You Can't Silence Us

Flocking Around

A deputy sheriff in Sumter county, Florida was arrested and fired yesterday for using police tools to cyber stalk her husband’s ex-wife. Detective Almany created official electronic records that falsely represented the searches as legitimate Sheriff’s Office investigations so she could access:

  • Comprehensive Case Information System (CCIS)
  • Flock Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR), and
  • Driver and Vehicle Information Database (DAVID) 

The maintenance of these databases, and the uncontrolled access to them that begs for misuse is a clear violation of the rights of the people. Their existence in their current form is purely a 4th Amendment issue that needs to be addressed. Having an electronic dossier on every American, their whereabouts, and a real time database of their movements is simply egregious.

Not just that, but police need more oversight and less unfettered deference. Qualified immunity needs to go, and police should be forced to obtain malpractice insurance, just like most other businesses do. Medical professionals, accountants, and even travel agents are required to carry insurance against mistakes made in the course of their jobs. I don’t see why police are any different. These databases should require a warrant for access, and any misuse should result in criminal charges, termination, and liability to the person whose rights were violated- to be paid personally from the offending cop or his insurance.

There are people here who would say posts like this reflect a bias against cops. I disagree. These posts instead reflect a lack of bias towards cops, in that I don’t think police are any more righteous than the average person and special care needs to be taken in preventing people from abusing police powers.

People who have read this post: 103
By Divemedic, ago

Speech

A woman in Minnesota was just convicted for calling a Somalian immigrant a “nigger.” The Constitution won’t be rewritten, it will just be ignored.

Hendrix was sentenced to supervised probation, 200 hours of community work service, and a $1,000 fine.

and with that, free speech is dead. Say goodbye to the First Amendment.

People who have read this post: 186
By Divemedic, ago

Daycare

Opponents of Florida’s ballot initiative to greatly cut property taxes, both Republicans and Democrats, have been scaremongering voters with predictions of the bad things that will happen once they aren’t stealing your money. The latest is telling parents how localities won’t be able to afford sponsoring summer camp, and this is bad because poor parents rely on summer camp as a free daycare program.

Why am I forced to pay for daycare for someone else’s crotch fruit? Get your sperms donor to pay his child support.

People who have read this post: 114
By Divemedic, ago

Wickard

In the first half of the 20th Century, the Supreme Court stretched the intent of the Constitution beyond all recognition. The historical shift that permanently expanded federal power occurred during the New Deal Era (1937). Before that point, the Supreme Court strictly limited Congress by drawing sharp lines between “local” production (like manufacturing, farming, and mining) and “interstate” commerce (the actual shipping of goods).

Frustrated by repeated legal defeats, President Roosevelt proposed the Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937. This plan would allow him to add up to six new, sympathetic justices to the Supreme Court. While Congress rejected the plan, the threat of packing the Court heavily pressured the sitting justices to rule his way more often. Justice Owen Roberts, a supposedly conservative justice, shifted his vote in a landmark labor case, creating a new majority that favored the expansion of Federal power. The new lever that allowed the Federal Government to insert it’s abnormally large nose into everyone’s affairs was the commerce clause.

The Constitution grants the Federal government the power to regulate commerce through the “commerce clause.” The Commerce Clause refers to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress the power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian Tribes.”

As with many things, they use the commerce clause to get their hands on powers they otherwise wouldn’t have. There were a few cases involving the commerce clause that came before it, but the one doing the most damage to state’s rights was Wickard v. Filburn (1942). I’ve blogged on this case a couple of times. That case concerned a farmer that was growing wheat for use on his own farm. He contended that he was not subject to the limits that the Federal Government had placed on wheat production, because his wheat was not sold, so it could not be regulated as commerce, let alone “interstate” commerce (described in the Constitution as “Commerce… among the several states”). The Supreme Court disagreed. They held that because he was growing his own wheat, he did not buy wheat from someone else. Since he did not buy someone else’s wheat, this affected interstate commerce and made his wheat subject to the regulations.

This court case basically says that the Feds can rule over anyone they please, without worrying about enumerated powers. All they have to do is play “six degrees of separation” to show that the behavior they wish to dictate affected interstate commerce in some way, no matter how tenuous.

The reason I bring this up today is because Justice Thomas’ concurrence in United States v. Hemani, in which he urged courts to reconsider the constitutional foundation of federal law. Thomas argued that goes too far, writing the Commerce Clause authorizes Congress only “to regulate the buying and selling of goods and services trafficked across state lines,” not “activities wholly separated from business, such as gun possession.”

This is an opinion that anyone with half a brain could see, what the gun ban crowd calls “common sense.” If I carve a toy out of wood and give it to my child, I didn’t affect interstate commerce, but those who would increase Federal powers would say it does. The same goes for making my own firearm at home, or for a felon who possesses a firearm. None of those activities affect interstate commerce, and are thus state law issues and none of the Federal government’s business.

“Congress cannot regulate the possession of every thing that ever traveled across state lines,” Thomas wrote, warning that such an interpretation risks converting Congress’ limited commerce authority into “a general police power of the sort retained by the States.”

Judge Stephen Higginson said striking down Section 922(g) would be “a significant departure from existing, settled, and binding Commerce Clause jurisprudence” and could “mark the start of a new, severely contracted Commerce Clause era.”

“Can the federal government no longer criminalize possession of child pornography? Of explosive materials? Of biological weapons?” Higginson asked. “Past the Title 18 level, do we lose regulations on financial transactions? On intellectual property? On endangered species?”

If the financial transactions, intellectual property, or child pornography crosses state lines, then yes, the Federal government may criminalize it. If not, then that would be up to the states. No one is saying these things shouldn’t be illegal- I am saying that it should be up to each state to make their own laws.

That’s what is meant by a Republic- each member of the republic retains its own identity.

People who have read this post: 113
By Divemedic, ago

Risk/Reward

Look at what the Socialist wing (soon to be mainstream) of the Democrat party has to say about investing:

In a way he is right, but not in the way he thinks. Landlords do not have a Constitutional right to a 12% return. They have a Constitutional right to property. The lend that property out to people for a fee. They might turn a profit, or they might have a nightmare tenant who does $50,000 in damage to a $250,000 rental property. They might have a tenant who refuses to pay and needs to be evicted. COVID proved that the government could simply refuse to allow you to control that property by preventing you from evicting someone who isn’t paying.

Every time you tie money into an investment, there are costs, including the cost of those who default, repairs, taxes, insurance, fees, and more. At the end of the day, some investments are riskier than others. That risk has to be compensated for. Putting money in a CD or a government bond is generally low risk, and therefore represents the lowest return. One year t-bill rates are at 4% right now. That means if an investment is higher risk than a t-bill and isn’t paying more than that, you are better off with lower risk for the same return. Even savings accounts and CDs are at 4.1% or thereabouts.

For 2025, ETFs in the stock market returned about 19%. Rental property is actually a higher risk than is a stock market ETF like SPY (17.72%) or QQQ (20.77%) but is not as profitable, especially when you are in a socialist location like Mamdani’s NYC. That’s why I got out of the rental market earlier this year and put the profits in the market.

Compare the returns for 2026 to date:

  • My portfolio: 7.26%
  • S&P500: 8.94%
  • NASDAQ: 8.35%
  • DOW: 6.13%
  • Gold and Silver Index: -20.10%

The annual return on my rental was an average of 10.66%. That isn’t very large when you consider market returns over a similar time frame. In fact, the same amount of money invested in the market would average about 10.8%. Renting is a lot of risk and work for not much better of a return.

People who have read this post: 338
By Divemedic, ago

Still Wrong

A month and a half ago, I ordered a door from Lowes. The store subs out doors, and the door maker asked me by text what hand I wanted the door cut for. A couple of weeks later, the door arrived, and it was the wrong door. I took it back.

The door maker contacted me to ask why, and I told him I wanted a right hand door, but received a left handed one.

I had some things going on, including having to take a trip to Maine, so I waited a month to reorder the door. Again, the maker of the door contacted me. I told him that this time, I wanted to make sure we were on the same page. I sent him a picture of the fucking door I was replacing. I also said “I want the door that, when you are facing the door and it swings towards you, the hinges are on your left. I want a right handed door” Here was the picture of the door I sent them:

The door came today, and it is still the wrong cut. Here is the door I got:

I am now having to take a second trip to Lowes in order to return this door because those retards can’t cut a fucking door even when you send them a picture of the door.

People who have read this post: 322
By Divemedic, ago

No Evidence of Voter Fraud

She is admitting that there were at least 6600 illegal immigrants who were registered to vote in her state. They are blaming “a software error” from before she was governor that allowed this to happen. So we have arrived at the “that’s not my fault” stage.

EDITED TO ADD:

This gets more interesting. The company that provides NJ’s ID software says the registrations were not due to software error, but were forwarded to them from NJ’s division of elections.

People who have read this post: 208
By Divemedic, ago

MANPAD Alert

A MANPAD alert was issued at LaGuardia airport last night. Listen to ATC traffic:

Here is what the FAA has to say about them:

10-2-13. MANPADS ALERT

When a threat or attack from Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) is determined to be real, notify and advise aircraft as follows:

  1. Do not withhold landing clearance. To the extent possible, issue information on MANPADS threats, confirmed attacks, or post-event activities in time for it to be useful to the pilot. The pilot or parent company will determine the pilot’s actions.
  2. MANPADS information will be disseminated via the ATIS and/or controller‐to‐pilot transmissions.
  3. Disseminate via controller‐to‐pilot transmission until the appropriate MANPADS information is broadcast via the ATIS and pilots indicate they have received the appropriate ATIS code. MANPADS information will include nature and location of threat or incident, whether reported or observed and by whom, time (if known), and when transmitting to an individual aircraft, a request for pilot’s intentions.PHRASEOLOGY-ATTENTION (aircraft identification), MANPADS ALERT. EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION. MANPADS THREAT/ATTACK/POST-EVENT ACTIVITY OBSERVED/ REPORTED BY (reporting agency) (location) AT (time, if known). (When transmitting to an individual aircraft) SAY INTENTIONS.EXAMPLE-“Attention Jet Blue Four Seventeen, MANPADS alert. Exercise extreme caution. MANPADS threat reported by TSA, LaGuardia vicinity. Say intentions.”
    “Attention all aircraft, MANPADS alert. Exercise extreme caution. MANPADS post‐event activity observed by tower south of airport at two‐one‐zero‐zero Zulu.”
  4. Report MANPADS threat/attack/post–event activity via the ATIS and/or controller‐to‐pilot transmissions until notified otherwise by the Domestic Events Network (DEN) Air Traffic Security Coordinator (ATSC).REFERENCE-FAA Order JO 7110.65, Para 2-9-3, Content.
    FAA Order JO 7210.3, Para 2-1-10, Handling MANPADS Incidents.
    FAA Order JO 7610.4, Para 3-1-3, Responsibilities.
People who have read this post: 350
By Divemedic, ago

The Case Against Universal Sufferage

These two posts came up back to back, as the first and second items on my Twitter feed this morning. I leave them to you with no further comment.


People who have read this post: 237
By Divemedic, ago

Tourniquet Conversion

Scientific knowledge evolves. As mankind discovers more information, the view of our world and how it works changes as well. The use of tourniquets, which I have discussed at length a couple of times on this very blog, are a great example. We were once taught that, once a tourniquet goes on, it stays on unless the patient is in the room with a trauma surgeon. That turns out to be only partially correct.

At the end of the day, trauma is a surgical emergency. What a trauma patient needs is access to that trauma surgeon. Getting a patient to the hospital within a rapid timeframe, often referred to as “the golden hour” greatly increases the patient’s chances of survival. Remember that serious trauma is first and foremost a surgical emergency. Trauma patients don’t need a tricked out first aid kit- they need a trauma surgeon. All they need you to do in the field is keep them alive and prevent them from furthering their injury until they can get on the operating table.

For that reason, tourniquet training for most Americans has followed simple, strict guidance: apply one high and tight to limbs to stop life-threatening bleeding, and leave removal to advanced medical care personnel. That is no longer the case.

So what changed? The war in Ukraine. In the US, and in US controlled battlefields, people who receive gunshot wounds are one helicopter ride away from a trauma surgeon, and the vast majority of the patients make it to the surgeon’s operating table within that hour and have good results. In Ukraine, the nature of the war there is such that almost no one gets a helicopter ride, and with killer drones circling everywhere, very few of those injured are transported by ground in anything resembling even the “golden day or two” and, if they are wearing a tourniquet, wind up wearing it for days. Casualty evacuation in Ukraine often exceeds 6 hours, and the liberal use of limb tourniquets may have increased morbidity.

That sets up a whole list of new problems.

Leaving a tourniquet on for hours or even days causes other issues. Once a tourniquet is in place, it stops blood from flowing to the affected limb. Once deprived of their blood supply, those cells begin taking measures to protect themselves, and after a period of time, those cells die. As they die, they release their contents into the surrounding tissue. When the tourniquet is removed, those contents make it to the kidneys and clog them up with all of that debris. The condition is called rhabdomyolysis. The longer a limb tourniquet is in place, the higher the risk of compartment syndrome, vascular thrombosis, rhabdomyolysis, and irreversible myonecrosis resulting in major tissue loss and often necessitating limb amputation, kidney failure, and death.

If bleeding is controlled with a tourniquet, attempts to remove the tourniquet as early as possible to avoid the negative consequences are essential. However, if the removal is not done correctly, there is a risk the bleeding that the tourniquet was supposed to stop will also kill the patient. The act of removing a tourniquet (called ‘tourniquet conversion’) is now changing the training being put out to US special forces troops, and is especially important to preppers here in the US.

What this means for you

In the US, we are usually a quick helicopter ride away from a trauma surgeon, but that may not always be the case. In a disaster or TEOTWAWKI situation, those helicopters aren’t coming. At the same time, a tourniquet left on for more than 2 hours can itself be a hazard. Before attempting this, please review my post on treating gunshot wounds that you can find here.

Important: Never attempt tourniquet conversion if the patient is in shock, the wound cannot be continuously monitored for re-bleeding, or if the tourniquet is applied above a traumatic amputation.

Shock being defined here as the loss of consciousness, or a blood pressure less than 90/xx.

The Conversion Steps (The “Plus-1” Method)

  1. Prepare: Place a second, loose tourniquet on the bare limb just above the first one, but do not tighten it yet.
  2. Pack: Firmly pack the wound cavity with hemostatic gauze (if available) or standard rolled gauze, maintaining direct digital pressure for at least 3 minutes.
  3. Dress: Apply a pressure dressing securely over the packed wound.
  4. Release: Slowly loosen the original tourniquet (over at least 1 minute) while meticulously observing the wound for bleeding.
  5. Monitor: If bleeding is controlled, leave the primary tourniquet in place but fully loosened in case bleeding recurs.

Optimal conversion should be attempted within 2 hours of the initial application when conditions are safe and stable. If bleeding restarts upon release, re-tighten the primary tourniquet or utilize the newly placed backup tourniquet.

For more information, see the article Tactical Medicine Tourniquet Conversion or consult the sources below:

Sources:

Misuse of Tourniquets in Ukraine may be Costing More Lives and Limbs Than They Save.

Rethinking limb tourniquet conversion in the prehospital environment (pdf warning)

Tactical Combat Casualty Care skill card: Tourniquet Conversion (pdf warning)

Tourniquet Conversion: A Recommended Approach in the Prolonged Field Care Setting

Tourniquet Conversion: The Critical Skill Nobody Teaches After You Stop the Bleeding (2026)

People who have read this post: 185
By Divemedic, ago