Don't come to this country unless you want to become an American.

And don't move to North Carolina unless you want to become a North Carolinian or move to Texas unless you want to become a Texan.

I am getting tired of getting reports that transplants move into an area and try to turn it into the sewer they left.

If everything was so good back where you came from then why did you leave? If you don't like your new home then by all means, leave.

This holds doubly true for Islamic activists. If you come here and even think that Sharia law has a place here then leave.

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One thing Trump has done is return the word 'retard' to its proper home.

when he called Tim Walz one.

At one point the term was used to describe a special needs person but like a lot of things in the English Language that seems to have changed over time.it warm and allow him to cook.

I remember an incident from back in the day when an engineer from some lofty place dropped out to become a fisherman in Alaska. He bought a boat and went to work on it to suit his needs.

He was installing an oil stove of sorts in it to keep warm and enable him to cook. He arrived at the boat one day with a bunch of hardware including a small pump, check valves, fittings, piping and other hardware to get the now installed stove up and running.

At the time practically every town had one or two harmless special needs people that had been mainstreamed and were just part of the woodwork. They were pretty much accepted,  looked after and protected by the townspeople.

As the engineer turned fisherman started sorting out his parts our special needs guy was wandering by and asked the fisherman what he was doing. He went into an explanation on how he planned to pump fuel to his new stove.

Our special needs citizen looked at him and said, "Gee, you must be awful smart to know how to do all of that. I would have put the tank on the roof and let the oil run down into the stove."

The engineer turned fisherman looked completely stunned like he'd been hit by lightning. He mumbled something about having to go to the store and left.

A couple of days later I saw the engineer working on the deck of his boat and asked how his stove install went and he replied it works like a charm and invited me aboard to check it out. It ran perfectly.

When I disembarked I turned and took a look. I was not surprised to see the stove fuel tank affixed to the top of the coach roof. I said nothing but thought to myself "Who's the retard?"

Some of the most intelligent people on the planet can be retards.

I saw this picture answering a post on social media and decided that it fit Tim Walz nicely. (Occasionally it fits me.)

 

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I see where Ilhan Omar is having a few problems.

with her citizenship and maybe a few other minor things like fraud and/or theft.

One thing about this is the entire thing could have been avoided if she'd have simply represented her constituency without all the bull$hit, fanfare, drama and false outrage. 

She had to know that her paperwork had been fudged a little and that it would not take a whole lot to go through it with a fine screen and discover where something had been glossed over but she grew too overconfident and started getting herself into the limelight and pissing people off.

What's interesting to note is that if she continued to represent her constituency and quietly contribute she likely could have had a lifetime spot and a Congresswoman because her constituency of Somalia born people in MN would have continued sending her to Congress for the next umpteen decades.  

She also could have continued with whatever (alleged) fraud she was into and kept milking the system dry. 

Instead she chose to make a nuisance of herself and finally someone got tired of it and decided to do a little digging.

Most of the usual scam stories I have heard over the years are stories where the scam artists are doing something that is and likely will fly under the radar forever and a day if they hold course and speed and keep quiet about it. They always end with either 'Then they started getting greedy' or 'Then they started bragging about it'.

Getting greedy or telling anybody about a scam is a sure fire way of getting caught. When you start increasing your criminal activity where it becomes noticeable people start looking around trying to find out what's going on. 

When you tell someone what you are up to you run a very good chance that they will say something to someone else and then it becomes common knowledge fast. When that happens it's all over.

While I am no fan of Ilhan Omar whatsoever, I bet if she's followed the simple rules of crookedness and simply decided to fly under the radar she'd be sitting in Congress instead of waiting for whatever comes next.  

 

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Chain drive garage door openers.

tend to be noisy but they are solid. They are also the most reliable.

The quietest openers are screw driven and probably a little more expensive. They make sense for a family where the comings and goings spread over 24/7.

Still, I met a guy that bought one so it would not wake him up when the garage door opened and closed.

He lives alone.

What kind of badness is he talking about? If he is inside his home and he heard it it is an alarm because someone else has opened it and is either planning on entering or leaving his house.

I seriously doubt he is going to walk in his sleep into the garage and open the door and when he returns he's not going to be asleep either.

Go figure.

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There are times I piss myself off

like I just did a few minutes ago when I looked into my refrigerator to see what I am going to have for breakfast. 

Nothing outright jumped out at me and I got mildly annoyed becaause of that.

Then I got pissed off at myself because the whole refrigerator is full of edible food and I'm annoyed because I wasn't instantly inspired.

Then I opened my eyes and saw some leftover ham and some cheese and started to make an omelet which collapsed when I went to flip the empty side over the onions, ham and cheese side so I said the hell with it and scrambled the whole mess up and had a pretty good breakfast.

I have a refrigerator that people would kill me for a quarter of its contents and I'm complaining? That's just plain wrong.

It's an old saw but once in a while at times like this I ought to stop and think about the hungry kids overseas.

I'm ashamed of myself...or at least was. Now I'm grateful I have more than enough to eat.

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If it only saves one child...

is a common gun control plea.

Good point. While we're at it lets outlaw swimming pools, 5 gallon buckets and other sources of childhood drowning. 

Cars kill children, too so let's outlaw automobiles and we can all walk because if we ride horses children can fall off of them, hit their heads and die.

In short how much are we willing to give up to save one child?

 

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It is Sunday and there is no mail

I think one of the things I can do is pass on some dopey little stuff that will make people's life a little easier.

On the USPS website look up 'Informed Delivery' and check it out. I have it and I check it every morning shortly after I turn on the coffee maker.

It lets me know what I am going to find in my mailbox that day. It's pretty good knowing what to expect that day.

They show pictures of the actual mail piece so you know what it is.

Check it out.

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The Waffle House weather index.

The National Weather Service (NWS) does not officially use the Waffle House Index to forecast weather, but the federal emergency officials certainly do.

One of the things the feds do which actually makes sense is they pay attention to experienced local knowledge. Most likely because they have been embarrassed too many times over the years.

"Our scientists say..." announced the feds only to be made fools of by Farmer Joe's bunions or the local water witcher's trick knee. 

Actually regarding the North River the local (now gone) Coast Guard station used to tell people that local knowledge was the best source of information for people navigating the river. 

The Waffle House index seems to be a pretty good source of local weather information. They have a well earned reputation of toughing out bad weather and staying open. They also have a company index. 

Green, full operations. Yellow means limited operations and red means closed. Closed generally means the place has pretty much been destroyed and can't even provide shelter.

Closed ahead of time means that the storm is pretty much going to render the place heavily damaged. While like anything else that's not a guarantee that a storm is going to tear the place up it's a pretty good indicator of truly nasty weather.

Waffle House also has a pretty good humanitarian record of providing food and shelter during bad weather.

For all of the jokes, laughter, brawl videos etc. and the reputation of being a circus the place quietly shares a reputation for humanitarian service.

It's about as legitimate of a weather indicator as anything else the government provides.

I'd eat there if there was one nearer to home.

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One rant Almost Joined coming right up.

I have seen an increase in "almost joineds'. as in ''I almost joined the (enter service here)"

Either you did or you didn't. 

If you signed enlistment papers and bilged out of MEPS you joined. You are NOT an almost joined. You enlisted. You stood up to the plate and signed the check payable for up to and including your life to the government. You joined. While you are certainly not a veteran, but you are NOT an almost joined because you joined. The government just chose not to cash your check.

Over the years I have seen any number of 'almost joineds' and they are a pain in the a$$. Almost joined in a pig's eye. Half of the AJs my age were in college protesting the Vietnam war and dodging the draft while in liberal colleges. Here so many years later they want to tell people they 'almost joined'.

I have no problem whatsoever with someone that says they opted for college or took advantage of another opportunity or something along these lines. That's all well and good. I can't say as I blame you. I very well might have gone down this route. 

If you considered the military but decided to do something else that's fine and dandy. 

Just spare us the 'Almost Joined' crap. Whatever you do don't say you almost joined to a service member to try and win approval. They may be polite about it but they will think you're a jerk that just outed himself. 

I've noticed that a lot of the AJs from the Vietnam era have started to disappear only to be replaced by AJs from out Middle East adventures. Life goes on.

Fact is I have a lot more respect for someone that was a draft dodger  and admits it than I do for any AJ.

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The other day I overheard an 'almost joined' which is a peeve of mine.

I'm prett lax about what constitutes a veteran. For practical purposes simply signing on the dotted line gets a certain amount of credit. If someone says the flunked out at MEPS I give credit for joining. 

They don't get vets status but they get credit for joining because they committed themselves and that says a lot in my book.

On the other hand when someone says they 'almost joined' they go straight to the bottom of the pile with me. It's 100% total bull$hit.

I overheard someone saying that they 'almost joined' the Marines but it wasn't my conversation so I stayed quite. 

Still, it reminded me of a classmate that was an 'almost joined' when in fact he was at a liberal college protesting the Vietnam war. I tore him a new one for that crock.

Almost joined my a$$!

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An ATNO.

I just worked the Democratic Republic of Congo which is an All Time New One in my log.

I was confused when I looked it up I already had Congo and realized there are 2 Congos, Republic of the Congo and Peoples Republic of Congo.

Anyway there's an new one in my logbook.

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Cats are pests. It's just who they are.

Of course I would not have it any other way.

Someone or something has to keep me going.

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Internet advertising is a nuisance.

When i was looking for a radiator for the Miata I had to be careful to get what I wanted. 

Getting a radiator for an NA Miata is simple. Getting one specifically for a manual transmission is a little more difficult because the bulk of NA Miata radiators are dual purpose. They contain a cooler for an automatic transmission. To use said dual purpose radiators one simply plugs the transmission cooler inlet and outlet. It's a simple task.

Still, I hold with something that says that things that are designed to do two things don't do either thing as well as something designed to do one thing. I wanted a manual only radiator which I did find. It wasn't too hard.

Of course the minute you go looking for something ads for it pop up everywhere. Unfortunately they don't stop when you get what purchase were looking for. I'm still getting ads for Miata radiators (most of which are dual purpose but at least they are usable.)

Still, what makes no sense at all in advertising is when the ads start trying to peddle me things like a radiator for a Honda Accord or an F-150 pickup or other cars I don't own.

I'm not too upset over the advertising because that's what makes the internet free. Still it is somewhat mildly annoying to get advertising for things you have no earthly need for.

One time I snooped into a Turbo conversion for a Miata out of sheer simple curiosity and wound up getting ads for turbo kits for several weeks.

I would imagine that if some guy orders a sexy outfit for his SO he's going to start getting flooded with ads for sexy outfits. In fact if he chose one of certain outfits he's probably get bombarded with ads for whips and chains.

Try explaining that one to her if she looks over your shoulder when you're on line. (Maybe she'd be interested. Who knows?)

Oh well. 

Still, I think that over time advertisers will figure it out. 

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The last of the parts arrived for my radiator replacement

so it looks like that this weekend I'll get it completed.

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My friend swung by today.

We grabbed lunch and we spent much of the time playing what happened to who and I really didn't have a whole lot of answers because I left the area in 1973 and rarely returned to visit.

I've lost touch with all but a few. The whole thing was rather bittersweet. He's a couple of years older than I am and not in the best of health. His son was doing the driving.

I didn't ask him much about how he managed to disappear and he didn't say much.  

Of course we said we'd meet again but I seriously doubt it will happen. 

We parted as old friends, shook hands and he was off to Ohio to visit his brother.

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Regarding yesterday's post. It's always something simple.

Last night I got a call from my childhood friend telling me he'll drop by tomorrow on his way to visit his brother in Ohio. The call turned into an hour and a half long chat partly about how he had managed to vanish back in the early 70s.

What is amazing was how simple it was. He simply changed his name a bit and moved to Oklahoma. Thomas Louis Martin, or Thomas L. Martin simply became T. Lewis Martin and went by Lou.

He simply filled out forms with T. Lewis Martin and it was unquestioned. 

He said it really was pretty much that easy. His wife reported him as a missing person a few days later and his name was added to the list of missing persons. Thousands of people every year turn up missing and unless foul play is suspected the LE community doesn't do a lot about. They have better things to do than spend resources looking for someone that skipped town to avoid non criminal things.

He also told me he had an attorney on a small retainer that he quietly called annually to see what his legal status was. 

Five years later his wife had him declared legally dead in Massachusetts and remarried. When he told me that he laughed like hell.

He said that when that happened the last person that wanted to meet him was his now ex because that would make her a bigamist. 

While I suppose that could eventually get cleared up it certainly would have opened a real can of worms legally.

Anyway, he reunited with his family but never went back to MA while she was alive. She has passed a couple of years ago so everything is pretty much moot. 

Shortly after she remarried he moved in with a woman and lived common -law and they raised a couple of kids.

This whole thing sounds pretty whacked out but that's what he told me. 

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I have no idea what is going to happen next.

I just got word out of nowhere that a childhood friend is going to drop by on me in a week or so. He's on his way to Ohio to visit his sister.

In itself this is no big deal until you add to the fact that he vanished for about 50 years and this is the first time since he left he's emerging.

When I say vanish I mean he outright disappeared off the face of the earth. Last heard from getting on a plane headed for London. I suppose he took a ferry over to the mainland and disappeared.

The first thing I thought about was the French Foreign Legion but in real life things generally happen without as much drama as people think of.

This was in the 70s. Pre computer. He had married a woman that after two years of marriage blindsided him with a divorce suit. Normally this would not have been too bad but her entire family was a ringtailed passel of lawyers and judges. He figured he would likely wind up living under a bridge. This was Massachusetts and it was as corrupt as it is now. Think Lindsay Clancy corrupt.

Anyway a few days after he got hit with the divorce he asked me for a ride to Logan which I cheerfully did. He said work was sending him to London for a few days. I dropped him off and forgot about it.

A few months later someone told me he was missing. I mulled over saying anything but figured it wasn't my place. I said nothing and nobody ever asked me anything. A few months later his absence seemed to be forgotten. I just wanted to give the man his privacy. He was committing no crime.

Vanishing back in those days was a LOT easier than it is today. This was long before airport security, picture IDs and that sort of thing. The easiest way to vanish was to become someone else which was not hard to do. 

Move a couple of states over and establish an existence. Find a grave of a child that died in infancy that's about your age and write in for a copy of a birth certificate. If the grave was in a churchyard you could sometimes come up with a baptismal certificate that was almost as good and back them was generally proof of ID.

On the power of the birth/sometimes baptismal certificate get one's self a driver's license. This was before picture IDs. A driver's license and birth certificate could get you a passport. 

It's entirely possible he took a round trip to London and back and returned and disappeared. No telling.

Anyway net week I should know and when I find out I'll post it. It might prove to be interesting or it may be a total bust.

 

 

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Someone asked me why I think that in many instances the threat of violence is a good thing.

Simply because it works.

If someone pushing a basket full of unpaid for merchandise out the door of some store catches a baseball bat across the face on the way out they will likely rethink there misdeeds when they come around.

Once that happens a few times word will get out. Once word gets out that that is the new policy then people will stop stealing from that store because nobody likes eating hickory.

A shoplifting conviction usually brings a small fine, often less than the value of the stolen goods.

What's interesting is that we can practically eliminate ICE agents with the expedient of enacting a law that says 90 days after enactment the federal government will pay a bounty on $50,000 on illegals turned in, dead or alive.

Contrary to what people will tell you it will not lead to a blood bath. People are not 100% stupid. This won't lead to a blood bath. What will happen is we will see the biggest mass exodus in human history.

You will see people that are covering for illegals looking at them in a different light. They will see the illegal family of five not as a family of five but as a new home and a new car they will change their attitude. 

Unfortunately they won't be able to cash in because the family down the hall will be long gone. They will be gone like a shot the minute they find out that the law has been enacted. 

I would imagine that there would be gang types that would think they could ignore the law (sold out by other gang types) and maybe a couple Darwin candidates but it certainly no blood bath. It would solve the problem with little grief.

The point being that until there are real consequences things are not really going to change. The way the system is running now nothing is getting done to protect society.

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I am gathering parts to put a new radiator in the Miata.

The current radiator has a plastic upper that was originally black and is turning close to yellow which means it's likely to spring a leak at any time.

It's a process and I have to do the best I can to make sure I have everything I need to hand over to me mechanic.

I think I'm squared away but time will tell. 

Normally a lot of fasteners can be reused but on a 35 year old car it generally pays to spend some chump change and use new bolts as the old bolts are either rusty or in some cases rounded off. It also saves a little money in labor which compensates for the added expense. 

Someone asked my why do it now and I explained that it is a lot cheaper than having to be towed from Erie or having it fixed someplace else.

You fix something before it breaks so you don't have to fix it when it breaks.

All in the part of maintaining a 35 year old sports car.

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I'm getting sick and tired of the USS Abraham Lincoln suicide attempt publicity

Most of which is fake news or damned close. The Lincoln task force has 8 attempted suicides and no deaths. Say again. No-zero- deaths. Those figures sound a little below average to me for a group of that size yet the media is making a big fuss over it.

Back in the day my battery had one attempt. The soldier in question was a dud to begin with and was trying to get out of the Army. He cut his wrists the wrong way and although he bled like a stuck pig he was discovered and carted off to the hospital and then the booby hatch for a while. 

When he returned to the unit to go through the separation process the supply sergeant made him sign a statement of charges for the bedding he had ruined by bleeding on. What a delightfully cold hearted thing that was to do! I admit it. I laughed when I heard that.

It should also be noted that we were in garrison in peacetime and the worst thing we might have to face was being told to pick up cigarette butts.  The attempt, like most attempts was simply a cry for help.

The military suicide rate is comparable or even slightly lower than their civilian counterparts. 

Looking at the 8 attempted suicides I am surprised the numbers are that low. Generally the attempts are made by sailors that have not been in the service very long and are having a hard time adjusting to military life.

When you consider that the task force has been to sea in combat operations for as long as it had, the low rate speaks highly for the serving sailors. They've worked their asses off day and night when they were in combat and stayed fairly busy afterwards because their mothers are not there to pick up after them.  

You also have to remember that some of these sailors are newbies that came aboard straight out of Great Lakes. They haven't adapted to military life yet. While many of them (Like I did) take to it like a duck to water for some it is a major shock and hard to adjust to. For the latter some of them don't know where to turn. 

I am not taking suicide lightly. I am pointing out that the military seems to have the same rate as the civilian populace. It's a problem and the military does what it can to prevent it.

This whole thing is just another case of the media creating a major problem out of thin air. One can't possibly hate the media enough.

If I were the judge on a case where someone bombed a television network and admitted it in open court i would probably punish him with a $25 fine and 15 minutes of community service.

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