That did it! Trump verdict is in.

Now I'm doing everything I can to stay alive until the election because I will now vote for Donald Trump even if he is sitting in a cell in Rikers on election day.

If I have to write the man in that is exactly what I am going to do.

I may not be alone because I have seen a few polls where even a couple of Hollywood types have changes their minds and are now supporting Trump because they find the treatment he has received to be disgusting.

I would laugh like holy hell if he gets in by a landslide and manages to overcome the upcoming fraud. 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

I have officially given up on the justice system.

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I wonder how hard it would be

for a lot of the big businesses and heavy lifters to simply move out of New York simply to avoid taxes.

I worked for Maritrans for a while and they got into some kind of a beef with the City of Philadelphia and simply pulled up stakes and moved to Tampa.

IIRC what happened is some other shipping company cut a deal whereby they got a tax break for coming to Philly and the CEO of Maritrans asked "What about the companies that have been here since Day one? Where's our break?"

Of course, one was not forthcoming so Maritrans left Philly.

Philly then tried to levee a wage tax against Maritrans employees that  serviced terminals in the Philly limits but found out sadly they couldn't under federal law protecting mariners. 

While Maritrans was not a major corporate player in the big scheme of things, it was a fairly sizable asset that Philly lost.

These days the technology of communications has changed I don't believe it would be all that difficult for a lot of the big businesses that are centered in NYC to simply go somewhere else and take their wealth with them.

I can picture, for example, the NYSE becoming the Topeka Stock Exchange and bringing their wealth to someplace like that or any other medium sized city. I would imagine they could save a bundle in taxes if they moved. That doesn't include the aggravation of being in such a crowded area and the rest of the annoyances.

People seem to forget that Amazon, one of the biggest movers and shakers in the country are headquartered in Seattle. 

All it would take is a few of the heavyweights to decide that the 'prestige' of being headquartered in NYC isn't worth the taxes and annoyances and move elsewhere and there would likely be an exodus over a fairly short time.

New York State itself has offered tax relief to companies coming to New York but the tax relief is only good for a few years. After that the deal ends and the new arrivals would be paying regular NY taxes. I understand that there have been very few takers.

Personally I would laugh to see New York turn into nothing more than a seaport. They could use all the empty office buildings to house illegal immigrants in.

   

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If I am on a jury and the trial is politically motivated

my verdict will automatically be Not guilty. 

Bona fide criminal cases will be judged on a (literally) case by case basis based on the evidence presented.

The current Trump trial seems to an extent to be backfiring on the left because it is getting a lot of black voters behind him and giving his some pretty good street cred.

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I heard someone use the term 'point blank range' the other day to indicate very close range.

The term is incorrect as they used it.

For a 7 mm Remington Magnum hunting rifle that would probably be around 367 yards for a 10 inch kill zone.

That means as far as elevation goes, if you aim in the center of the kill zone of an animal with the rifle zeroed to 300 yards the shot will fall in the kill zone.

The term comes from the military to denote the proper sight setting that will enable the shooter to hit anywhere on a human torso sized target anywhere between the muzzle and the given distance.

For the M-16/AR15 series of rifles the common setting is the 50/200 yard zero. With this setting no adjustment is needed to hit a torso sized target between the muzzle and 300 yards, probably a little more than that.

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Yes. I am guilty of drinking an entire bottle of liquor and driving 35 mph in a school zone and passing 3 school buses..

It was a 50 ml (airline miniature) of low proof liquor a couple hours earlier, it was a Saturday afternoon, the school was closed and the buses were parked.

Happy now?

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More reading coming up.

James Jones.

I just ordered one and two of the trilogy.

From here to Eternity, and The Thin Red Line.

I found the later edition of Eternity that includes the parts that were edited out in 1951 when it was first released.

I believe his daughter got the original (uncensored) version released in the on 2009 and it was released by Penguin books as such in 2011.

 

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Memorial Day.

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Well, I just added a simple modification to a service rifle

On the front of the bottom handguard I added a sling stud so that I could add a bipod to it to use the rifle for other purposes. I discovered a new game and might want to try it out. 

Also someone told me there is an abundance of ground hogs within reasonable driving distance and the farmer wants them gone. The match rifle is he ticket for this.

While  the sling stud does change the appearance of the rifle for service rifle competition, it's only a tiny sling stud and the local club won't look twice. 

Still, if someone did decide to go full bore rule Nazi I have a spare lower handguard I can swap out to make him a happy camper.

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I just finished a short book about the unpublished works of James Jones.

"To the End of the War'' which covers a few things that were unpublished and/or edited out of one of his other works.

I can see why they were edited out because they entered a dark place that the American Public was afraid to go at the time. Most of the writing took place almost immediately after the war when the American public and GI Joe were just coming home and getting on with their lives. The public wanted the war behind them and certainly didn't want to venture into the dark side.

GI Joe didn't want to talk about it and the public was not ready to hear it. 

In 1943 Jones was sent stateside with a head wound and an earlier injury that had compounded itself on Guadalcanal that took him out of combat duty and had him sent stateside.

He wrote a lot about the anger and bitterness among the guys that were there getting patched up to be thrown back into the lines and how they were treated unfairly.  Many openly rebelled and when they were denied leave they simply went AWOL.

He mentioned one Old Army First Sergeant that was disgusted and got busted to private where he stayed, refusing to accept promotion because he was sick and tired of the responsibility and stupidity he was forced to deal with.

The pre-war Army was a caste system. The officers were treated a LOT better than the enlisted people. This is one of the few things that the American mothers did right. They wrote their congress critters about how their sons were being $hit on and things got a lot fairer.

Timing was everything otherwise Robert Leckie's "Helmet for my pillow" would have been heavily edited. Leckie includes his problems, anger and disciplinary indiscretions and how he basically stopped caring about a lot of things.

However, Leckie's book came out in 1957, over a decade after the war when things were a little different. Leckie had just seen 'South Pacific' and was pissed off and said "That's not how it was" and wrote his book, one of several.

I like reading the dark side of the war because it brings a lot of things into a clearer context. Many years ago I had an older woman tell me her son was a lot different after he returned from Vietnam. 

I looked at her and asked her, "What did you expect?"

If you decide to read 'From Here to Eternity' get the Penguin Classics version. In 2013 it was published by Penguin Classics the way it was originally written before it was edited to omit some of the darker things Jones wrote about.

Edited to add: Much of the treatment of enlisted men changed in 1950 when the UCMJ came into effect. It eliminated a lot of the petty tyranny military personnel were subject under previous rules and gave them some personal rights and some protections.

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My sling stud should be here this afternoon

and I'll mount it on my service rifle and be done with that project.

I suppose some dopey rule Nazi might notice it and point it out to me that it's probably an 'illegal' modification but I don't really care because that rifle will never see Camp Perry which is where stuff like that matters.

Most local clubs won't even notice it even if I DO go to one to shoot.

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I helped save the planet yesterday.

My neighbor was just finishing a soda and I asked for the can so I could properly recycle it, explaining to him that I needed the karma. He was simply going to drop it in the nearby trash can.

I took it home and dropped it into my recycling bin and contributed to making the world a better place to live in.

Now I can tell that little hippie kid at the other end of the street to get off my ass.

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I just got an answer from my letter to my 6 YO pen pal.

She's such a sweetie. 

I sent her a letter with an SASE and when she found it in the mail box she almost instantly wrote me back and stuffed it in my mailbox and put the flag up.

I noticed the flag and realized what had likely happened and there it was.

I truly hope to hell she looked both ways and carefully crossed the street. Next letter I send her I am going to explain how to put it into HER mailbox to have it mailed to me.

She sent me a big pink heart with my name in it in her childish scrawl and it currently resides on the refrigerator held there with a magnet. 

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Winter is OFFICIALLY over now

because I have seen my first South Boston Drowning Party of the season.

Even though I have lived here for over 30 years I don't know what they call one locally.

I grew up on Boston's South Shore and back in the day there were two boat liveries that rented skiffs and outboards close to where I grew up.

City people generally from Irish Catholics from Southie, the Irish enclave, would rent a boat and cram as many people as possible in it for a fun day of boating. We locals would cringe as we saw them go by with the gunnels just a couple of inches out of the water. 

One of the larger cruisers could easily swamp one of these with their wake and I'm sure it happened more than once.

The name was synonymous with an overloaded open skiff and yesterday I saw my first one of the season on the Ohio River.

Winter is now OFFICIALLY over. 

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Busy the last two days.

I did get the lawn mowed today and when I see it freshly mowed I feel pretty good about myself.

I've got to go out and edge it tomorrow which doesn't take long.

Oh yeah. My 6 YO pen pal got my letter today. We shall see what she does. I'm a softie for kids like her. The letter she sent me is on the fridge.

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Yesterday in Walmart I looked at a mischievous looking old woman

and asked her, "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"

Sharp old woman. She snapped back "WHO say's I'm a nice girl!" and not only did we share a laugh but I got to see a look of horror on her daughter's face when she discovered her mother had a pretty outrageous sense of humor tucked away.

It's not all fun and games, though. It can backfire and you gotta own it.

One time a few years back I had a seemingly happy old woman behind me in line and I was looking at a tabloid with a bikini clad lovely on it.

I looked at the old woman behind me, pointed at the picture and asked her, "Is that really you?"

Her face lit up, she smiled the most wonderful smile and replied, "My husband used to do things like that to me..." Suddenly she burst into tears and practically collapsed and said, "And now he's gone!"

I took her in my arms and gave her a shoulder to cry on. It was time to step up to the plate and I knew that if I didn't I'd have to go through life bearded because I'd never be able to face myself in the mirror to shave ever again. 

I knew exactly what had happened. She had very recently buried her husband, the love of her life and father of their three children.

That little trooper had gone through his death, funeral and burial of the man she loved without so much as a sniffle and kept it all bottled up and finally the dam burst.

She buried her head in my shoulder and sobbed and I could feel her body just shake as she sobbed her eyes out for probably a good 45 minutes as her three adult children stood by helplessly. I just let her cry herself out.

Finally she cried herself out and looked at me sheepishly and thanked me. I grinned and said to her, "I still think you're that pretty girl I saw in the picture."

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree and I handed her off to her kids.

Yeah, maybe I did trigger her but if I didn't someone else would have. I'm glad if was me because someone else probably would not have stepped up to the plate. I'm glad I did.

I'm going to shave in a few minutes and when I do I'm going to look proudly at the guy I see in the mirror. If I had not owned it I would not be able to.

 

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Update.

I guess I'm OK.

He's sending me in for a few tests which is par golf.

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Off to the doctor's for my annual physical

and we shall see what we shall see.

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Update

Shot pretty well today. Score was 455 out of 500 which is an expert score. I also had a 1X Clean for my sitting rapid fire. Admittedly I didn't shoot the offhand standing on my feet. I'm too palsied up these days to get the rifle to settle down.

Couple that with bad eyesight these days and that it is what it is. Still, it's good to be able to get out and compete.

One thing happened was interesting. A newer guy asked  a range officer why I wasn't shooting the offhand portion on my feel like everyone else. His question didn't have a belligerent air about it. I think he was just curious.

The RO replied that I was shooting out of competition and that my scores don't get sent into the NRA. A couple of the other guys chimed in also and pointed out I had spent a lot of time over the years working on the range to make it so nice.

One of the old school guys that doesn't shoot anymore but never misses a match replied "Because he's a pain in the ass but he's OUR pain in the ass so we let him." Everyone had a chuckle with that one.

Still I was humbled that the guys stuck up for me.

Another guy bet the new guy I'd beat him in the first rapid with my bolt gun and thank God he didn't let me know he had made the bet otherwise I would have probably choked. I got lucky and shot a 1X clean, 100 points with one X. I have not shot a clean in years so it felt damned good.

Fact is, in the rapids a guy with a gas gun has the advantage because he has more time to squeeze off his shots. With a bolt gun he has to work the bolt between shots and as a result I was busy as hell during the rapids. I could load the magazine which holds 6 and single load the last four. Getting all of my rounds off aimed meant I had to have fast hands and a quick eye but I managed. I'm proud of that clean, low X count or not.

It was the ride to the match that set the mood. While I ran into a convenience store a young man I've seen around held the door for me and I put on an old man's cracked voice and said, "Thank you, Sonny. It's nice seeing a young fella like you being kind to a senior citizen. You mother raised you well and taught you good manners."

He gave me a big grin and said, Forget it, Pops. I just didn't want to get shanked. You old guys are not afraid of life sentences anymore."

Sharp kid with a great comeback! What iced the cake is the look of outrage on the face of a middle aged woman that heard him. It started my day off rather well.

************************************

I now have a six year old pen pal across the street. She's a cutie and I asked her if she waned to be my pen pal after checking with her dad a couple of days ago. 

Yesterday she handed me a letter inviting me to sit with her on the porch when it's finished. Admittedly I had a bit of a hard time reading her six year old writing but I figured it out quickly. 

My answer to her is in the mailbox along with an SASE to make it easy for her to reply.

She's a real heart stealer. 

 

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Off to a match

I might post an AAR here.

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Oh, Lord.

Every so often I throw out the mat in the backyard and snap in with my service rifle. I did that day before yesterday and as usual nobody that saw me If anyone even did they said nothing. Neither of my neighbors are idiots.

Before I did this I slipped a piece of plastic into my bolt carrier group that wound enable me to pull the trigger and block the hammer from hitting the firing pin. 

While I was doing this it reminded me of a funny story I heard from a fellow shooter back in the 90s that happened to be a police officer. He got called as a backup when some apartment dweller was seen doing the same thing I was doing out in a quiet spot.

Apparently some bird watcher or something saw him and went into a panic and called the police. Needless to say practically everyone on patrol at the time headed that way. Donnie, my friend, arrived in second place. 

The non-shooter, Larry, was on the ground and the first officer was shouting "Push the rifle away from you slowly! If you don't I will shoot you!" 

Donnie heard the threat and Larry shouted back to the other officer "I can't. The rifle is attached to my arm and the sling is too tight for me to remove it. Goddammit! If you're going to shoot me then do it and get it over with. Put it in the base of my skull so I don't suffer, pull the goddam trigger and DON'T BOTCH IT!"

Just then Donnie recognized Larry, turned to the first responder and said, "I got this. Here. Hold this." and handed him the shotgun he was carrying.

"Larry, what are you doing?" Donnie asked.

"Thank God it's you," replied Larry.  "I was just snapping in. We got another match coming up and I'm about two points from shooting a high expert/master score."

Donnie turned to the first responder and pointed a few things out to him. There was no ammunition in sight, there was a small paper  target  about 25 yards away. He told Larry to unsling and show him the bolt carrier group and pointed out the firing pin block to the first responder and explained what Larry was doing and told Larry to call in and have everyone resume patrol as two other cars showed up.

When Donnie was telling the story he laughed and said he told Larry to use his back yard to snap in on and to check in with his wife.

I forgot if Larry ever broke a 470 and made Master. His job had him transfer to Phoenix if I recall correctly. Someone said he found a league in the Phoenix area and joined it and continued shooting.

Donnie had a stroke a couple years back and still occasionally shows up at matches and fiddlefarts around here and there but I have not seen him lately.

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I'm likely going to open a can of worms here

but the money we spend on special education should be cut in half and the half spent on talented kids.

We have a system where it's not fair that the truly talented kids are held back to the level of the below average kids. We're wasting talent and stifling some pretty brainy kids.

Often times the cycle is that some highly talented kid gets bored in class and falls asleep so he gets misdiagnosed and has drugs stuffed down his throat and then all bets are off as to where he winds up.

If a kid shows potential then let him run!

On the other hand, we're going to have to find some pretty exceptional teachers for kids like that because the bulk of teachers are basically just average.

Still, throwing large sums of money on special needs kids at the expense of the brainy kids makes no sense at all.

It's just a hard fact of life that everything is not fair and that some kids are just more talented than others. 

It makes more sense to invest in people that are more likely to be successful than it does plowing money into shoring up failure.

I suppose we should take care of the special needs kids to a reasonable extent but as a society we'd be better off plowing time, effort and money into the talented because they are the people that will create things that make our society stronger.

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One thing about boats is that

people buy one with all sorts of intentions and generally wind up biting off more than they can chew.

Looking back on things I did it right with my sailboat. She was a dead simple 24'7' heavy full keel sailboat, a Sailstar Corsair 24 aka Bristol 25.

Everything about her was simple and easy to maintain and she was a joy to sail. 

I remember rewiring her and everything I did was simple and color coded. Repairs were a snap and were inexpensive. The only things in her that were even remotely complex were the electronics but everything leading up to the actual unit was basic.

I did have a solar panel in her to keep the battery charges and it did do an adequate job although at the dock I seldom used much 12 volt energy, just the AM/FM radio I had installed in her.

For inside waters I did follow the Rules of the Road and display the proper running lights but offshore I played it a little different. The big thing is to be able to be seen and a simple aluminum radar reflector and a kerosene lantern aloft did the trick. 

The important part of being offshore is simply being seen to avoid collision. A collision at sea can ruin your whole day.

I knew the reflector worked because I got reports from other boats.

When I say she was simple, I do mean simple. The first thing I pulled out of her was the head and replaced it with a 5 gallon plastic bucket. The pair of through hull fittings were pulled out and the holes fiber glassed over. The spot for the head was turned into storage, mainly for tools.

If you are afraid of using a bucket as a toilet you should not be out cruising to begin with.

She was a tiller boat and had no wheel which was simpler yet. Later I had to learn to sail using a wheel and still don't like it as much as I do a wheel. You could feel when you are on track better with a tiller. 

She was primitive enough to be low maintenance but comfortable enough for a couple of guys to travel together in.

Most weekenders like more creature comforts but don't get to sail as much as I did because more comforts means more maintenance.

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One of the things I truly love to do to the race baiters

is point out that Elon Musk is an African-American.

It confuses them.

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Lame excuse.

Spoke with a semi local cop the other day and I was interested in how they handle false reports and swatting.

 

He told me the DA generally drops the charges using the lame excuse that if he prosecuted then people would stop reporting legitimate crimes. This, needless to say, makes things worse and turns the cops into tools to settle petty disputes, many based on false accusations.

I asked him how he personally handles them and he told me he generally rants and raves and makes threats. He said that one of the people that Swatted someone got cuffed and stuffed (they refused to sign the summons) and that when they were later released the releasing officer told the Swatter that the DA was releasing them because they were a first time offender and the next time they pulled that they'd likely get the book thrown at them.

I guess the general (correct) attitude is that they (the police) have enough to do without having to deal with false accusations.

During the conversation he mentioned that a lot of people could just talk to their neighbors about petty stuff like a barking dog.

I told him I talk to my neighbor about this when I run out of bourbon.  He asked me why I do that.

"She doesn't even have a dog," I replied. "But every time I ask her to keep her dog quiet she invites me in for a drink."

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And as usual I have to explain the big clock on the desk and explain why the alarm goes off at noon and midnight.

That is because the big clock is set to UTC which is pretty much the same as Greenwich Mean Time. It's used in ham radio and as you will notice it's next to the rig where I can see it when I'm on the air.

The alarm is set for noon and midnight because that means that here the local time is 0800 and 0000 which is the time I am supposed to take my pill. It's a reminder.

Of course it is set to the dreaded 24 hour format which confuses a lot of people. 

Of course if you don't know how to deduct the 4 hours for the UTC/ DST Eastern difference you can simply look at the other clock next to it which is set to local time.

 ----------------------------------------------------------

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Hello. I am a white heterosexuals male.

So what? Who cares?

As of late among the guys I hang with I've occasionally asked about their attitudes toward the entire LGBTQ whatever community and the general consensus is that almost all of them have a connection of some sort with a member of the community.

One guy put it well. We ALL have some kind of skeleton in our closets. He's probably right. This guy said he has a lesbian daughter.

(When he said that I asked him what part of Lesbia she came from and it took him a second to think about it and grinned. He knows my sense of humor)

Practically everyone has a connection with the community. It could be a gay friend or neighbor, a queer Uncle Ned, a lesbian third cousin three times removed. It could be great aunt retired schoolmarm, whatever.

I remember the time I was probably about 30 and asked my dad what the deal was on my great aunt who was six days older than dirt and an unmarried retired schoolteacher. He laughed and said she was my mother's favorite aunt and he wasn't going to touch that one with a ten foot pole. That was probably around 1981.

I have a TG nephew that I was glad to see transgender because she truly sucked at being a chick. He went from being a royal PITA with every fault known to the female sex to being a pretty good guy to have a beer with. Say what you will but he used to be a royal pain in the ass and now he's not and another nephew says that it's probably the first time he's been comfortable in his own skin. I believe it.

Anyway the point here is that I have a hard time finding all the homophobia the LGBTQ 'leadership' pisses and moans about. 

The old days of fag bashing and prejudice toward the gay community is long gone and a part of history. 

The evil heterosexual white males that the various racial/sexual/whatever groups simply don't care. They just want what everyone else does. They want to be left alone.

The way I see it is that the LGBTQ 'leadership' is continuing to beat a dead horse in a desperate attempt to stay relevant. They remind me of Al Sharpton. When the prejudice goes away then high muckety mucks in whatever organization stop making money.

The so-called leadership these days does no favors for the average person in the group. The straight community is just plain sick and tired of listening to it. The bulk of us have made our peace with the individual members of the LGBTQ community pretty much in the same way we have made our peace with everyone else. Most of us make our peace with individuals and not groups. There are members of a lot of various groups we love dearly and other members of the same group that we can't stand to be near.

Much to her credit, the woman that started MADD has dropped out because she said her mission was accomplished. She wanted to see DUI laws enacted and enforced. She did what she set out to do and went back to being a 'private citizen'.

Needless to say, the organization is still in action because there's money to be made there.

I wonder if I could make a few bucks by forming the Disinterested Citizens Concern Committee (Motto: Who Gives a Phuque?) and get people that are sick and tired of the general BS to pitch in and make the rest of the stupid agenda driven organizations that are irrevelant go away.

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There are a lot of second graders out there that

pay more attention to traffic than a lot of adults.

I just saw a daily walker chatting on the phone which didn't bother me because she kept her head up and was paying attention. She's a regular and seems to be fairly alert.

Practically ALL of the kids that are in school now are pretty aware of the traffic and pay attention.

What I am seeing now is an increasing number of people walking along playing with their phones oblivious to the world around them and not watching where they are going. About a month ago I saw someone plow into a mailbox and I admit I laughed like hell. I doubt he learned anything, though.

Still, I won't be surprised to see some of these dolts walk out into the street and eat someone's fender and what sucks about it is some poor driver is going to wind up footing the bill.

Some grownups are far worse than the kids.

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There is one thing I would like to do in my old age.

and that is to plant a tree knowing I will never be able to sit under the shade it provides.

Nothing big, maybe just a nice red maple or something like that.

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I'm not much of a motorcycle guy but

I suppose if I wanted to get one it would probably be a Royal Enfield 500cc bullet with a sidecar. I kinda like both the looks of it and the sound of it. There's something pretty Old School about them that I like.

That being said, as soon as someone says they like something the floodgates burst open with everyone and their cousin telling someone what's wrong with their choice or what there is out there that's better or what's new and improved. 

I generally concede to all argument that something is faster, more fuel efficient, whatever.

But when it comes down to it, I get what I like and live with it.

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I read where the average IQ in the country has dropped 2 points.

which doesn't surprise me in the least when I think about it.

First of all the successful and presumably intelligent only have as many children as they can afford to raise and educate successfully.

The unsuccessful and stupid breed like rabbits.

On top of that, the flow if illegals doesn't help any, either. 

The intelligent and successful people in another country tend to stay put. They have a halfway decent life where they are so they don't feel the need to migrate. 

Instead the unsuccessful and probably not as bright tend to migrate as an effort to improve themselves.

Hell, this even goes back to before the Civil War. 

The slaves that were imported to the United States were for the most part the people that were dumb enough to get caught by the slave catchers. The smart ones didn't get caught.

With the increase of stupidity I have seen over the past several years I am surprised it's only 2 IQ points we've lost.

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Whille driving there is one thing that scares the holy hell out of me more than anything.

It's a mother walking with an untethered toddler. It terrifies me.

A toddler is unpredictable greased lightning and can run into the street in a nanosecond and any mother that walks on the side of the road without tethering the toddler should have her head examined.

Actually school kids that have even finished first grade generally have had enough training to know enough to pay attention to traffic although there are occasional exceptions to the rule. Toddlers are too young to be on the street untethered.

Needless to say, whenever a ball of any type comes out onto the street the answer is an instant dead stop.  I don't care who is playing what kind of ball. It could be preschool tackle football or the octogenarian whiffle ball league. I stop. Period. The End. Even if there's a fully loaded semi tailgating me.

Maybe 20 years ago I saw a baseball coming toward me. I locked them up, set the hand brake, bailed out, caught the ball and played for home. It resulted in a double play which I am rather proud of.

Still, all in all the worst thing is an untethered toddler. I drop to bare steerageway and if the oncoming lane is clear I swing into it and creep past at a slow crawl until I'm good and clear.

It's funny because a lot of people tell me they do drive faster when the kids are in school and maybe I do but you can bet your boots I drop to nothing at the sight of an untethered toddler.

And to answer your question, when I see a mother with a tethered toddle I do ask the mother if it's a rescue. That one is in the script. I have to. You're supposed to do that.

  

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One of the things they ought to do is return to the bayonet.

In the long haul it's a far less cruel weapon than the basic rifle for riot duty and that sort of thing.

I read where a group of illegals rushed the National Guard in Texas a while back and tore on past them, shoving them aside. My guess is that would not have happened had the officer given the order to fix bayonets. Had the illegals guessed that it wasn't going to stop them most likely they would have beaten a hasty retreat if the order had been given to engage them.

Nobody really wants to get bayoneted. A lot of people are far more frightened of being stabbed than they are of being shot.

On occasion on US Navy ships when Marines have to get somewhere fast an officer will order bayonets fixed. It's not to hurt sailors. It's to get them out of the way. Sailors will give the Marines a wide berth because they don't want to accidentally come into contact with a sharp, stabby object. It hurts.

In most cases where a bayonet is required very rarely is a skewering required to achieve compliance. A short jab is generally all it takes and generally if you can stick one of the instigators that's a real bonus.

In city rioting the same thing holds true. A quick stab pretty much assures compliance. It doesn't have to be very deep, either. About a half inch to maybe an inch deep will get someone's attention rather quickly. It doesn't take much unless the stabee is pretty keyed up or pretty loaded on something.

Of course a bayonet is not the solution to all problems but it is certainly another tool to work with.

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Let's see how that one worked out. BLM.

I have not heard much from them lately. I admit I'm behind the times and don't do a lot of digging which I probably should.

Still, I recall a while ago that the big shots in the organization bought a compound of some sort in California and that's about the last I've seen of them.

I have not heard of one single kid getting a hot meal or a scholarship or for that matter, anything from them and if I had to guess it's just another rip-off hiding behind the non profit label.

=================================

Why we have allowed people of ANY race or political bent to loot is well beyond me. If I had my way, looters would simply be shot outright.

Rules for engagement: Be seen leaving a business or residence with something you obviously have not paid for or carrying a Molotov cocktail or reasonable facsimile during a period of civil unrest gets you a trip to the hospital or the morgue.

(Personally if I were in the position of sending my people out to stop looters I would have a quiet word with them and point out that they were to keep outright killings to a minimum because getting gutshot is just as much of a deterrent as a killing and would reduce the number of martyrs that killing would produce.) 

It's really that simple.

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My Social Security number is six.

Yes. Six. 000-00-0006. 

It has been six for some time now if you are trying to fish for it here's the story of how it came to be. I told it at a California hospital that demanded it.

I was given to me personally by President Roosevelt back in 1935 only President Roosevelt didn't hand it to me personally. He handed it to his wife Eleanor who handed it to me. Mrs. Roosevelt wasn't really too pretty but she was really kind.

I was the 6th person to apply for Social Security and President Roosevelt wanted to personally hand the first ten of us cards. The government sent me a special train ticket to come to visit Washington DC and it was very exciting. I'd only been to the county seat once before when Uncle Mike took me there to see a hootchie girl show when I turned sixteen.

There was this nice couple on the train that taught me how to change trains and when I got to Chicago I changed trains there. There were also a couple of nice colored men in special uniforms that showed me where to sleep. I think they were called Pullman Porters or something like that. They were really good to me.

When I got on the train in Chicago I met this Army guy. I think he was a general because he had a whole bunch of stripes on his sleeve. He said he was going to Washington DC and would help me out after I showed him the letter President Roosevelt had sent me.

When we got to Washington DC he took me to a big building and some soldiers took me to a big, giant hotel and helped me find out where to stay. Gosh the room the President bought me was almost as big as my whole house!

When I went outside and looked around it sorta made me look twice. Cars going every which away, bright lights flashing and painted up city women! I had never seen nothing like it in Iowa before! 

Anyway breakfast in the hotel was nothing to write home about. It didn't fill me up at all. Only two fried eggs, some spuds and three skinny little strips of burned bacon and a couple of pieces of toast. The coffee was awfully weak, too. Momma used to send me out into the fields with a lot more than that! She used to also give me six or eight Aunt Jemimas, too even though she made them her way. 

Anyway someone in a fancy suit showed up while I was eating breakfast showed up and told me to get dressed up to see the President. I went to my room and put on my best suit and put on the necktie with a hula girl on it my Uncle Mike gave me. The guy made me change it with the plain one Momma gave me for Christmas and took me to meet President Roosevelt. He said Mrs. Roosevelt wouldn't like it because she wasn't as pretty as the hula girl.

I got about this far when the the woman behind the counter simply gave up and simply said, "Your Social Security number really is six?

"Yes, ma'am," I replied. "Given to me by the President of the United States personally."

Somewhere in California hospital my SSN is listed as 000-00-0006.

The rest of you bums pick something else like 000 00 0007 or 000 00 0008.

MY number is six.

  

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Vancouver 25 for sale for $12K

which is a real steal in my opinion.

Decent sailboats are going for a song and it is tempting to think of buying one, selling out and just living aboard.

The biggest I'd go is a 32 footer and that'd be pushing it.

I see more 40 footers and up being literally given away because someone that bought it had bitten off more than they could chew.

"Project boats" are there simply for the removal. Some of the smaller day sailers are sitting in trailers and can just be driven off the premises and cost little or nothing.

Of course the most expensive boat out there is generally a free boat unless you're carful but the point is it is now very much a buyer's market.

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There are only three crimes listed in the United States Constitution

They are counterfeiting, treason and piracy and I am proud to say that as a good American I am guilty of one of them.

Mutiny is covered in piracy and I am a one time mutineer which looking back on it gives me great joy.

It was over food and the captain in question tried feeding us a diet of TV dinners and hot dogs. (remember those?)

One of the things the company did do right was they gave us a (for at the time) generous grub allowance and actually wanted it spent because they knew that a well fed crew was generally a happy crew.

The skipper was an idiot. He thought that if he kept grub expenses down it would be a feather in his cap. Instead we (the crew) turned it into a black eye. We mutinied and that was that. We took charge of the vessel and decided to cast him adrift in Long island Sound.

The crowning glory we had to work with is that he would have to explain to the office why the crew turned on him because obviously he couldn't lead us. Word would get out and his career would end then and there.

Needless to say, he pleaded and while we were getting ready to cast him adrift in Long Island Sound in an already inflated life raft we knew we had won. HE was going to have to explain why the raft had to be serviced and we KNEW the truth would not be forthcoming. He's have to BS his way out of it.

His problem.

The food we got improved. We were not being picky. We had a standard that was we were supposed to eat he same way we did at home when we were paying for it which is certainly fair enough.

Looking back on it it gives me a certain amount of satisfaction knowing that I am a bona fide Constitutional criminal.

Then again, one can argue that a crew has a duty to mutiny if they are not treated properly so I suppose if it went to court It might be a wash but I sorta f***in' doubt it. 

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One of the things I am seeing in the yachting world

is that there seem to be two different things happening at once.

Either boats are expensive or they are being given away and there's no rhyme nor reason.

If I were about 10 years younger I'd seriously consider having the mother of all garage/home sales and get rid of almost EVERYTHING and head out to someplace warm like Florida with $10,000 and find a pretty good place to spend my golden years as a liveaboard. I would likely get back some serious change from the $10K.

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Happy May.

April just smoked on past like a bullet.

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