s better today… The ‘protesters’ only burned one dumpster and broke only a few windows.”

That blows my mind. My friends are starting to exhibit Stockholm Syndrome. They’re grading the quality of their days not by there being no violence, but by the level of violence that has become constant.

That’s like saying it was a good weekend in Chicago. There were only 35 shootings instead of 37. What!? That there were any shootings in Chicago is a concern, more so since shootings are so commonplace that no-one takes much notice. That speaks to a much more serious problem.

A rather large problem that no-one is talking about.

What about the rights of the people who live at ground zero? Don’t they have the right to live in a safe and secure place? Why do “Protesters” and I use that term loosely get a pass to make everyone suffer? How insane is it that normal average people are fearful leaving their homes?

It’s way past time for LAW AND ORDER to be reinstated. If that means bodies of protesters in the streets, so be it. At this point while the media would loose its shit, I bet that the majority of America would stand up and cheer.

I will try not to Road Rage…

IMG_1107.jpegThat’s been my mantra for the last few years.

In Southern California that’s not an easy mantra to keep.

I’ll admit there are times when I do something on the road that’s just plain DUMB!

But those events are rare and that’s mostly due to having a plan about where I’m going and how I’m going to get there.

I do not cut across 3 lanes of traffic to exit the freeway, I’ll go to the next exit and turn around. I don’t tailgate. (Unless you come into my lane suddenly, and baby if you do that, It’s ON YOU!)

On mountain roads, I’m even more careful. Usually these are single lanes and most of the curves are blind curves. Going into a turn at 60 MPH and finding that traffic is stopped as you round the bend is a recipe for very bad things to happen. This is doubly dangerous during winter when you may have ice on the roads.

Even in summer you can round a blind curve and find a large assed rock sitting in the roadway. Guess what? You’re not going to be able to stop… Ooops!

At night in winter, when the temp is hovering around freezing, and the couple of people ahead of you are driving within the speed limit and carefully. I tend to hang back at least three or four car lengths. 

That gives me time to stop, and also means I’m not rushing someone, who for all I know isn’t familiar with the road and hasn’t driven much on snow or ice.

It’s just plain common sense.

That’s the situation I found myself in last night coming home from Big Bear. There were several cars ahead of me. They were all driving well and commensurate with the conditions and posted speed limits.

In other words, they were being responsible safe drivers and while they were moving slower than I could have been, I respected their caution. 

I downshifted and was letting the engine do the braking while generally maintaining my usual following distance.

I was the last car in the line and was actually enjoying the drive. There’s a Zen to knowing what your car will do and being with like-minded drivers. Every one of them was maintaining a good following distance and it was obvious that they were simply wanting to get down the mountain safely.

Every single one of them was using the passing lanes as intended, keeping to the right and allowing people to pass if they wished. Those folks that were passing weren’t passing to be in a hurry, it appeared to be mostly about the gearing and weight of their vehicle. They’d pass a car then settle back into the line, the only notable exception was that they weren’t on their brakes as much. We all signaled when the passing lanes ended and moved back to the left.

It was actually very pleasant. The moon was bright, the stars were pretty, the butt warmer was on, and I was relaxed.

Of course it couldn’t last… 

Another car pulls up behind me. I can tell it’s a Jeep from the headlights, and they’ve come out of nowhere. Obviously they’re in a hurry but there’s no passing lane (and won’t be for another 10 miles) and this idiot is right on my ass. 

He must’ve been able to see the line of cars in front of me and the ripple of brake lights as each of the people in front of me slowed to enter the next 25 MPH hairpin curve.

But (he or she) is fixated on the fact that there’s following distance between me and the next vehicle. Obviously, the .25 seconds that following distance represents is important. 

Sigh!

The car in front of me lights up its brake lights as the driver slows to enter the next hairpin. I likewise touch my brakes to slow and the Jeep turns on its brights.

Uh gee, thanks! Now I’m partially blinded entering a hairpin curve, (A helpful roadsign contained a drawing describing the curve.)  Partially blinded, I slow more because I can no longer see the wispy lane markers. This simple act of safety apparently enraged the driver of the Jeep.

I do my best to ignore them and concentrate on making it through the curve. As I come out of the curve the line of other drivers has come to a complete stop. I do the same and now the Jeep asshole is really pissed.

There were some rocks on the pavement which the careful drivers were picking their way through. The brights from the Jeep are annoying the car in front of me too, they’ve slowed considerably to pick their way around the obstruction.

I glance at the Nav system. 20 miles to go like this… Great!

The vehicles ahead pick up speed and I follow suit. 

I’m looking for a turnout. I’d like to get this moron off my ass, they’re way too close and every-time I brake I’m concerned that this idiot is going to plow into the back of my car. I’m no longer relaxed. In fact, I’m starting to build some road rage.

There’s no excuse for this kind of behavior, what exactly does this idiot think, that those other vehicles are an illusion? I’m thinking seriously about stopping my car and having it out with this stupid fuck. (I think to myself, “There’s no excuse for you to be itching for a throw down either.”)

I drive on.  I maintain my following distance to the next car.

I’ve got exam gloves in my pocket from my day of cleaning up after renters. I could put them on, block the road, beat the shit out of this moron, push their Jeep down the cliff to be found in spring, and leave no fingerprints… That puts a smile on my face and I realize I’m giving in to road rage.

I calm myself, step back from the abyss and keep driving. The moron behind me turns off their brights. That’s better, then the brights come on again. Grrrr!

The next turnouts are iced over and inaccessible. I keep driving.

Finally a passing lane opens up I move to the right, as does every other sensible driver. The moron passes exactly 3 cars before the lane ends. Now they’re stuck behind a UPS truck and another car. They’re not going any faster, but they’re in the debris trail the UPS truck is kicking up as they round every bend. All the rock chips must be doing a number on their paint. As they passed I could see the Jeep was blue. 

I smile…

15 miles further on, the mountain road dumps into a two lane highway, then a freeway.

We’re below 2000 ft and the temp is a balmy 40 F. I take the faster of the two lanes and I’m suddenly behind the Jeep. I’m not doing anything to annoy or harass them. I’m just there biding my time…

The two lane dumps onto the freeway and there’s indecision from the Jeep about which lane they want to be in. They’re obviously trying to decide which transition to take onto the 210. They have a choice, San Bernardino or Pasadena. I’m setting up to head toward Pasadena.

The interchange is fast approaching, I hit the button setting my car to “Sport” mode. I now have the full power of 300 HP and tighter handling and suspension of my vehicle at my command. They’re still wavering in their decision about the interchange, left, right, left, the Jeep appears to be bouncing off the lane markers.

I think they’re probably meaning to head to Pasadena. I accelerate to pace them, preventing them from making the lane change. It’s a long sweeper interchange and I’m doing 85 with ease. So is the Jeep. They accelerate and so do I. They’re signaling, ( these days, in this situation signaling is the equivalent of begging. Especially in this situation, since this driver hasn’t used a signal once down the mountain.) I don’t care – apparently neither does anyone else. Other people that the Jeep has annoyed are right on my tail.

There’s no opening and the moronic Jeep sails off toward San Bernardino They’re tapping their brakes in the fashion idiots will, when they realize they’re lost and looking for a way to turn around. I know that they can’t make any choices to even get off the freeway for 7 miles, and their best option is to go on down to the I-10 interchange 14 miles down the road.

Other people behind me toot their horns in a friendly way as we make the transition signaling our intention to merge. I gently slow to ambient freeway speed and signal to take the next to the slow lane avoiding 18 wheelers.

I notice a guy next to me with his interior light on. He’s the driver of the truck that had been in front of me when this all started. When I look over he gives me a “Thumbs-Up” sign. I nod and he’s smiling as his interior light goes off.

I’m smiling too. Maybe the Jeep driver will get lost and subsequently mugged in San Bernardino. One can only hope…

I never said I was perfect.

I only said my mantra is, “I will try not to road rage”

Besides, I wasn’t raging. I was purposefully driving to my destination.

Remember, there are other ways to exact your pound of flesh and they can be just as satisfying.

Southpark is right

Canadians are Wacky

I’ve spent the last two years dealing with a fractional percentage of Canadians. With a vanishingly small percentage of those people being actually “normal”.

Almost every Canadian I’ve spoken to has been full goose batshit crazy.

At first I thought it was just cultural differences. I’ve changed my mind!

The majority of people I talk to are, a little nuts. The Canadians I’ve talked to, take it to a whole new level. 

They seem to want to abdicate responsibility for everything including basic maintenance for themselves and their devices. I’ve talked to folks up there who refuse to restart their machines. I mean really? You won’t restart your phone to fix a problem? 

Instead you want me to wave a magic wand 4000 miles away and make your problem go away. Are you serious? This is especially annoying when you’ve managed to walk them through the issue and they’ve admitted to you that other applications on their phone aren’t working properly. I can’t say anything but nice politically correct things.

South park canada on strikeWhat I’d like to do is give them a full on dose of reality. “You aren’t maintaining you phone, your applications aren’t working because you’re not maintaining your phone, and you’re a fucking moron!

My annoyance with these Canadians is taken to new heights when they get all whiny and play the “Victim Card”. Really? You expect that to make me more likely to want to help you? NOPE! I care even less.

You’ve got the problem, you’ve made the problem, I’ve told you how to fix the problem and you’re not willing to do what I tell you. Nothing in life is a certainty, other than you’re going to die at some point. Machines and technology are even less certain because… well they’re machines and they wear out.

I’ve decided that should I ever be in a position where I’m making something and selling it, I will specifically not sell to Canada. The cost of doing business with them is simply going to be too high. It’s like they’ve gotten so used to getting their way and getting free shit that NOW they expect to get free shit whenever they feel like pitching a fit. Well not on my dime!

That being said, there are some Canadians that I like. I’m not sure which group is the exception, but I’m going to be very selective about Canadians that I hang out with in general.

It’s a pity really. The few Canadians that are in my life are pragmatic, productive, hardy people. 

Perhaps I’d misjudged. Perhaps the Canadians I know, left Canada because they just couldn’t take the bullshit of their countrymen. 

I’ll have to ask…

An Ugly Tableu

Getting home from a hard day at work. I get out of my car and see two neighbors having a conversation. I think nothing of it at first.

It’s only as I’m opening my car passenger door to get my backpack that I clearly hear the woman in the conversation fairly shrieking “You touched your penis!

Some part of my exhausted brain went, “Huh? What?”

The conversation that I heard after that went something like;

You touched your penis, you were in my apartment. You’re a piece of filth! No wonder your wife left you, no wonder your son doesn’t want to live with you. I hope everyone figures out what a peice of trashy filth you are!

The man who was the object of this tirade is using a cane to walk, he moves slowly and uncertainly, due to severe spinal damage. In other words, this guy is probably zero threat to a woman. And God only knows that he may have adjusted himself because of something to do with the injuries.

I honestly don’t know, I wasn’t there. I can say that occasionally this guy when I’ve spoken to him outside the apartments. I have noticed that sometimes (clearly unconsciously he adjusts himself). Honestly it looks like he’s in pain when he does it.

As I focused on the “Conversation” I could see that he was genuinely ashamed. I could also see that the woman was quite enraged.

Then I really took a look at her and the first thought I had was she looked like Jabba the Hut.

Hell, I’d have been adjusting myself to prevent my penis from crawling up inside.

But then I realized I was downwind. I couldn’t help but notice the fetid odor of unwashed human, with just a touch of yeasty vagina. Yeah, I could smell all this from about 10 feet away.

RETCH

Now I have a conundrum, I can ignore this insanity. Or I can say what I really think, which is;

Damn lady if this broken old man is getting wood because of your fat stinky ass, you should count yourself lucky. I’d imagine there’s been nothing twix your legs that didn’t run on batteries for decades. I’d bet your vibrators are so stinky that you have to replace them every month because some stink just never goes away. I’d never punish my dick by putting it in you. Hell, seeing you naked would make me want to suck cock for free, on the street, in Iran! At least then my torment would be ended quickly by a fall from a tall building.

But I weighed my options, decided that I was too tired and that this was not my battle.

After all for me, very few people I encounter would be worth my energy.

I evaluated the situation for a moment more…

I closed the passenger door to the car, shook my head and walked away.

Neither of these people were my concern.

In retrospect, I think that it was the shrillness of the harridan, and how closely she was mimicking, so closely the “Group Think” of the feminist movement today. Obviously she thought all men were scum but wasn’t pretty enough or gutsy enough to simply declare she was a lesbian.

Some gay men who never fully embrace their gayness get really weird and very hostile to women and other gay men. Perhaps this was the female version of the phenomenon.

Remotely interesting… Still not interesting enough for me to engage. Perhaps it was simple penis envy… Nope, not interesting enough.

I climbed the stairs to my apartment, unlocked and opened the door, closed it behind me and was immediately cloaked in silence.

Bliss!

I guess that I’m just over all the politics, victimhood, and insanity.

I did feel kinda bad for the guy.

But like most men, I figured if he wouldn’t defend himself then I wasn’t going to do it for him.

Yep, the peace of my apartment was a lot better than listening to a shrill bitch badmouthing men simply because we have external plumbing.