Happy Friday

Come by Sunday and we'll talk about lies.

Look they can be Bi-Partisan

The Senate voted 97-1 and the House 348-77 to overide Obama's veto of the Sue Saudi Arabia bill.  In the Senate only Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada sided with the White House by casting the lone vote against override in the upper chamber.

The White House blasted the vote, with spokesman Josh Earnest saying, “this is the single most embarrassing thing the United States Senate has done possibly since 1983,” calling it “an abdication” of its responsibility. In 1983, the Senate overrode President Ronald Reagan’s veto of an Oregon lands transfer bill 95-0. 

I found that 1983 reference curious, and when I read about it I found it odder still.  Here is a link to a newspaper article at the time. Basically in 1941 a survey mis-designated 3.1 acres of government land as private.  Based on that survey the original owner who had settled it under the Homestead Act sold it off and in 1983 parcels of it were owned by six elderly couples, a telephone company, and a railroad right of way.  The government identified the error in 1957 but never filed its claim with land and title officials. Congress passed a bill giving the land to its private owners... Reagan vetoed it, and Congress overrode the veto. Our White House administration thinks THAT was the most embarrassing thing the Senate has done since 1983? Wow!

A Public Service Announcement

In today's day and age with all the incidents of identity theft and fraud I was rather surprised to hear about this but here it is for one and all.

Voterrecords.com

Believe it or not the states of Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah, and Washington all provide their voter registration rolls to this website registered by Godaddy.com. 

I was surprised when it was brought to my attention that my full legal name, date of birth, home address (with handy accompanying Google map), phone number, etc. were all available online to anyone, whatever their purpose, to use as they see fit; Try to persuade me to vote for Hillary or perhaps just open a Macy's card so they can buy their little woman pretty things.

I did a little playing around and now know Silverfiddle's full middle name (if I knew it before I must have forgotten, but I know it now!).  It also listed his wife and daughter.  I looked up an old buddy of mine from Rhode Island and can assure you he's a decent man... as he has both his parents living with him (a fact I didn't know until I used this website).  

Now yes, in many states voter registration rolls are public records... but the laws governing such things are ancient and decrepit, predating felonious people taking out credit cards in your name, all online without benefit of Id checks or any of that silly nonsense.

If you live in one of the states listed above it might be beneficial if you were to log in, search yourself, click on your name... and when the page comes up, scroll down to the bottom and opt-out.  They will ask for an email address, but I keep a valid one handy that I never go into for just this very purpose... giving nosy people an email address that they will accept while never having to be bothered with it again. This won't get your name off the website but it will at least reduce your address down to your town/zipcode, get rid of your phone number, and reduce your date of birth to only the year.

 

Debate or Debacle?

Did you watch it?  What did you think?

My honest opinion?  Between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, no matter who wins, we lose. 

What was the outcome? I think The Onion captured it best in their headline:

Open-Minded Voter Waits Almost 5 Minutes Into Debate To Decide Who Won 

I think Clinton stuck to her script and it was noticeable, her performance seemed well-rehearsed which I don't necessarily think is a good thing.  I think Trump also missed a lot of wide open opportunities to score points, but I also think he stayed on message and think he has more of a chance of changing peoples minds about him than Clinton does, whether he accomplished that for the better, I don't know.

Listening to Trump's law and order speech shortly into the debate made me think of Pappy O'Daniel in O Brother Where Art Thou.

Hillary Clinton was exactly as I expected her to be... I think I'll go take a shower now. 

 

How to fix the police

Believe it or not, police relations with citizenry haven't always been good as illustrated in the 1850's poster above.  The first truly modern uniformed police force was instituted by Louis XIV, hence the distinctly French name "police".  The police were initially the enforcement arm of the sovereign and there was a lot of resistance to enforcement.

Our modern police forces are believed to be based upon the creation of the Metropolitan police of London, created by Sir Robert Peel and heavily influenced by the philosophy of Jeremy Bentham.  They wear blue because at the time the military of the state wore red.  They were to be distinctly separate and recognizably, not an arm of the sovereign.  The philosophy was "Policing by consent".

There are nine Peelian principles:

1. To prevent crime and disorder, as an alternative to their repression by military force and severity of legal punishment.

2. To recognize always that the power of the police to fulfill their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behavior, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect.

3. To recognize always that to secure and maintain the respect and approval of the public means also the securing of the willing co-operation of the public in the task of securing observance of laws.

4. To recognize always that the extent to which the cooperation of the public can be secured diminishes proportionately with the necessity of the use of physical force and compulsion for achieving police objectives.

5. To seek and preserve public favor, not by pandering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolutely impartial service to law, in complete independence of policy, and without regard to the justice or injustice of the substance of individual laws, by ready offering of individual service and friendship to all members of the public without regard to their wealth or social standing, by ready exercise of courtesy and friendly good humor, and by ready offering of individual sacrifice in protecting and preserving life.

6. To use physical force only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient to obtain public co-operation to an extent necessary to secure observance of law or to restore order, and to use only the minimum degree of physical force which is necessary on any particular occasion for achieving a police objective.

7. To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.

The statement outlined above in bold is the principle that Sir Robert Peel most often and loudly tried to hammer home.

8. To recognize always the need for strict adherence to police-executive functions, and to refrain from even seeming to usurp the powers of the judiciary of avenging individuals or the State, and of authoritatively judging guilt and punishing the guilty.

9. To recognize always that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them.

Now that I've outlined the basics I'll offer you a few ideas of my own for you to build upon.

Federalizing the police is the most stupid idea I've heard, it moves the power and authority of law enforcement even further from where it belongs, with is with the people.  Recreating the original problem of police, that of being the oppressive enforcement arm of the state underline the principle that those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it.  A National Police Force will, in my opinion, only make matters worse. Now for some of my ideas:

1. The position of police chief should be an elected position similar to that of Sheriffs, acting independently of municipal government.  The position of police chief should also be easily and readily subject to recall by the people. 

2. Not all police need to be armed.  We should take an example from our English brethren and separate routine policing from armed policing.  There are five countries that do not arm their police officers when on routine patrol.  Britain, Ireland, Norway, Iceland, and New Zealand.  In Iceland roughly 1/3 of the citizenry is armed, it's police are not, they had their first police shooting in 2013. In 2014/15 there were 5,647 "Authorized Firearms Officers" in England out of roughly 125,000 officers.  London has the most with 2,122 AFOs on a force of 40,788.

3. Police need to get out of cars and go back to walking a beat.  This will of course necessitate more police and consistent with #2 above, they should not be armed.  Today, the most common interaction between the public and the police is in enforcement, that needs to change.  The public's most common interaction with the police can not be only when they get stopped, ticketed, fined, or arrested.

4. Police who are armed should not ever remove their weapons from their holsters unless they are going to fire them.  Unless you already have a legitimate reason to shoot someone you should never draw your weapon.  Drawing a weapon should have to meet the same rigorous legal reporting requirements and justification as shooting it.

5. Murder or attempted murder of a police officer in the line of duty should be an automatic capital offense, no other sentence, no plea deal, if you're guilty, you are dead.

Well, I've thrown out a few ideas, what are some of yours?

Hello Dolly

Given the 9 Million in presales for Bette Midler's revival of the Broadway Musical, here is the original:

If you're interested in tickets

Charlotte & Tulsa

Well, what do you think?

In Tulsa an unarmed man with a stalled vehicle was shot by police, although perhaps there was PCP in the vehicle. Officers believed the man had a gun, none was found.

In Charlotte, an armed man (at least according to the police) was shot and killed waiting for his child's bus. According to the police he was observed exiting his vehicle armed and returning to his vehicle before police intervened.  

A key question is why?  North Carolina is an open carry state and the 4th circuit court of appeals has previously ruled (2013) that the open carry of a firearm does not constitute a legal reason for the police to stop a person.

Honestly, in the vast majority of cases I do not think these shootings racially motivated.  I find it hard to believe that a black officer working for a black police chief had a racist motive behind his shooting of a black suspect. The problem lies in why was he suspect at all?  The police were not there for him, he had done nothing illegal, the police had no reason to challenge him at all.

The circumstances that we are in are dire, we are afraid of the police (at least some of us are), and the police are afraid of us... nothing good can come from this situation.  On one side you have questionable police tactics and on the other, well the response doesn't help the situation at all does it?

In a free society it is not incumbent upon the people to adapt to the state but for the state to adapt to the people.  The police can not be permitted to react to an armed citizen with lethal force, they can not shoot someone simply for being armed, and they certainly can not shoot someone for simply being uncooperative.  These are the hallmarks of an oppressive police state, let us not forget that the charter of the police is to serve the citizenry, not the state, they are on the street to protect the citizenry, not themselves.  

While I disagree with the BLM movements interpretation of events we should all be outraged at how readily our police resort to lethal force.

The More Things Change

The more they remain the same

The former secretary of state's agency appointed 194 donors who had given either to her family's foundation, her political campaigns, or both, or were affiliated with groups that had.  Those donors represented nearly 40 percent of the 511 advisory appointments the State Department made during Clinton's tenure.

Washington Examiner

Not on the Radar

Ahmad Khan Rahami

Multiple trips over the years to Afghanistan and Pakistan to include weeks in Kandahar and in the Taliban stronghold of Quetta.  This was followed by almost a year in Pakistan April 2013 - March 2014.

What do you need to do to get on the Radar? Blow something up?

 

El Lay Times: Trump +7

The USC/LA Times poll has Trump at 47.7 and Clinton at 41. The remaining majority of mainstream polls are all within the margin of error, some with Trump ahead, some with Clinton, and a few calling it a tie.

In the LA Times poll by age:

18-34                         46.8 Trump - 38.4 Clinton
35-64                         47.4 Trump - 41.3 Clinton
65+                            49.3 Trump - 43.2 Clinton

By Education:

High School or Less  55.9 Trump - 35.3 Clinton
Some College            49.0 Trump - 38.6 Clinton
College Grad             48.7 Clinton - 38.3 Trump

By Income:

Less than 35K          47.6 Clinton - 39.2 Trump
35-75K                     53.1 Trump - 36.2 Clinton
over 75K                  48.7 Trump - 40.7 Clinton

Shame on you Billy Ford

Henry Ford

Billy Ford, Photo: Steve Jurvetson

Mark Fields, President and CEO Ford Motor Co. Photo: Ford Motor Company A/S

Ford President & CEO announces the shift of all Ford small car production to Mexico.

‘Over the next two to three years, we will have migrated all of our small-car production to Mexico and out of the United States.’

This comes on top of Sergio Marchionne's announcement that Fiat Chrysler will cease all automobile production in the US (they will still make RAM and Jeeps here).

Ford has $224B in assets and has reported pre-tax profits of $3B for the second quarter of 2016. 

I support Trump's 35% tax on Ford cars made in Mexico.

American manufacturing jobs have fallen from a peak of 19M down to 12M with most of the losses occurring since 2000.

Fields' response that no jobs will be lost ignores the fact that 2800 jobs will be gained by Mexico, NOT the United States.

Automotive manufacturing jobs in Mexico are up 40% since 2008 mainly with GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler.
Honestly I'm sick of American companies exporting jobs for the sake of profits.  I've been hanging onto my 2007 Jeep Wrangler for quite some time now and had pretty much narrowed my vehicle search to a Ford F-150 or another Jeep (been waiting for the 2017 model Jeep and its rumored diesel).  I may have to rethink that position. What do you think?

Classical?

Colin Powell on Hillary Clinton

“A 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational, with a husband still d—ing bimbos at home (according to the NYP),”

NY POST 

And on Donald Trump:

"a national disgrace and an international pariah" 

 "appeals to the worst angels of the GOP nature and poor white folks." 

Um, No! You are not.

Photo: Keven Law

Chelsea Clinton was asked a question at a campaign event in NC.

        “Well, first off, I’d like to state that this is a great idea,” the questioner continued. “Sorry that the first person to get the mic is a man.  I do apologize for that”

Actually, I would have to say No, you're not, you're a sniveling cultural castrato that thinks he's a man.  Your words prove otherwise.

Now I'm not all that in to machismo, but honestly, do you have to turn into a groveling little weasel? No offense to weasels, I'm sure some are quite masculine as far as weasels go, and I'm sure more than a few are more masculine than this guy.
 
What do you folks think? Is he a man?

The Deplorables

You decide which is which

San Jose Mercury News

CNN

In one photo you have people exercising their constitutional rights in the political process, in the other you have violence and mayhem

So you have 

The Deplorables

vs.

The Untouchables

Western Hero, the management thereof, Blogger, the internet, and your computer manufacturer not responsible for any overwhelming desire to gouge your eyes out with a spoon resulting from the following video.  Remember, you chose to watch it of your own free will.

What did you do Sunday?

Amid protests and rumors of protests, as I write this I am enjoying a quiet leisurely Sunday afternoon sans football.  Of course it is impossible to avoid entirely amid the news stories of Dolphins kneeling and KC's Marcus Peters throwing a black power salute but I am exercising my rights too by not watching any of their bull.  

Amid the idiocy of players insulting us for the privilege of watching them play a game for way too much money lies the NFL, threatening to fine Tennessee Titan's Linebacker Avery Williamson $6076 for wearing cleats commemorating the victims of 9-11.  Williamson's red, white, and blue cleats bear the words 9/11 and Never Forget.

Most games are finished for the day and I have no idea of what the scores are and who won or lost, what's more refreshing is I really don't care.  More importantly for all the sponsors and advertisers out there I didn't watch a single witty pop culture commercial and remain completely uninfluenced in my consumer purchase habits.  

Cheers!

9-11

Photo: Cadiomals

Lykke Li

Lykke Li is a Swedish soprano/songwriter who made her debut in 2008 with her album Youth Novels, followed up by Wounded Rhymes in 2011 and I Never Learn in 2014.

The following has a rather long artistic introduction, the music starts at about 1:45

Her father is Johan "Zilverzurfarn" Zachrisson of the Swedish punk-reggae band Dag Vag (guitar/vocals), their song du får aldrig nog is featured below

Progressive...Progress?

1916, White Only segregated dorms.
2016, Black Only segregated dorms.

Who'd have thunk it? It seems Bubba Redneck had it right all along.  We've come full circle and progressives have adopted the old white supremacist mantra of separate but equal.

Cal State LA offers segregated housing for black students.

You people are just frigging Nuts!

Given the nature of today's post I feel I ought to be proactive and define what I mean by "you people"... I am referring to liberal progressives. 

 

CNN

Photo: Michael Vadon

TRUMP +2 according to CNN

RCP Election Map: Clinton 229 - Trump 154, 155 up for grabs
 

Can you learn from your mistakes?

Photo: Martin Rulsch

Angela Merkel and the CDU just got their arse handed to them at the polls in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania... Merkel's home turf.

Happy Labor Day

Who remembers this commercial?

Do they even still do this?  Does anybody look?

BBC Radio Cymru

BBC Radio Cymru is the BBC's Welsh language station. Don't ask me to translate, despite being a quarter Welsh my Welsh is worse than my Irish, which I don't so much understand as decode.I will translate Cymru for those of you who don't know what it means, it's Wales.  No bagpipes or fiddles here folks, although the Celtic influence is quite pronounced.

Happy V-J Day

One of these things is just like the other

Photo: Agencia Brasil

The Senate today voted overwhelmingly to impeach the leftist President in a vote of 61-20.  Senators broke into cheers and applause after the voting was announced and sang the National Anthem.

"Coup-Mongers" she shouted afterwards, "History won't forgive you"