Can President Trump, Once Again, Snatch Victory From the Jaws of Defeat?

In the beginning, I didn't like Trump much. I saw him as arrogant, pompous, and self serving. Just another member of America's elite aristocracy. Then something strange happened. I discovered that his enemies- were also my enemies.

I have never seen anyone so thoroughly hated in my life. Ever. The media ignores and ridicules him. Obama and Hillary hate him. China and Russia hate him. (I don't think the release of the coronavirus one year before his re-election was a coincidence.)  His fired cabinet members hate him. Many in the Republican party, like Mitt Romney, hate him.The democrats and Pelosi hate him. Even the courts hate him. More importantly, several of my friends hate him. Or perhaps, ex-friends.

What is it about this guy that pisses people off? What angers them to the point we can't even discuss this crooked election like adults?

First off, Trump wasn't supposed to win. I can recall back in 2016, that every liberal media outlet, every liberal poll taker, virtually every talking head including Obama, thought Trump would lose to Hillary Clinton. The only person in America that had it right was Ann Coulter and a blogger that I read back then. (Taxicab Depressions) Ms. Coulter was ridiculed on several networks.

Trump was America's first walk on President. He hadn't wasted his life wallowing around the cesspool of politics like Clinton, Sanders, Obama, or Biden. He hadn't paid those political dues of ascending political offices. He built things. He created things. He sometimes failed. He was certainly no polished politician- blowing smoke up voter's asses. He tells things the way they are. He is abrupt and not well spoken. I often see him searching for the right words and adjectives when speaking or using Twitter. 

Now we know he had to overcome 4 years of Russia collusion horse shit and a scam of an impeachment proceeding that like the coronavirus- was hatched one year prior to his re-election. We know that Obama assembled a team and deep state operatives to spy on Trump. 

All of these "coincidences" are remarkable. In all my years and Presidents dating back to JFK- I have never seen so many enemies. Enemies that keep failing. 

So it was that the hateful democratic machine in several swing states found loopholes and ways to rig the 2020 election. They wouldn't need to risk getting caught if professional politician and bribe taking, Joe Biden was winning. But unfortunately, that didn't happen. Late night, there it was, Trump was winning once again with just a few key states in the balance. I went to bed- only to witness a miraculous mathematical recovery- by Joe Biden in the morning. Now I am somewhat math challenged, needing a tutor to steer me through any college level algebra. But witnessing a 700,000 vote lead disappear overnight with 2/3rds of the 7 million votes cast was truly a feat for the ages. A mathematical miracle.

I have a friend who noted that he thought it was suspicious that the media refused to call Pennsylvania for Trump with such an enormous lead. It reminded him of their refusal to call Florida for Trump in 2016. He opined that perhaps they were hoping for one of those mathematical miracles back then.

I have a liberal friend who simply can't conceive how this election was rigged. Here is what the Georgia Secretary of State is now conceding. Raffensperger joined his fellow Republicans last Wednesday to call for an end to what that state terms “no excuse absentee voting.” This law allows any voter in Georgia to request and submit an absentee ballot without providing justification for why they can’t vote in person. To wit it is noted: Raffensperger appears to have come to understand the vulnerability of unrestricted absentee and mail-in voting only after the 2020 General Election high voter turnout and a flood of credible vote fraud and ballot tampering claims.

In addition to fighting every crooked swing state, Trump has had to battle with a protective judiciary in those  states, compromised by everything from elections to endorsements. It's a vast and daunting task- fighting these hordes of like minded assholes but there's Donald Trump. Brawler. Tough minded and firing away. Never gives up. Who doesn't admire that? I'll share a foxhole with a guy like that any day.

We have seen the enemy- they are exactly what we thought they were.

It dawned on me months ago that Trump and I have something in common. We hate the same people and we dislike them for largely the same reasons.

The next two weeks, starting Dec. 27 through Jan. 6, is going to tell us what happens next. We are going to find out if Trump gets a stay of execution and whether or not Chinese/Ukraine employee Joe Biden will get inaugurated as the President of the United States. The thought of that stooge in the White House makes me ill just thinking about it. Even Obama wouldn't endorse his former VP until he was nominated.

Don't count out America's first walk on President. He's got the resources, the determination, and we know he will fight this sham all the way to the end.

And even though every liberal in the land thinks they have this in the bag and even if they do in fact prevail- it most certainly will be a hollow, pyrrhic victory. Be careful what you wish for. Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. Joe Biden ain't the cure for what ails us.

Great link as the evidence continues to mount. https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/12/why_democrats_should_read_the_navarro_report.html

 

It's Time To Call a Convention of States

I am not sure that any of us can predict what set of circumstances must appear before calling a convention of states. It is part of our Constitution, Article 5.  In the past, Congress has somewhat routinely used Article 5 to propose and adopt constitutional amendments. However, there is also a provision which allows state legislatures to circumvent Congress. That is a convention of state legislatures. Incidentally, I believe it is the only way possible to impose term limits on Congress since there is virtually no chance they will ever impose term limits on themselves.

The recently stolen election and the obstruction of any kind of investigation or quest for an accurate vote tally is the last straw. We already possess a Congress with the worst ratings in history. We have a SCOTUS that simply cherry picks what it wants to hear and what it doesn't want to hear and offers some weak excuse when deciding which cases they will find entertaining. Wouldn't any one of us love to dodge every tough call or hot button issue knowing that our careers cannot be jeopardized? Our system of governance no longer represents "we the people" if it ever did. We can either intervene and attempt to stop this self serving behavior and make government accountable to us or we can continue to ignore it until we are faced with some variation of mob rule democracy, corruption, ridicule, and ruin.

 “On the final day of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, when our Constitution was adopted, Americans gathered on the steps of Independence Hall to await the news of the government our founders had crafted. They asked Benjamin Franklin, ‘What do we have, a republic or a monarchy?’ Franklin replied, ‘A republic, if you can keep it.’ 

Article 5 of the Constitution allows for a convention of state legislatures by a 2/3rds majority of states. The passage of any proposed amendment requires a 3/4 majority vote. It most certainly would have to be called by state legislatures. Drunk with power and terms that go on for decades, Congress no longer serves the people. It serves corporate America with their shills and lobbyists. Congressmen serve whoever promises the fattest campaign re-election checks. Term limits would have to have the highest priority with one very notable exception. The Constitution, the Bill of Rights and amendments must stay intact. Nothing gets removed or deleted. The convention of states' work is purely additive. 

There are many people, scholars and people far more knowledgeable than I, who think that once the convention is called- everything is on the table to include removing the Constitution. This can never happen. The Constitution is the lifeblood and history of America. However, I think it would be unrealistic not to admit that after 240 years worth of industrial expansion worldwide, immigration and population growth, and the general evolution of our culture- at some point we have to be willing to bring the outhouse indoors and change the plumbing. Our government needs some updates and remodeling.

There are many items to address. Term limits, campaign reform to include making lobbyists and bribes in the form of contributions and cushy jobs for family members- illegal.

The Federal Reserve "Bank"  and this ridiculous 28 trillion in debt which is never going to be repaid. That must be addressed along with a return to sound money.

This insane idea that we must carry on wars, wasting trillions and costing thousands of lives. The military complex in this country is a money sucking curse. I am sick of using our kids as cannon fodder so that we can continue killing and blowing things up in the name of whatever excuse is politically expedient. Self defense? Absolutely. Picking fights? Absolutely not. Our wars even need term limits.

We need to tackle health care. The ACA was nothing but a health insurance bail out. In it's present form, where absolutely nothing was reformed, it is the worst piece of legislation ever foisted on the American public. 

Elections. Good gawd. Can't we agree on one process in 50 states wherein everything is processed quickly and can easily be checked for accuracy? Is this some impossibility on par with colonizing Jupiter? Must we be ridiculed when we want to check accuracy?

I am also weary of our judicial system particularly at the upper echelons. I am tired of watching SCOTUS time and time again consistently vote for more government over reach. I am tired of watching the high court pick and choose what they will hear and what they won't. It's time to write a job description for these people to adhere to. While campaigning for the Affordable Care Act and lying to the country about health insurance premiums going "down" accompanied by a 2000 page bill no Congressman bothered reading- the democrats foisted this unread monstrosity with penalties on middle class America. Obama never, ever, referred to the Affordable Care Act as a tax. He chose his words very carefully. Our last hope was SCOTUS. Justice Roberts, knowing there would be no appeal of his tie breaking vote, and certainly not concerned with job loss or even a reprimand, cast his vote for the ACA and justified his decision by calling the bill a tax. That was the last straw. They conned and lied to us to sell this terrible bill and then called it a tax at the SCOTUS level to justify it's passing. The errors, omissions, and outright fraud used to pass the ACA should have rendered it dead on arrival. Five justices voted for that garbage.

That was the day I learned to hate SCOTUS. I realized that they could justify any position that they wanted. I'd already seen the Citizen's United decision where they rationalized that limiting corporate funding of campaign ads somehow violated the First Amendment which was a ridiculous stretch of imagination. Al Capone was a piker compared to these thieves. Al never had the benefit of some ruling body sanctioning his deeds. 

These are just a few issues. I'm sure we can think of many more items from pandemic response to installing budget limits and deadlines that will be published and enforced. No longer playing kickball with budget deadlines and the accompanying political nonsense.

For years I have read a constitutional scholar who is very adamant that she does not want a convention of states fearing that they will destroy the Constitution in the process. I have agreed with her up until this latest election fiasco. If we have no process of safeguarding a system and seeking the truth in something as simple as counting and verifying votes then we have no business pretending we have a republic where the rule of law is subjugated by political parties and petty tyrants in every state. People can't even cast a ballot without fearing they are wasting time and thus, will simply quit voting altogether.

One last thing for folks to consider. If we wait 10 years- the mob rule liberals will have an even larger stranglehold on the states than they already have. We employ due process, negotiation, and revision. That is the fair, peaceful way to resolve conflict. We have a rule of law in America. JFK once said, "Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try." Kennedy also said, "Those who make peaceful resolution impossible, will make violent revolution inevitable." If plan A fails, then it's time for plan B.

It's time we remove our consent to be governed.

If we don't bring about an intervention with serious changes now- then all that remains is mob rule democracy with it's associated chaos, rigged elections, repressed first and second amendment rights, illegal seizures, bad rulings, and more government enslavement. The founders included Article 5 for a reason. Things change. This is how you keep a republic.   

Breaking news 12/19. Attorney Lin Wood calling Justice Roberts corrupt. 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/12/chief-justice-john-roberts-corrupt-resign-immediately-attorney-lin-wood-goes-scorched-earth-scotus-chief-justice/?ff_source=Parler&ff_campaign=websit

Hating Liberals and the 5 AM Biden Miracle

Learning to love or learning to hate is a process that evolves over some period of time. A bit of an explanation. Please allow me to indulge for just a moment.

I don't think anybody ever woke up one morning and said, "I hate cows."  You have to learn to hate cows. You have to see them wallow in their own shit, stinking up the landscape, and bellowing at 4 a.m. You have to milk a cow with an infected udder, watch them blow snot everywhere, or slam into one on your motorcycle in some open range part of the west. Whatever conclusion you land on- there was some sort of process that took place prior to you arriving at the opinion you currently hold. You should respect that other people may reach a different conclusion than you have. That concept absolutely baffles liberals.

My mother, a teenage milker of cows, hated cows. To the day she died, she would not drink milk. I asked her why once and she told me that milk from a cow infected with mastitis looked like foamy urine. Ewww. Lesson learned.

I drink almond milk.

Liberals call that a "learning curve" because they like to say stupid shit like that- mostly because they think it makes them sound hip, slick, and cool. The arrogant phrase, "a teachable moment" also comes to mind popularized by our Indonesian President and liberal genius, Barack Obama.

Prior to the current world we live in, the one where illnesses, taxes, and even Trump's hair has suddenly become politicized, I was this happy go lucky kid. Late one summer, I found myself in college trying to figure out just what I was going to do for the next forty years or so. That's when I got my first glimpse of dyed- in- the- wool liberals. The all knowing, enlightened, college professors. I fell for the indoctrination. I was young. 

My indoctrination was fast, just a year or two did it. I decided that I disliked anything that damaged the environment especially atomic bombs and nuclear reactors. I believed in unions and downtrodden working stiffs trying to collectively bargain for a livable wage and a few benefits. I was probably agnostic at that moment in my life which helped my new found liberal lean. Over the years, I found myself arguing over abortion and capital punishment, gay rights, immigration, gun control. All of the hot issues that we waste time arguing about.

After college I moved to this quaint little ski town. I have always loved the mountains more than the beach. I loved my new home and the sleepy little valley. Over the course of 20 years or so, our little town became over run with west coast liberal transplants. Folks from Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Very wealthy people cashing in their real estate and coming to our little valley. I began to notice something else I thought was very odd. All of these wealthy people were liberals. They weren't the crusty, rich Republicans with old fashioned ideas that I had been taught to hate back in college. These people were west coast flamers, famous actors, the nouveau riche from Redmond and Silicon Valley. These were nearly all card carrying democrats and their opinions were the only opinions that mattered. 

Most were well educated. They came into our valley, trying to park their starter mansions on mountain tops and river banks. They bought all the best land and slowly replaced the long time residents and locals who were more than happy to sell their real estate and businesses and go somewhere else. Those of us remaining were saddled with these trust funders and the nouveau riche who felt obligated to impart their "wisdom" on the rest of us as though we were a bunch of hayseeds just waiting for a chance for our shadows to cross.

Liberals don't understand the utility of rural life. They have no respect for it.

The process of success, whether it comes via hard work, luck, or blind stupidity almost always brings with it a false sense of self. The financially successful assume that we all want to be like them. That we want starter mansions, indoor swimming pools, wine tasting parties. Many liberal minds are completely held hostage by an ego that believes it is far superior to others. Think of all the people who worship Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Then there are the trust funders. I like to think of them as those who wake up on home plate thinking they hit the home run. They fall into this class- I have never met a conservative thinking, voting, trust funder.

Over a few decades or so, I grew to hate liberals. Not because I covet their lifestyles and possessions, their money, or their superior intellect. I learned to hate them because they have no humility, no gratitude. Their ideas are shit. They don't work. They don't believe in any power greater than themselves. The worst part of this is that they manage to pass laws to steal your money and pay for their insane ideas. Enabling poor people to stay poor. Letting them have an abortion or two. Free food, rent, and healthcare. Smoke a joint. They of course vote for more free shit.

I don't mind shitty laws like Obamacare- I would just like to see liberals pay for them. In other words, if you think wolf re-introduction is such a high minded and noble cause- then get out your fucking checkbooks and pay for it. Exclusively. Don't ask me to fund your useless programs.

Which brings me to one of the great distinctions between liberals and conservatives. When a liberal hates something- they whine about it, protest, form little groups  and then pass laws to prevent the rest of us from engaging in whatever it is that they dislike. When a conservative dislikes or hates something- they simply don't engage in that activity. 

Item last.

Donald Trump is our President. He may be direct, he may be a bully. He may be narcissistic and mean spirited. For all of his faults and they may number quite a few, he has courage. He refuses to back down in the face of an election which was quite literally stolen from him and conservative America. The liberal media, Trump haters to the core, were more than happy to declare Biden/Harris the election winners and offer them a coronation. They have effectively removed any mention of Trump and the electoral college process from the news. If the media mentions Trump, it is always done in some derogatory fashion.

And of course, they make us look like kooks because we don't buy into their bullshit anymore.

In America we agree to a few things. One of those things is that we agree to elect a President every four years. We agree to respect the process and the office of President whether we like the current office holder or not. Democrats and liberals everywhere have violated that premise. Conservatives sucked it up while Obama was busy lying to us, screwing us over with the ACA, and letting a few Americans get killed in Benghazi because it might hurt his re-election bid. 

If the liberals steal this election and they most certainly did in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Georgia- then the battle lines are drawn. It is unbelievable that we could all go to bed with a comfortable 5% lead in every swing state- and wake up a few hours later only to find that we are now losing every swing state. That's a coup. I do not care one iota if every one of these states covers up this rampant cheating and whether the courts are going to look the other way. I do not care to hear any liberal rhetoric or the usual smart ass comments.

Hating liberals has never been easier. I'm not going easy on that idiot Biden or his affirmative action running mate selected because of her skin color. I'm going to show them the same level of respect that they have shown Trump and conservative America. My learning curve is complete.

 

Poll workers in PA Filling Out Ballots

Hammer and Scorecard: This Is How the Election Was Stolen

Today, I'd like to offer up an explanation for what happened this week and how. I make no apologies for telling it the way that it is. I can do that because I have no employer and I have never accepted a dime from advertisers. My speech, is the free speech defined in our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The democrats have given us a low IQ dementia suffering President who has never accomplished anything and a somewhat black sidekick that former President Obama drools over. Fifty years of useless, bribe receiving public service with a drug addled kid and a woman who clearly knew how to use her vagina to receive any number of appointments by Mayor Willie Brown and his political machine. This is who is going to lead our country. It's hard to conceal my excitement.

Months ago I looked into the life of Kamala Harris and her affair with Willie Brown. I had also attempted to find out just who in Ms. Harris' life had contributed any black genes. It was so incredibly important for the left to select a minority ticket, qualified or not, that I began to investigate her life and qualifications. That's when I stumbled into report after report of her multi year affair with Mayor Brown. Harris had received several appointments and had the backing of Brown's extensive political machine in California. Her wikipedia entry has now been scrubbed and replaced so nicely that you won't even find Mayor Brown's name mentioned. These things always make sense.

The election circus is now grinding into phase two. We are now finding that vote counting software entitled "Dominion" is being used in 30 states to count votes. The software is not just "glitchy" as reported by the media and minions- it is simply corrupt. It is used in every swing state (30 total) including every state that President Trump lost during the week. Maybe the best link of the day. https://noqreport.com/2020/11/06/dominion-voting-systems-the-company-at-the-center-of-michigan-and-georgia-voting-glitches/

Then there's this. Hammer and Scorecard. Software designed by the CIA which can steal votes in an undetectable fashion. https://noqreport.com/2020/11/04/hammer-and-scorecard-lt-gen-mcinerney-explains-the-election-hack-by-democrats/

My phone this week has been eerily silent. My friends, virtually all card carrying conservatives, haven't called. My FB account has hardly been viewed. Only the hard core conservatives stop by and render a like here and there. Yes, politics in America sucks. I think my friends have been left gaping. We all went to sleep Tuesday night with a big lead- and woke Wednesday to find that somehow- that lead had vanished in virtually every state that was left. The swing states.

We knew we had been screwed once again by the liberals but how? The general consensus was that most of the damage was done by absentee balloting. Damage was also done by postal employees back dating late ballots, ballot counters with no oversight, and the aforementioned "glitchy" software which in one county alone- reversed 6000 ballots and a Trump win- into a win for Joe Biden. Not to mention the potential use of Hammer and Scorecard.

Thus we see the sweeping integrity of the American people. Are these the same people who have whined about Russian election interference for four years? Holy shit. Putin's got nothing on this crew.

Which leads me to item last.

The divide in this country was not caused by conservatives. The divide in this country began when liberals stole our healthcare and financially screwed over the working class on behalf of the welfare class. We have yet to find relief- paying fines and ridiculous premiums.

So yes, I'm angry. I'm angry at a class of people who think nothing of screwing over our country, cheating, stealing, and rendering insults. Offering up a weekend at Bernie's candidate with the obvious Harris implications. But mostly, I am angry at the absolute lack of respect for our process. For four years I've had to endure the left's constant whine when in fact- most of them are far better off financially than they were in 2016. And they gave us this package of shit.

I'm not likely to get over this anytime soon.

The Credit Reporting Industry Needs a Major Overhaul

 If there was ever an industry in dire need of oversight and regulation- it has to be the credit reporting industry.

For years, these credit reporting agencies have worked in the shadows gathering information without permission. They have little or no oversight with regard to the activities they engage in. They have no regulation other than themselves. I know of exactly nobody who publicly advocates on behalf of the citizen consumers they report on. The murky workings of creditors, collection agencies, and inherent mistakes, leaks, and flaws in their work- coupled with the absolute quirky nature of how a credit reporting agency arrives at a credit "score" is a mystery of Loch Ness proportions.

My first run in with these agencies occurred in 1987. I would work up loans and run credit reports. Time and time again, I found myself trying to sort out what was accurate and what was not. If you had a common name, say Susan Smith, you might literally have all sorts of derogatory entries on behalf of all of the deadbeats named Susan Smith in the credit reporting world. Once I had run a credit check- I would sit down with the prospective borrower and go through all of the true and false entries on the report. Sometimes it became a giant pain in the ass and a deal killer. I found so many flaws and inaccurate entries back then that I was completely flabbergasted that this system even functioned. Trying to remove a bad credit entry was tantamount to scaling Mt Everest.

Heaven forbid someone stole your identity and charged up a hundred grand under your name. I can bet those people nearly lost their minds and several years trying to restore their credit.

My next run in occurred when I was billed 1060 dollars for a standard 6 panel blood test in 2009. It hit my credit report after I changed addresses. I only caught it when I was turned down for a loan a few months later.  When I called the collection agency on the report- they said I had an outstanding delinquent account. Who pays 1060 dollars for a simple blood test? The collection agency didn't care. So I contacted the hospital, informed them that I have had the same test done several times for about 75 bucks. Where in the hell did this hospital get 1060.00? I was informed that was what they charged because of their giant overhead costs. I told them I would pay 2 or 3 hundred dollars as a compromise but that I in no way, shape, or form was going to pay them a thousand dollars. They refused. They sent my case to a settlement committee which also refused to reduce the amount. Ultimately, I called the credit collection agency, begged them to take me to small claims court and let a judge decide what was fair. They refused to do that. That derogatory entry sat on my credit for 10 years. I never paid it.

I was screwed out of a few loans, lower interest loans, and charged higher interest rates. I learned to become self sufficient. I began to pay cash for everything. In fact, everything I own- I own out right.

My next run in with credit reporting agencies is when I discovered that they were handing out my information to insurance companies. I very angrily told one agency that I was not seeking credit and that they had absolutely no right to disclose my information to an insurance company. I asked them if they intended to disclose my information to everyone who I did business with. 

My point is simple. Unless I am asking for credit- then there should be no reason for ANY company to seek out my credit score. Insurance companies raise rates on people perceived as bad credit risks despite the fact they pay on time and with their own money.

Of all the things that piss me off about credit reporting agencies- this one floats to the top of my list.

There was the hack and security breach where hackers literally stole millions of folks' information from credit reporting agencies. The settlement for allowing all of this info to escape was ridiculously low. As the puny sum that was set aside for settlement purposes was quickly exhausted- stolen by lawyers and the government- everyone else received free credit reports as compensation. I requested the 75 bucks when I discovered my identity had been stolen. That was years ago. Still nothing.

Yesterday, I received a collection notice for 229.00 dollars from a collection agency on behalf of Safeco Insurance. I have never been insured by Safeco. I called the collection agency. They said it was for homeowners insurance on a house I had never purchased. The purchase and sales agreement fell through I explained and therefore, I would never have sought a binder for the house. In fact I mentioned, it would have been illegal for the owner and I to each have a separate policy on the same house prior to closing the sale. She told me that I had to provide proof that I had not bought the house. Short of calling her insane- I asked her how I was supposed to do that and (b) why was it my fucking responsibility to provide proof?? Being the thickheaded woman that she was- she got all huffy when I used the F word and ended the call. 

So I called the insurance agency in Montana. I told them the story. I also told them it was their responsibility to make this go away since they originated the problem in the first place. "No sorry, I'll look into it." Just I'll have someone call you. I am still waiting. Tomorrow I shall call the manager and chew somebody's ass.

So how does all this happen and then continue?? Apathy... people simply don't care until their time comes. In the case of credit reporting- I've found that just about everyone gets screwed over sooner or later by credit reporting agencies. In a drunken stupor, I could devise an interactive system far superior and user friendly than this God awful monstrosity. I'd turn it over to the government but then it would really get fucked up- like the Post Office and the IRS.

Ultimately it might take a class action lawsuit with damages to force an overhaul of this clearly broken system. It is long over due.

 

Censorship in America, the N.A.C.A., and Hating Trump

I started this blog back in 2009. Here I can say any fucking thing I want to. I don't have to worry about advertisers, liberal cry babies, or any other member of pussified America.

In the 11 years and 2000 blogs that I have written here- I have removed a total of 4 comments that were not ads or spam. They were vitriolic and hateful attacks directed at me. Nothing more. Had they attempted to make a useful point- I would have left them up.

Those are my "community standards."

In America right now- you simply have no right to any sort of thing resembling free speech. Content publishers are quick to point out that your right to free speech is only a contract between you and the United States Government as defined in the First Amendment. You have no right to free speech apparently where any third party content provider has established a comment section. Third party publishers are quick to remove anything that they don't like under color of "community standards" or any other arbitrary excuse they come up with. We are seeing this all over Facebook and Twitter. 

In reality- this is really no different than the small town newspaper publisher that edits or removes editorials written by members of the community for any number of reasons. We have always been at the mercy of who ever owns the printing press.

The first blog I was ever removed from was "naked capitalism." Yves or Susan Webber or whatever she goes by- became angry with me for arguing with her about Modern Monetary Theory or MMT. I had read a number of things, including a manuscript or two, by various people who had written pros and cons about MMT.

Ultimately, I had reached the conclusion that in theory- MMT might work but not in an environment where you were already 25 trillion in the hole. The MMT theory never took into account a pre existing debt level that was out of control. MMT was hatched on a zero balance sheet. It would not work any better than the trillion dollar coin nonsense hatched years earlier. Yves was a big proponent of MMT at the time and certainly was not going to argue with some knucklehead from Idaho. She was far superior to that. So after a few condescending remarks meant to shame me- she bounced me from her blog.

I never went back.

I have always been a daily reader of ZeroHedge but I suspected that the blog had been sold months ago. However, I cannot find anything on the web supporting my theory. ZeroHedge had always been fight club and billed itself that way with the Tyler Durden moniker. You literally could say anything you wanted there. Hate jews, gays, liberals, profanity. Anything goes. The comment section was lively and then- suddenly ZH started to crack down and ban commenters. Suddenly that all changed early this year.

I have now been banned twice. Once I suspect for profanity. The second time I called them cowards and boot lickers for catering, allegedly, to their advertisers who demanded more civility. I do remember them mentioning liability for hate speech directed at specific targets. This by the way, is bullshit.

I should also tell you that section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has been litigated and offers very broad based immunity to blog publishers and the like. In other words- there is no liability in a comment section and therefore any effort to say we could be held liable for what our commenters produce becomes fruits of the same bullshit tree. Here is the act for reference. https://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/immunity-online-publishers-under-communications-decency-act

Yahoo simply disabled their comments earlier this year. I suspect there was too much support for President Trump and they were getting a lot of push back from commenters who hated their anti-Trump editorial pieces which they disguised as truthful reporting.

I got bounced from Facebook once and re-instated when it was found that my post was accurate regarding Benghazi facts wherein President Obama and his team of liars concocted excuses for failing to help Americans who died defending Benghazi. Of all the traitorous acts ever committed by a government- I consider none greater than Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama sitting idly by while Americans they employed and installed in Libyan posts were killed- two months before Obama's re-election. If you thought we were swirling the drain then- you might be right.

Nobody dared question the Obama God. 

I have also been removed from MarketWatch, which is another liberal hate Trump site. These "news" sources have all been under attack from Trump since day one. So trying to defend Trump and call out MW for their selective and quite obvious hateful rhetoric has gotten me bounced there as well.

My countrymen apparently have no problem with the arbitrary removal of comments and commenters. Often I read what they write and the very best minds grant them authority over their comment section despite the fact that section 230 grants them full immunity.

The over reach in this country has never been worse. We have employers policing the internet, disciplining and even terminating employees for expressing their views on Twitter, Facebook, You Tube. Blogs and corporate news sites remove your comments for no other reason than it disagrees with their position and they are not about to let you point out and criticize their opinions and content.

A lot of people think that our fractured America came about as a result of Trump. That's simply not true. I believe and this is my opinion- that America became fractured when President Obama and Congress stole our health insurance, our doctors, and handed us this ridiculous NOT affordable care act- read NACA for short. We all remember the lies. Your premiums will go down. You can keep your doctor. You can keep your plan. 

The NACA was passed in 2010 purely by democrats and signed into law by a democrat. It is without a doubt, the single worst piece of legislation ever conceived and written in America. That's what started all of this American fighting, nastiness, censorship, and hatred. The liberal bastards in America hate being pushed back. That's what this is really all about.

It all gets resolved in a couple of weeks. 

For me, I'm not voting. I can't get behind a government that can't defeat robocalling, 77,000 page tax codes, 26 trillion in debt, hyperinflation, or 1500 a month bronze health care plans. Sure, I am going to vote for more of this shit. No. 

I know most will disagree with me here and I am cool with that.

Sometimes, and I think this is one of those times, you simply have to close your eyes and let the waters do with you what they will. Trust the process. If we get Biden, so be it. We will be that much closer to the inevitable collapse and then maybe we can rebuild this country. Interesting times indeed.

Get Ready for the Sh** Show

Many years ago, in my previous life as a law enforcement officer, I had the privilege of meeting Howard. Howard was mentally ill and unstable. He was angry and he was dangerous. Howard, a full 6'5" inch man in his late 30's, enjoyed walking around town with an ax over his shoulder. He wore these crazy looking eye glasses, goggles really, with yellow lenses.

Howard scared a lot of people. Everyone from bank managers to motorists would call the police department and we would be forced to explain that carrying an ax in public was not illegal. Once on a traffic stop, Howard jumped out of his truck with that ax and briskly walked towards my patrol car. Truth is, any normal cop might have shot Howard and got away with it. 

I liked Howard. Howard liked me. When I became the Chief, Howard would often come visit me at my office. He would ask me if I had any enemies needing to have an "accident."  I had a couple of folks in mind but they are still with us and Howard is now- long gone.

Donald Trump reminds me of Howard. Trump scares people. He's not real long on tact. He is direct and nasty. He is full of bluster and Trump attacks people who attack him. Thus far, he just doesn't back down from anyone. That's how Howard was.

The left is scared to death of Trump. They don't understand him. They don't understand how a President can act so un-Presidential. They hate this guy. Not because of what he's done but because of who he is. If you simply ignore everything that he says, and look at what he's done, Trump isn't half bad.

There is no better comparison than Trump and Obama. They are polar opposites. I believe the right hated almost everything Obama deceptively did- but kept their mouths shut about it because he was black. Bailing out health insurers with that Obamacare act hurt me significantly. Letting our troops die in Benghazi before the election was the last straw. I believe everything about Obama was a lie- right down to who his father actually was. 

The left hates Trump because he has no tact. They hate him because he stands for everything they despise- from closed borders to anti-abortion rights. The difference is- is that the left has been absolutely unmerciful and public, speaking out quite vocally in their hatred for Trump for nearly 4 years now. Can you imagine if Trump was black? They'd all have to shut up like we did during the Obama reign.

So amidst the Covid epidemic, the left managed to come up with the weakest Presidential candidate that they could find. A career politician who has done nothing but fill a chair. To this they added a far left, allegedly black female, to try and snag minority votes. The left also wants mail in ballots, presumably because of Covid, but everyone knows they want to rig the balloting and get rid of Trump- having failed in the impeachment process.

I can't imagine a better recipe for disaster than this. 

We've got a revenge minded President who won't back down- and we have two flaming, liberal, gun grabbing candidates on a ticket with a base that wants to rig this election and win at any cost.

Wow.

We ain't talking an eternity away either. There is only 72 days until the grand finale. I am not sure that it is going to matter who wins. I think there is a very real chance of civil unrest either way and some crazy unforeseen event happening. 

Back in the day, I learned to get along with Howard. Like Trump, Howard was all bluster. All show. He scared people because he simply refused to conform to their norms. Like Trump. Howard was actually a pretty decent guy- with a short fuse no doubt- but there was really no danger as long as you were decent to Howard. 

The left isn't going to be decent.

So I've been getting ready for the shit show this fall. Stocking up on supplies and prescriptions, rigging a transfer switch for the house and buying a generator. I may not need any of this and I hope I don't- but then again who thought we would all be wearing masks at the start of the year?

This ain't your parents 'merica- that's for damn sure.

Officer Chauvin Stares At the Abyss and Plunges In

Let's hope it doesn't have to get worse before it gets better.

How spiritually sick do you have to be to sit on someone's neck for nearly 9 minutes, in full view of the public, and kill someone? Who does that? But more importantly, why?

I retired from law enforcement 13 years ago. Leaving law enforcement saved my life. So I am not going to regurgitate the same stuff you've been reading about Derek Chauvin all week.

I really had no idea what the profession would do to me and the toll it would take. I have seen other cops work 25 or 30 years and remain emotionally unscathed.

But that wasn't me. For 10 hours a day, I answered bad calls and tried to catch bad guys. For a fair amount of my off duty time, I mulled over pending cases and how I was going to resolve them. So I didn't spend 10 hours a day being a cop- it was more like 16. I did this every day for 24 years. Devoting over 100 hours a week to your occupation, especially one as adversarial and confrontational as law enforcement, takes a very heavy emotional toll.

Some guys took no real interest in resolving criminal cases instead they simply filed them away and went home. Forgetting about them. They just didn't seem to really care whether the bad guys got caught or the Smith's received their stolen property back. Those unemotionally attached cops looked at their job as some sort of political dance where you schmoozed the victims and made some half hearted attempt to catch the people responsible for the crime. Those cops didn't really care about effective policing but the flip side of that laissez faire attitude was that the job never impacted them too negatively. They didn't seem to lose sleep over it and as one cop said to me once, "it all pays the same."

Over time, I began to wonder if I had it wrong and all those self serving souls had it right. Even the people we worked for were apathetic. The truth is, the public doesn't really expect too much from the police and the police know that.

So for 24 years or so, I tried to solve or resolve every problem I encountered. I tried to catch vandals, wife beaters, drunks, burglars, and other felons. I cleaned up suicide scenes, death scenes, bloody traffic accidents. I delivered horrible news at homes and hospitals. I fought with criminals and prosecutors. I played coy with the press. I met some really despicable characters over those years and a few of them had advanced degrees and wore suits.

By the time my end was near, I had worked 24 years. I was overweight, smoked, drank too much, I was clinically depressed and in poor health, and getting a divorce. I was angry at the universe for sneaking up on me like that. I was a decent human being or so I thought. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life but leaving law enforcement was not one of them. I was tired of being someone else's shitty day.

I was able to see my life without law enforcement and that helped me sort out where I had been and what had happened to me. I lost 50 pounds, quit smoking and drinking, and I managed to get my life back. I had to get right with everything that had happened to me along the way. It was a process most of which is over. Part of that process was examining my self, my good and bad choices, and realizing what role my occupation played in all of that. It was considerable.

So I'm about to wrap this up with a few caveats. First off, I'm not looking for sympathy or trying to make excuses. I don't give a shit about those things. Secondly, Derek Chauvin will get his day in court. I don't need to declare his guilt to make the angry mob happy that I have joined them.

I've read the stories that Chauvin and Floyd both worked in the same nightclub. In the western states, those without unions- cops working off duty in bars, night clubs, and strip clubs is strictly verboten. I was in awe that any police department anywhere would allow Chauvin to work in a place where criminal conduct would most certainly compromise him. Don't underestimate the union influence in a place like Minneapolis. I'll take this one step further. If Chauvin truly worked at El Nuevo Rodeo for 17 years- then Chauvin must have seen and looked the other way on an absolute abundance of criminal conduct. He may have been involved in some. But investigating that is the job I used to do. Could Chauvin and Floyd be involved in nefarious acts? It sure seems plausible but again- sorting that out is no longer my job.

By policy, you generally must seek permission to work second jobs while employed in law enforcement- and I can damn sure tell you that as an administrator I'd never have allowed an employee to work part time in a bar.

So what happened with those three cops standing idly by? One was only on the job 16 months.

Once when I was a young cop, I saw a prisoner dragged out of a car while handcuffed and hobbled and jerked out of the squad car onto a concrete floor with no means of breaking the fall other than his shoulder and head. His head "thunked" on the floor. I was absolutely shocked when I saw it. I didn't know what to do. It was just a singular event that although I knew it was deliberate- I wasn't ready to sacrifice careers over it. The cop that did it said that he had made a mistake. That amount of defensible and plausible deniability kept me from reporting it. However, from that day forward I promised myself I would never stand by and watch that sort of thing without intervening. That's the lesson I learned that day. That's a lesson that apparently caught three police officers staring into headlights in Minneapolis.

So all that shit comes home with you. It has a cumulative effect stretching out over a 25 or 30 year career. It's unlike a soldier who endures a few years of violent and harsh conditions. The soldier comes home for access to mental health counseling at the VA. Cops don't really have that available to them and even if they did- they wouldn't take advantage of it unless they were ordered to.

I have a friend that says the cumulative effects of policing are so bad- that nobody should be allowed to remain in law enforcement beyond 10 years.

Chauvin clearly stumbled into the abyss. I thought about all those complaints he had received, and his entire chain of command and perhaps a union, that allowed him to continue in his capacity when clearly he was at risk. You don't just wake up one day and say, "I think I'll go kneel on some guy's neck until he dies." That is a process. A 19 year process wherein a number of people must have looked the other way. Chauvin's superiors had to know better. They had to have seen any number of cops go off the deep end, suffer from depression, alcohol and drug abuse. Do they ever bother asking for a "fitness for duty exam?" Could they have prevented Floyd's death?

The whole point of having supervisors is that hopefully they are intelligent and have enough police experience that they can spot at risk officers and intervene when necessary. That clearly didn't happen here.

Interestingly enough and despite all the protests and riots, I am not entirely convinced this was racially motivated at all. The liberal public and the black community love to discount the proportion of crime that the black community is responsible for. The black community commits an overwhelming amount of crime in this country, well beyond their 13% demographic. When you run into the police that frequently- bad things are bound to happen. Could this very incident have happened with a white victim under the same set of circumstances? Yes, I think so. Chauvin had an 18 complaint work history. It was probably just a matter of time.

I think it's best to examine the whole picture. To look at how effective or ineffective the Minneapolis Police Department is at policing their own. When I saw them abandon a precinct, clearly under orders, and let rioters burn the building down- I began to question everyone and everything. The Police Chief, the Mayor, and even the Governor. A lot of people have fallen asleep at the wheel in order for this mess to happen.

That's how it always is. A comedy of errors. A tragic ending could have been avoided had just one courageous soul intervened.

In the years to come, I really believe there will be an examination into the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder of police officers who are clearly losing it and tottering on the edge of the abyss. It's accepted science for soldiers, why haven't we done this for police officers? Detecting and offering officers help rather than punitive action (or looking the other way) will save lives. If one good thing comes out of this entire mess I hope it's that. I hope we start examining the poor performance of our police departments and the archaic ways they have of managing a very at risk group of officers and their mental health needs. We need to remove the stigma of seeking mental health help. I don't think there is anything wrong with ordering officers into fitness for duty exams, therapy programs, couples counseling, alcohol and drug programs. Cops will never do this sort of thing on their own. You have to order them in, maybe kicking and screaming. But trying that first is a lot better than ignoring the problem. Ignoring and pretending there is no problem seems to still be the first line, perhaps the only line, of defense employed by police departments nationwide. That isn't doing anybody any good.

It's time we start recognizing the risks, helping cops, and saving a few lives in the process because I don't see this getting any better on it's own.

Crushing the First Amendment

This past week, a Port of Seattle police officer lost his job for posting a video of himself explaining his thoughts on the nationwide corona virus crackdown which has restricted the movement of people everywhere.

https://youtu.be/m6m5f5AAByI

Officer Anderson is directing his comments toward other police officers and their conduct.

At first they just suspended him- which gives them time to research and discuss the situation with lawyers- before firing him. You can damn sure bet that nobody had the courage to defend him- not within his chain of command anyway.

I also noted that Officer Anderson was from the liberal strong hold of Seattle. Probably the worst area on the west coast. The Seattle City Council has been an incubator of taxes, crappy laws, stupid ideas, over regulation, and ineffectiveness. So it appears, Officer Anderson is guilty of nothing more than upholding the Constitutional oath he took when accepting his job in liberal land. Officially, they used the old tried and true tactic of saying that he used their name, their car, and his uniform to cast a bad light of the Port of Seattle Police Department. This they called "conduct unbecoming an officer" which in the littany of police policy manuals everywhere- is the catch all offense for police officers that the hierarchy wants to get rid of. It is the police version of "disturbing the peace" which is used to lock up unruly citizens when there is no other identifiable crime. More on this later on.

The whole idea of free speech is new in America and a lot of people don't like it. They don't like a President tweeting whatever he feels like. They don't like people using terms such as "tranny", "retarded" or "faggot" to describe others. And yet these terms live on. They are not scrubbed from the world- try as the language police do- to get rid of them. 

Back in the 1770's, I don't think the collective genius of the founding fathers could ever envision a world where everyone had access to their own printing press. The founders had no phones, no televisions or radios, no computers. All they had was print media in a very limited form in terms of distribution- and they held meetings. They talked. They didn't have social media or platforms.

So I think the only antagonist they could collectively agree on was government. I doubt they could envision a day when people would literally fight and argue amongst themselves over what terms and words we can and cannot use. There was no need to police that. So free speech, as widely interpreted now by the language police, only extends as far as government. Beyond that- you have no right to publicly use words that the language police deem offensive without repercussion. 

I will add one other item here for you to ponder. The term is "nigger." It derives itself from the latin root word, niger, meaning black. Over time it acquired negative connotations. Then the language police stepped in. Now days the only people allowed to say the word nigger are black people. The word police have conveyed control of the word to the black community because the truth is- they are too afraid of being labeled racists to demand that blacks quit using the word. The liberals, always in charge of the word police, probably would say that the black community is entitled to use the term anyway. And so they do. Get ready for the English 101 finish...

Officer Anderson works for government. If he is not allowed to speak out about the over reach and intrusiveness of government as it seizes control of our freedoms, who is? If a man swears an oath to protect the Constitution, isn't he doing so by warning us about our own government?

Of course he is. Who gets access to free speech if the oath taking Officer Anderson can't have access?

His speech is exactly what the founders had in mind when they created the first amendment.

It is the spirit of free speech that has to be stewarded. I love the fact that Mr. Anderson took it upon himself to remind the world that we have rights. That the minions matter. Those little shit jobs like the Port of Seattle offers come and go. Speak truth to power- it pisses them off every time. Especially in Seattle. 

The Golden Missile

Back in 2008 or so when I started this blog, the financial world was a mess. The banking system as we knew it should have been destroyed back then. I followed the money right here and discovered that the Federal Reserve made loans of 16 trillion worldwide with non existent money that was nothing more tangible than electronic zeroes. President Obama gave all of those banking criminals a pass. With a wink and a nudge, every one kicked the can.

I simply could not commit money to equity markets under those circumstances.

I am ashamed to say that I missed the entire bull market move from Mar '09 to Mar. 2020. I missed a couple of very obvious things and mostly just dabbled in mining stocks during those 11 years. I managed to break about even having taken a significant 5 figure loss on a South Dakota gold mine.

So mostly I've just bought some gold, platinum, and silver and watched it languish for 11 years while the paper investors I knew laughed at me.

Three very significant things happened this year. I've got a friend, Pat, who reads this blog and who trades quite a bit. Pat frequently texts me his crazy ideas and I look them up. Some are crazy and some are very good. One of his texts made me a cool 6 grand for which I owe him a meat and cheese tray this Christmas. So Pat renewed my interest in trading just before the corona virus crash. I made a fair amount on the short side but got beat up as Trump and the Federal Reserve started announcing trillion dollar bailouts and trying to jaw jack markets higher.

The second significant thing was that after 11 years of huge gains- my state retirement fund authorized a 3% cost of living raise. This shocked me. For 10 years our state system has been giving us some nominal 1% cost of living adjustment. The last time our state handed out a significant payout (a 13th month full check no less!) the market crashed within months. Our state retirement system is the quintessential market timing mechanism. When they doled out a 3% cost of living payout this year- I knew the bull market was over. It's like the shoe shine guy giving you stock tips- at that moment you know that every dollar in America is invested. That's my state retirement system. When they finally feel so guilty that they give you 3% instead of the nominal 1%- it's time to get out of equity markets.

So as the markets crashed in March with the impending corona virus shutdown- I was positioning myself in the mayday markets- gold, silver, and mining stocks which were going up.

Then the 3rd significant thing happened. An old friend called me  out of the blue after 5 years and started asking for investment advice. This is a guy who listens, applies what he likes, and will actually invest significant money.

So I told him that the set up has never been better. Ever. The world is awash in make believe money, with literally trillions upon trillions of debt being added which will never be repaid. Mining costs have never been lower. Gas and oil are dirt cheap. There is a worldwide shortage of gold. The world needs safe havens and safe currencies. It has neither.

I think after all of these years, it's time. When Bank of America calls for 3000 dollar gold, I sit up and take notice.

So a few ideas if ya wanna climb aboard the golden missile. I've screened these for best projections and the least risk. You still have to do your own due diligence.

Since the lows of March- my favorite two gold miners have made over 100%. They are still trading at sub 20 p/e's with no debt, huge cash, and they are acting quite strong even when gold is down a little.

Kirkland Lake Gold (KL) Still think it has huge upside. Currently around 42. No debt, increasing production, new drilling identified excellent new targets. I have a few hundred shares.

B2Gold (BTG) Three main properties, all excellent gold producers. Only knock on this company is the huge float. My biggest position.

Newmont (NEM) Hitting on all cylinders. Not currently invested here.

Kinross (KGC) Remade old company also hitting on all cylinders and making new highs.

Irving Resources (IRVRF) is my favorite junior. Not mining but they have a identified a lot of gold. Trading sideways but could become a prime takeout target.

I use a few ETF's. GOAU has doubled. NUGT, JNUG, GDX. I do use some etfs to short the sector but currently not employing any of those tactics.

Best of luck out there. Maybe it's finally time for us.

USA Completely Botches the Corona Virus Reponse

In a moment I'd like to mention the importance of latex or nitrile gloves.

I would like to give you a little background on today's post. I think you'll find that my training and experience qualify me in a few areas to talk about the completely botched corona virus response by the United States Government and perhaps more importantly, the airline industry. This is a response that has been planned for 3 decades for potential bird flu mutations- so what actually happened is a little shocking. Please bear in mind that all pandemic responses boil down to local governance.

I spent most of my work history in some sort of command structure in a small city police department. A lot of that training included running a command post and yearly incident command schools for various maladies and tragedies, swine flu, bird flu, airplane crashes. These table top discussions and live fire drills were often put on by FEMA with their littany of acronyms. I had additional training through the state for 20 of my 24 years in law enforcement. I also spent several years on the local ambulance service where I gained a healthy respect for the duties performed by EMT's, paramedics, nurses and doctors back in the early days of AIDS. In short I understand a command and control structure and response. We used to drill this regularly in staged incidents although we had a few real incidents- most of them involving property damage caused by floods and fires with no associated loss of life. 

Let's review the normalcy bias. 

Normalcy bias, or normality bias, is a tendency for people to believe that things will always function the way they normally have functioned and therefore to underestimate both the likelihood of a disaster and its possible effects.

People do not like change. They don't want to believe that any event could substantially disrupt their lives. Unfortunately most people have been subjected to scares and panics before- so in addition to the normalcy bias which helps cause inaction, we have an aged cynical group of people who have heard the cry of "wolf" one too many times. So that's the ruling demographic here- a bunch of somewhat cynical people with a normalcy bias.

It was that belief system which I believe has completely botched the US response to the corona virus.

The first known case of CV occurred on Dec. 1 in China. China being China meant that they didn't report too much publicly. Some say they covered it up.  https://www.theepochtimes.com/national-security-adviser-china-covered-up-outbreak-of-new-coronavirus_3268168.html By the time I started paying attention to CV it was late January.

There are only two ways for the CV to get to the United States. By ship or airplane. There is no other realistic way.

Thus we needed a coordinated response. We needed a response between airlines, cruise lines, the government, the CDC, and epidemiologists. We didn't get that. People were released without quarantine from ships and airplanes. There was no testing initially. More importantly, airlines refused to give the government information regarding passengers, phone numbers, addresses, and email. Cruise lines were only a little better.

That's where it went bad. The virus isn't going to wait for test kits. It's not going to wait for all of those stakeholders to agree on a response. It's going to walk off ships and planes. Now even if you didn't have a proper test available- you could still quarantine people until you did. Other countries had tests- why not us? Aren't we supposed to be this great nation? Couldn't we locate these people, interview them for the people they contacted, the places they'd been? South Korea did and they are looking pretty well contained right now.

So it's here. Your leaders failed, your corporations failed, the CDC and Public Health agencies failed. If they had gotten out in front of this- I believe the numbers would prove out with far less fatalities, hospitalizations, and drains on our health care systems and economy as a whole.

So now all they can do is watch these numbers soar exponentially and try to mitigate this. That's their plan. President Trump dropped the ball in his public address Wednesday night and markets reeled limit down. Why? He had no credible response for slowing this down. He knew that ship had sailed. And today on ZeroHedge is a picture of Trump next to a man who tested positive for CV. Trump said he is not worried.

Of course he said that. He hasn't cared about this since the beginning. The only coordinated response he has had was talking the FED into cutting rates and throwing a few trillion at the repo markets and trying to slow down the great sell off in world equity and bond markets. What wealthy politicians care about is appearances, material wealth, and getting re-elected. Calm people down. Normalcy bias.

A few weeks ago on my facebook page- I asked people if they were doing anything to prepare for the CV. I had a few responses, most if not all minimizing CV, comparing it to the flu. I on the other hand had done a little prepping including buying a new freezer and stocking up on food. I have enough to last 3 months. I am looking at the big picture and trying to find ways to mitigate exposure because lord knows- if we had to rely on government we'd all be dead.

Which brings me to latex gloves. If I gave you a choice between face masks and rubber gloves- which would you choose?

Unfortunately there are many portals from which the virus can enter your body- but the easiest way is on your hands. CV carriers leave the virus on money, on counter tops, on buffet utensils, on bar tops and glasses, on elevator buttons, door knobs, handrails, and gas pumps.

Social distancing beyond 6 feet would probably work far better than any face mask but the real method of transmission I am worried about is getting the virus on my hands and touching my face, eyes, or mouth, and rubbing it in. With gloves on- the virus is prevented from getting on my hands and when I come home from an outing- I simply pull the gloves off and then wash my hands. If I inadvertently touch my face after that, I'll be ok.

In a responsible sense, we need to take steps to prevent transmitting this to others. I was shocked when I heard that Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz was diagnosed with CV and during a press event- he purposefully touched every networks microphone. I suppose that's the under developed frontal lobe of a 27 year old basketball player. Last night, a man tested positive for CV prior to boarding a JetBlue flight and boarded the plane anyway- disrupting the lives of 100's and potentially infecting them. I noted that today the story changed to say that the man did not get the test results until after he boarded the plane. Whether that's the truth, or some self centered asshole who knew before he boarded- that's what you are up against.

Normalcy bias, complacency, and a self centered public that wants what it wants. These folks are out there.

My wife and I just returned from Las Vegas to find out that a woman from New York had CV and was staying at the Mirage across from our hotel on the strip. Although Las Vegas had no reported cases at the time- I feel a little foolish because I know better. I've seen the poor performance of government first hand and Las Vegas hasn't uttered a peep although millions of tourists from around the globe fly there. They wanted to keep the cloak of plausible deniability intact. (We didn't know the CV was here!)

I am going to socially distance myself and spend time at home. Thankfully I am retired with an income stream. Down below you'l find an excellent, must read link that goes into great detail about the CV. Please take care of yourselves.

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

Obama Created the Trump Presidency

For the life of me, the left simply cannot understand why millions of us support Trump. Prepare yourself for a gut punch here and know this- I can take any shitty comments you might have. There is space below and I'll let you have your say without using the delete button.

In 2010, President Obama destroyed my financial ability to obtain health insurance. In my case, I was retired with a pension just above the 400% required of what was a ridiculously low (and arbitrarily assigned) poverty level.

Obama did this with lies such as the "price of insurance would go down" and "if you liked your doctor you could keep your doctor." In fact, my doctor fired me within months of the enactment of Obamacare because I paid cash. Sent me a letter. Why keep a cash payer around when you can provide healthcare to a large swath of new Obamacare patients/recipients with deep insurance pockets?

To add insult to injury, we were penalized for not having insurance while deadbeats received insurance for free. I remember hauling a guy around in my car for Uber who told me me he signed up for Obamacare gold, had his knee replaced (a 30+ thousand dollar op) and received free physical therapy- and then dropped his insurance once the operation was complete. He had paid 5 months of premiums.

Our last hope was that the Supreme Court would rule against this unlawful seizure of our property but they did not. I remember Obama virtually threatening the court and I was shocked when Justice Stevens ruled against us and broke the tie. They called it a tax. They have taxing "authority."

By the time 2016 rolled around- we had a whole section of this country who hated democrats, Obama, and his minions. On a personal level- aside from being lied to- I believe Obama has cost me in the neighborhood of 40,000 dollars in medical costs, penalties, and I still have to shop all of my maladies around while paying cash. Including prescription costs and dental care.

That all might be bad enough but Obama presented another hurdle- he was black. Being black in America right now means that no white person can criticize anything a black person does. However, minorities can call white people bigots and racists and act like victims with no repercussion. It's a one way street where every white person in America must remain silent or be labeled and ridiculed by these folks. That's been the evolution of our insane culture where you simply cannot criticize any minority for their piss poor performance or their lies.

That's why we can never speak of the 71% of black kids without fathers. We just let them shoot and kill each other in Chicago and New Orleans, Baltimore, and Detroit because letting these kids kill each other is far easier than opening a dialogue which might include discussing what is wrong with the black culture that they find this acceptable behavior. Heaven forbid, we might offend them.

That's why America is pissed off. That's how Donald Trump got elected. If they can't figure that out- I can't help them.

Nobody cares about Russian interference, cheating on your wife, phone calls to the Ukraine, or even Chinese tariffs. I'm not sure any of that garbage matters. It's noise.

I care about accessible healthcare- not subsidizing health insurers who donate to presidential campaigns. I care about our diplomats getting killed while the people in charge do nothing weeks before the election. I am sick of criminals like Bill and Hillary running free and flying on a pedophile's plane.

Apparently none of that shit concerns my leftist friends. So we aren't friends. That's divisive and in the jargon of the left- I have set my boundaries.

There is not a chance in hell that I will vote for a gay male President with a male wife or husband or whatever they call one another. I don't care if he cured cancer or negotiated a middle east cease fire. I will not cast a ballot for a communist candidate who has never held a private sector job in his life and has gotten rich skimming campaign contributions.

And I don't give two shits if you think I'm narrow minded, homophobic, intolerant, or a bigot.

So there ya have it. The unvarnished truth. Donald Trump is the lesser of all those evils. I am not going to be "tolerant" or buy into any of that statist rhetoric of those enlightened leftists driving Priuses', thinking they are saving the planet while talking drivel into the latest Apple phone. This is where I draw the line. The election this year is going to be one of the most fantastic shit shows I have ever witnessed especially if the statists nominate Bernie. I can hardly wait and if you want to know what started all of this divisiveness and animosity in our country- go ask Barack Obama.

He created a giant swath of voters who were duped, lied to, and remain angry. The "affordable care act" they called it. You don't like President Trump Mr. Obama? Well guess what- you and your party's shitty nominee last election cycle- created President Trump. It's about time you and your minions stand tall and take responsibility for that instead of whining like little children about Trump supporters and wondering how we could be so "stupid" for supporting him. This given that the best alternative your party could come up with was a snotty, arrogant, and yet to be convicted criminal.

It's really not that hard to figure out.

The Last Patrol

I met BS "Pat" Pidgeon in the spring of '83. I remember him best on the day a local commuter plane crashed on the state highway in our county near the airport and cartwheeled down the northbound ditch adjacent to the road. There were 14 souls aboard and we spent some time locating and digging them out of the deep snow that day. We were there for hours protecting the scene and waiting for NTSB. Later on that afternoon,  I saw Pidgeon on the east/passenger side of his patrol car.  He had a pair of binoculars and he was looking at the mountains to the west.

Days later, I asked him what he was looking at. He told me wasn't looking at anything. He said he had to take a piss and so he pulled the binoculars out so that people would think he was looking at something else, glance that direction, and wouldn't notice he was taking a piss.

In that moment he had won me over. I picked him to be my role model cop. I was 22 years old, stupid, cocky, and I have no earthly idea of what he ever saw in me. We became friends although some 25 years separated us. I loved to ride with Pat. We'd drive around the county, take an occasional call, and inevitably Pat would pull some crazy shit that would leave me with my mouth wide open.

A lot of what happened back in those days was marginally acceptable and tolerated. Justice was delivered a little differently back then.

One thing I learned early on was that you didn't point your finger at Pat. We had taken an early morning 911 call in a subdivision out in the woods. It was covered in deep snow. It was a domestic kind of call and the male part of the battle was a little agitated and kind of aggressive. The girlfriend was still in the cabin and we were standing in a driveway about 100 feet from the house. Pat wasn't the kind of guy you tried to intimidate and this guy kept raising his voice and yelling at Pat. Pat was yelling back. Then it happened. The guy, holding his car keys, pointed his finger right in Pat's face. Pat immediately grabbed him by the wrist, stripped the car keys out of his hand, and launched the whole set of keys into the deep snow about 50 yards away. The guy, needing his keys to drive away and go to work, immediately went searching for them and Pat left me to guard him while he checked on his girlfriend. It had only been a verbal argument and when we left- the guy was still trying to find his keys.

Pat wouldn't write a traffic ticket to save his life. He hated traffic tickets. We would do traffic accidents all the time and Pat might note on the report who was at fault- but he'd never write a ticket. He prided himself on having the same ticket book he had been issued 7 years earlier. 

I think Pat hated tickets because he was the most notorious speeder in the region. Other departments  were constantly stopping him and letting him go. Officers let him go- not just because he was a good cop but because he was fearless. He'd get right in the middle of any fight. When I needed help, I always breathed a sigh of relief when Pidgeon arrived. I know the other cops felt the same way. In our little rural corner of the world, I always thought those 55 MPH speed limits were too restrictive anyway. Man, I used to get stopped a lot. No tickets. That just pissed off my ex. She was the kind of gal who got a ticket every time she got stopped and you can guess why. If there is a speeding hell for cops, I will be looking forward to seeing my friend Pat when I get there.

I could write about so many things. Every day was an adventure with Pat. Once when the loudest burglar alarm in the world was shrieking and the jewelry store owner was taking her time getting to the store, Pat's solution was to rip the whole alarm off the wall. A couple hours later the Sheriff called us in, got our stories, and made Pat pay for the alarm.

Or the time Pat shot a hole in his ceiling with his .45 and declared that was where he was going to put the stovepipe for his wood burning stove. Or the time he shot some dog that had jumped through his screen door inside his house searching for Pat's dog who was in heat. Insane stories, very funny stuff. That was vintage Pidgeon.

Pat loved his wife and daughters. I think all that estrogen gave him patience. He would always talk about his wife and daughters and even when they upset him- you always knew he loved them. Pat was grateful for his family and all of his blessings. He viewed retirement checks like manna from heaven. Pat retired many years ago and moved to a little town. He loved to hunt and fish- Pat was an excellent shot and a firearms instructor.

Pat's wife Barbara encouraged me to visit Pat when one of his best friends died. I did, but not enough. That's the way it always seems to be. I always think I have more time.

In all of the years I knew Pat- I'll be damned if I ever hunted or fished with him. Until last year. We decided to go coyote hunting one day.

We loaded up our guns and drove for hours. All we did was talk. There was no speeding. We drove for miles and miles, found some obscure bodies of water, gazed at them. Talked about fishing and I chewed him out for giving his boat away. The guns never left the truck that day and truth is, the coyotes were pretty safe. We stopped at a country store, had lunch, and eventually returned home. This as it turned out, was going to be the last patrol for Pat and I.

Oh I stopped by his house a few times, the last time in October when I asked him to hold a few things for me while I moved back to Montana. That move fell through and instead, I found myself moving to the warm desert near St George, Utah. 

Pat died during the night at home, sometime after the Superbowl. He always seemed so healthy even for his age (80s) that I thought he'd be around a lot longer. His passing caught me by surprise and I've been trying to make sense of it ever since. That's the ridiculous part. We think we have some sense of control but we do not. We think we have time that we do not. We feel guilty for something we have no say in and cannot foresee. 

I am going to be grateful for the time I did have with Pat rather than feel sorry for the time I missed. I think Pat would have wanted it that way.