One day my First Sergeant called me in

and told me he had gotten a call from my father asking me about the date I had returned from leave.

"What's that all about?" he asked.

I said I'd find out and called Dad. He reported to me that the neighborhood kids had tossed some kind of IED into the neighbor's new in-ground swimming pool and cracked it. He wanted to make sure I had gotten back OK from leave and was properly signed into the battery because he knew I was probably a likely suspect.

When I explained what the call as all about to Top he said that he had handled a couple of calls like that over the years.

Then he laughed. "Blew up the guy's pool, huh? Years ago we had a guy accused of something like that on leave. He as at the battery and the incident happened in Oregon if I remember. The call came from a police chief. He had been here when the incident occurred also."

I made this post because yesterday someone complained about the fireworks and I warned them of the consequences of getting on the wrong side of the kids. 

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I love this story. SR-71 Blackbird.

Happy 4th!

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Ahh, yes. Major Jason Watson.

The officer that ran his mouth on the Capitol steps a couple of days ago.

He's reportedly an Air Force Academy graduate with 17 years in service. If you know, you know. If not I will explain things to you.

Most of his classmates have either gotten out after they served their required payback or they have been promoted ahead of Watson. 

He does not appear to be a standout officer. 

He was basically a logistician which is an honorable and much needed career field.

One thing is almost for certain. He's going places, but not in the Air Force. Most likely he's getting the boot for running off at the mouth on the Capitol steps.

Of course a lot of people are screaming that he has rights under the first Amendment but the fact is he doesn't. He's subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and as such he has violated numerous articles of it and can be tried by courts-martial and is subject to be punished as directed by the Courts-martial board.

If he wanted to run off at the mouth he should have resigned his commission first and then he would have all of his First Amendment rights restored. Instead he chose to ignore the UCMJ. 

What happens to him is his problem. 

Personally I think that after everything is over and done with and he is sentenced that President Trump give him the final humiliation. He ought to pardon him and restore him to duty.

McMurdo Station can probably use a mess officer.

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I just read a brief article on seniors who can't retire

because they are STILL paying off college loans.

While I'm sure there is a VERY small handful of people with a bona fide reason it sounds like a life of poor decision making to me.

(Someone fell down a 300 foot mine shaft and got paralyzed for life) 

All I know is that debt is slavery and the three bank loans I ever took out were paid off in record time because I hated being in debt.

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I am sick and tired of Michelle Obama running her mouth about how hard she has had it in life.

It's really stale.

The poor complained that she had to buy her own food when she was the First Lady with a staff of 20-25 to take care of her.

Poor baby. What, was she unable to feed herself on a President's pay? 

Then she's always complaining that she has it rough because she's black. Poor baby.

If she has a problem with being black she should have the melatonin in her skin removed and become white. It can be done fairly easily and she can afford it. Then she can enjoy white privilige which means absolutely nothing because like most people (of all colors) I have had to get up and go to work for over 50 years.

Instead of sitting around complaining about her plight she should be preaching to the low end blacks (and everybody else of every race)how she managed to get ahead and give them hope and encourage them to make something of themselves.

Of course that would be too easy for her.

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

Double post today. Keep reading if you want.

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It's eventually going to happen.

I  have seen and heard any number of brawls breaking out on aircraft and cruise ships and it's bound to happen. 

Someone is going to act up on a cruise ship and get put ashore somewhere in the Carribean like St. Kitts and Nevis. Once ashore it will come to the attention of the airlines that he started a brawl on an airliner and they're on the no fly list.

Oops...You're screwed!

Of course this depends on which no fly list one is on. If you are on one with a specific airline one simply opts for another airline to get back to the states on. If you are on the federal no fly list you're totally screwed.

A charter flight to Florida runs about $10-14K which you likely do not have in your pocket. A boat ride is more expensive and can take about a week or more to get to Florida.

If you are stupid enough to brawl on both an airplane AND a cruise ship then you're most likely stupid enough so you don't have the skills you need to work passage on a ship headed to the States.

You're also screwed because most places do not have the social programs that we have in the States. You are very likely to get hungry after you run out of cash. Being jailed for vagrancy or something related is a pretty good possibility, too.

You might try an embassy or consulate and see what they have to say. They might be able to help. 

Still, if a consoulate or embassy does help you out it's most likely going to cost you.

Update. Before I posted this I was talking to a cousin who told me she had read about some chowderhead on a no fly list that got booted off of a cruise ship and stranded. She didn't know what happened to them.

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I see where Temporary Protected Status has been lifted on Hatians and Syrians.

and many of them are getting the boot.

If it is selectively enforced this could actually be a pretty good deal. It would provide us with the opportunity of keeping those that truly contribute and get rid of the deadwood.

Temporary means temporary. What was (in the case of Haitians) supposed to be about 16 months has turned int 16 years.

If someone entered here legally and is contributing to the country in a positive manner and behaving themselves then by all means, let them stay if we can use the help.

If they are using our social services and draining us then adios.

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

Two posts today. Keep reading.

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Elizabeth Warren actually said something that makes sense.

One of the things corporations are doing is they are buying up single family homes and renting them out. 

Bad JuJu. 

It will turn us into a nation of renters.

Home ownership is the most commonly used way working people create wealth for themselves. You don't create wealth by renting.

Home ownership creates wealth for people. You can live in the 'burbs or the boonies in a cabin and as your home appreciates you gain wealth.

As much as I think she's an idiot, every once in a while a blind squirrel finds a nut. She's right in wanting to limit corporations in the number of single family homes they can buy.

Home ownership creates wealth for the working stiff and making it difficult for someone to own their own home is long term bad for the economy and the nation in general, looking at the big picture.

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Instead of taxing the rich

we ought to tax the stupid.

The national debt would be paid off ins a very short time.

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

I see that NYC is imposing a rent freeze. 

The idea is probably so landlords lose their rentals to the city when property taxes etc go up. Then the city will run them.

This ought to be good because then the city will be responsible for maintainance. I can picture that one.

Joe Renter has a leaky toilet. He calls the city and the dispatcher says someone will be by July 7th. Joe is pleased. It's July 6th. He expresses his delight.

"Wow! That's tomorrow!"

The voice replies, "July 7th, 2029. We're booked up solid for three years now."

Joe cancels and finds a youTube video and figure out how to fix it himself and promptly gets whacked with a fine for unauthorized repairs.

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The day I won the lottery.

Back when I was working one of the guys asked me what I would do if I won the lottery.

I said, "I dunno. Probably snag a pint of ice cream, sit on the combing and eat it."

"What flavor?" he asked.

"Probably chocolate," I replied.

"If they were out of chocolate would you eat butter brickle?" he asked.

"That would be fine," I answered. The deckhand quietly walked back to the tugboat.

About fifteen minutes later two deckhands and the engineer came aboard and approached me. One of them handed be a large bowl it ice cream with a spoon in it.

The deckhand that handed me the ice cream said to me, "Looks to me like you just won the lottery!" and we all had a laugh.

I sat ont the combing and ate it.

All in all it was a pretty good day.

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I have eliminated bourbon from my pre sleep ritual.

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea several years ago and I have religiously used my CPAP machine. A couple of years ago my numbers went down a bit and I experimented.

The presleep ritual morphed to a snort of bourbon about an hour and a half before bed and it tended to keep the numbers where I wanted them.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to see what happened if I omitted the bourbon and as expected the numbers immediately dropped a bit. I hung in there and they started to climb again, just ever so slightly below what they were when I had a snort in the evening.

I think I am going to run with that for a while because the bourbon turns into sugar and empty calories.

My total alcohol consumption now is two Guinnesses/week at club meetings.

Let's see if I lose a little weight as an added bonus.

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