Another day another dollar

Yesterday I got wallopped by a couple of bees of some sort while mowing the lawn. Most likely they were yellowjackets. Before I knew what was happening they had buzzed off.

This is the first time I have ever had a reaction and now my hand and under my jaw is pretty puffed up. This will make shaving interesting later this morning.

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In other news people are STILL raising hell over the Blue Angels flyover and as usual my reaction to an attack is a counterattack.

Lower! Faster! Louder!

If I'm not knocked on my ass and find my smoking scorched hat a half-mile away then they are not doing their job.

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I've already seen two churches burn down in NYC

and there is an excellent cure for this.

Ten mosques get burned down in retaliation.

Then listen to the moaning, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

When something becomes too costly to do peoplle will stop doing it.

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The media must be pretty hard up to complain about the Blue Angels.

The people of Pensacola love to watch the Blue Angels practice and 'Breakfast with the Blues' occurs annually to herald the start of the air show season.

Many of them go to the beach to watch the show.

People there know that low level passes will often give them a dusting of sand and that a few tents will overturn and towels may be lifted. That's pretty much a given AND a part of the show.

Enter a story starved media. The same media that decided to not air the President's recent speech which would have been a good story.

Yet they decided to create a story out of a total non story and outright lie and say that the crowd was terrified of the low level pass they made.

Of course had I (and a lot of others) been there we would have shouted "Lower! Faster! Louder!" because that's what air show spectators are expected to do.

Some wag said "Two little boys cried and 2000 others decided then and there that they want to be pilots when they grow up." This sounds about right.

Of course had the Secretary of War been any typical political hack other than Pete Hegseth there would have been a major investigation, pilots would have been fired to say the least and the Blues would probably be ordered to fly no lower than 5000 feet at future airshows, basically eliminating the program as they would not draw much of a crowd.

Pete brushed it off by saying "The flyovers will continue until morale improves." Gotta love that answer. Few appointed officials would have the moxie to give an answer like that to the public.

It actually speaks highly of Pete because he stands behind his people and backs them up if they have committed no wrongdoing. 

The Blues were just  doing what they were supposed to do and I'm fairly sure the 'non-investigation' most likely consisted of a phone call.

Back in March 2026 a pair of Apache helicopters hovered over Kid Rock's estate in Tennessee and the organization names CREW blubbered a bit over it. CREW is an oversight group consisting of Obama people. In short a nuisance group. Upon landing both pilots were grounded pending investigation. Pete ungrounded them a few hours later.

When you think about it for a minute hovering over a place is actually pretty good training. It's a much needed helicopter skill. In fact just about all flying is good training for pilots. It takes hours and hours to train a pilot and the more hours they accumulate the better pilots they become.

Personally I think the Blues should be allowed to buzz the beach 25 feet off the deck at supersonic speeds if they so desire but if they decide to do this they probably should recommend hearing protection.

I was at an airshow years ago and got to watch most people jump out of their skins as the Blues pulled the 'tactical sneak' on the crowd.

Four of the Blues were putting on a fascinating show and just as the crowd was paying rapt attention the other two came out of nowhere and buzzed the crowd about fifty feet off the deck.

It was a pretty good surprise.

Still, if all the media can do is complain about an air show they ought to take a long, hard look at themselves and try reporting the actual no spin news for a very welcome change.

What the Blues ought to do is aerial refuel 100 feet off the deck and REALLY give somebody something to complain about.

 

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Had a pretty quiet day for a change

and I think I will leave it at that.

Although last night I went out for a beer at the sportsman's club and was sitting at the old folks table. One of the guy's phones rang and he slid it over to me. The call was listed as potential spam.

It proved to be a local fund raiser of some sort and I played with the caller explaining that I was currently incarcerated.

The caller said that I could get time added to my sentence for having a phone. 

"Who cares? I am 91 years old and last year I got a life sentence for murdering a telemarketer."

It was fun watching 5 other old men try and not let the cat out of the bag by laughing.

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It's tourist tossing season at Yellowstone.

and I don't really have a lot of sympathy for those that are stupid enough to try and pet a Grizzley bear or try and take a selfie with a bison.

When they ignore the countless signs instructing them to stay away from the animals it's on them and NOT the animal.

The park people say they are not going to execute the bison that just threw someone about 10 feet into the air and broke him up pretty good.

In this case I support the park people. The bison did nothing wrong. The tourist did. 

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Well that sucks.

I checked USPS informed delivery and saw that a QSL card from Pakistan was due in but when I checked the box it was empty.

This VERY rarely happens so we shall see what we shall see.

Maybe the luck of the Irish will come through and it will be a day late.

Pakistan is a damned difficult and rare one to work. It was actuaaally a freak QSO. I was on a DX net and commented to net control that I wished I could hear the Pakistan station that he said was on the net.

The Pakistan station actually called ME which was wierd. He had made most of my call sign out and called me with a partial callsign.

It took is several tries to get each other's calls signs and signal reports but we managed.

I'm bummed the PO seems to have lost the card as it probably means I will have to send away again to get one.

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Somebody mentioned The Bicentenntal to me and

I remember rather well.

You couldn't get away from for a minute unless you went into the bedroom, jumped into bed and pulled the covers over your head.

Even Detroit got into the game. There were several Bicentennial models of various vehicles that came down the line. 

There were bicentennial everything that you can imagine, much of it made in China. The entire year was celebrated in typical American fashion, of course. Anything you could make a buck on.

Of course the market got flooded and by mid February Bicentennial goods no longer commanded a premium. By March it was cheaper to buy a Bicentennail ash tray than it was to buy a plain ordinary one.

It was laid on so thick and heavy that by the 4th of July most of us were just plain tired of it all. 

Shortly after the 4th of July I saw my first "Fuc* the Bicentennial!" T-shirt. Can't say as I blame whoever wore it. It had gotten stale by then because of overexposure.

Seeing such a T-shirt was not all that common, though. Not because it didn't express a lot of our sentiments but because having the dreaded F-word on outwear wass considered tacky.

Admittedly the fireworks were over the top, though.

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I see where PA took first place in the Great American State Fair.

which Governor Shapiro refused to spend any state money on.

So our senators- a Republican and a Democrat- raised the money and went to work and brought First Place to PA.

Shapiro had said he couldn't raise any money so our senators went to work and found 55 donors and made it happen.

I am actually astonished that Shapiro didn't step in and try and hog all the credit but then again I can see why he's quietly sitting there with egg on his face. He knows it would not take much to have this one bite him in the ass. All it would take is the truth to be advertised. He's make himself look like an idiot.

Kudos to McCormick and Fetterman for making this happen. What adds insult to injury is it didn't cost the taxpayers of PA a single dime.

A sneer to Shapiro is in order.

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I just saw where a restaurant is charging parents for their children's behavior.

and I'm all for it.

I seldom go out to eat but when I do I just want to be forced to put up with recaltricent children. It's not too much to ask for.

If your kids are well behaved they are more than welcome. If they are little vine swinging yard apes then have the courtesy to take them somewhere else. Chuck E. Cheese seems to cater to this sort of thing. 

Years ago there were two couples. One couple had two kids, the other couple had three. I sent the three well behaved kids their choice of the dessert tray. It started a bit of a row and I had to listen to the outraged parents of a pair of certified yard apes piss and moan but I several other diners actually spoke up and defended my actions.

The restaurant that started doing this started doing it after a diner's kids carved up a table and another kid broke a credit card machine. I can't say as I blame them. Maybe this will become the norm.

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I just read that Trump is yanking the student loan program for useless degrees.

which actually makes sense because the likelihood of a woman's dance studies major to find suitable employment enabling them to pay the loan back is rather dim.

I've read a couple of tales of woe about people that can't retire because they're still paying off college loans which is sad. Actually I think these people have probably made other poor choices but I won't get into that yet.

Then again maybe I will. After all, I am writing this as I go along. 

When you started college your Uncle Mike had just bough himself a brand new second hand used pickup he got a deal on and offered you his old one for free because he knew you needed it to get back and forth to school. The vehicle he offered you was mechanically excellent but had faded paint so you begged off and went out and spent $20K on a car and added it to your college load. Bad decision.

After graduation you entered the work force and for ssome reason actually managed to find some sort of semi suitable employment and started to climb. You spent your first bonus on a trip to Hawaii instead of putting it toward your student loans. Bad choice.

You really thought you needed new cars every few years. More bad choices.

You could have gotten them paid off in 4 or 5 years by going into the military as an officer but your lame excuse was that you don't like people telling you what to do which is what happens to you at work constantly. Another lousy choice.

Then your Uncle Horace left you a big windfall in his will and for some reason or another you pissed that away instead of paying off your loans. 

Yanking the student loan program from those with useless majors will mean we will have fewer people like you running around.

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What happens when the system fails good people.

They either move or simply take the law into their own hands.

People forget that the system has a duty to the people it serves. If the system is designed to protect the people and their property and fails to do so then the system has no business interfering with the people stepping in and taking care of themselves.

One of the things the system tends to do is takes a true mentally ill troublemaker off the streets for a couple of months, clean him up and then release him if he promises to keep taking his meds.

He doesn't live up to his end of the deal and starts acting up. Rinse, repeat.

The people eventyually grow tired of it and lash out and the system goes after the people that are tired of being victims.

I think that in many instances of this that failure of the system to take care of the people should be an affirmative defense.

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Sarcasm strikes again.

I corrected someone that quoted Neil Armstrong when he walked on the moon.

I pointed out that a second or two earlier Buzz Aldrin had pointed to something and told Neil, "Hey! That looks like Alice Kramden!"

"Really!?"

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I have started to try and lose weight.

What is interesting to note is that lately I have not had much af an appetite which I suppose will help.

We shall see what we shall see.

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Things are starting to settle down a bit

which is good.

It looks like a hot July is in the making but that could change in a heartbeat.

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Many of the Founding Fathers paid dearly.

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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.

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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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