Divemedic

Wrong

When I was a teacher, I layered the security for my classroom and my students. First, I installed a Nightlock on my door.

I have Level IV body armor that I kept in my classroom. It had a blowout kit, 4 TQ’s, a huge label on it that said “PARAMEDIC” and a sewn on badge with my blood type. The file cabinet between the door and the blind corner where I planned to shelter my students in the event of a shooter had been modified by me. It has a 1/4″ aluminum plate lining the inside of the sides of the cabinet. With us behind the cabinet, the bullet would have to go through the cabinet, through the first plate, through whatever was in the cabinet, then through the second plate, and the backside of the cabinet.

Dude, use your head.

By Divemedic, ago

Can’t Legislate Math

As the left continues to crow that we need to switch to electric vehicles to save the planet, they are overlooking the fact that the nation just doesn’t have the electrical generating capacity to do that. As I post this, two thirds of the nation is facing the possibility of blackouts due to insufficient power generation capacity to handle the power demands of air conditioning that deals with the summer heat. Why? Because the nation’s electrical generating companies have been closing coal and oil fired power plants rather than pay for expensive repairs and upgrades caused by the government’s efforts to deal with “climate change.”

By 2035, automakers will have turned away from the internal combustion engine. The electric grid doesn’t have the capacity to charge all of those new cars, trucks and buses. This will cause an increase in electric demand that would require 50% more electricity than we generate now. There isn’t enough land area to rely on wind and solar for our current needs, much less adding that much more.

For example, Florida is second in the nation in electric vehicles with over 100,000 of them, but ranks 42nd in the infrastructure needed to charge them with 24 cars in the state for each charging station.

By Divemedic, ago

Department of Education

From the DoE website:

Although the Department is a relative newcomer among Cabinet-level agencies, its origins goes back to 1867, when President Andrew Johnson signed legislation creating the first Department of Education. Its main purpose was to collect information and statistics about the nation’s schools. However, due to concern that the Department would exercise too much control over local schools, the new Department was demoted to an Office of Education in 1868.

Over the years, the office remained relatively small, operating under different titles and housed in various agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Interior and the former U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare (now Health and Human Services).

Beginning in the 1950s, political and social changes resulted in expanded federal funding for education. The successful launch of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik in 1957 spurred nationwide concern that led to increased aid for science education programs. The 1960s saw even more expansion of federal education funding: President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty” called for the creation of many programs to improve education for poor students at all levels—early childhood through postsecondary. This expansion continued in the 1970s with national efforts to help racial minorities, women, people with disabilities and non-English speaking students gain equal access to education. In October 1979, Congress passed the Department of Education Organization Act (Public Law 96-88). Created by combining offices from several federal agencies, the Department began operations in May 1980.

In the 1860s, a budget of $15,000 and four employees handled education fact-finding. By 1965, the Office of Education had more than 2,100 employees and a budget of $1.5 billion. As of mid-2010, the Department has nearly 4,300 employees and a budget of about $60 billion.

In 1868, there was concern that the DoE would exert too much control over local schools, so it was demoted to an “Office of Education” with four employees and a budget of $15,000. It was made into a cabinet level department in 1979, under Jimmy Carter. Since then, it has grown to 4,300 employees and a $60 billion budget. It now issue orders to local schools encompassing everything from curriculum to what they must serve for lunch. I would say that the fears of “too much control over local schools” was well founded.

It’s well past time to get rid of the Department of Education. There is no reason for this bloated department to make decisions for each state and how it will run its schools. You can’t say that test scores are any better or worse, because it is impossible to know. There is no way to measure performance of students in 1979 and compare it to now. Tests that were taken by students have been changed several times over the years, so that it is impossible to determine whether or not students today are any better or worse off than counterparts from other time periods.

By Divemedic, ago

SARNET

In Florida, SARNET is a network of HAM radio repeaters in the 70cm band (. They are all connected, so activating one repeater ensures that your traffic will be heard statewide. A list of SARNET repeaters can be found here. Anyone who is a licensed HAM radio operator can use it in analog mode only, as long as the state disaster centers haven’t closed the net due to an emergency or other disaster, but it’s important to remember that anything you say will be broadcast across the entire state. Here is the coverage map:

It’s a great way to find someone that is a HAM operator, and then direct them to another means of communication. Long conversations are discouraged on SARNET. The network voice radio usage is intended to be short communications between users. During long conversations you are activating all of the SARNET repeaters across the state for an extended period of time, subjecting all of the hams in the state to a conversation that they have no interest in. Long local conversations are encouraged to move off of SARNET and onto another repeater that does not activate the net. Still, it’s a great way for a HAM in Key West to quickly contact one in Pensacola. Here is a video to explain it:

Another great use is calling a Mayday if you are in an emergency, because you are guaranteed to get a response if every HAM and EOC in the state can hear you.

By Divemedic, ago

Michigan and the First Amendment

Democrats in Michigan have proposed a bill that would replace Michigan’s existing Ethnic Intimidation Act and make it a hate crime to cause someone to “feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened.” Under the bill’s framework, “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” are included as classes protected against intimidation. If passed, the hate speech legislation would make violators guilty of a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of $10,000. The law also allows victims of hate crimes to bring civil lawsuits against the offender. Successful plaintiffs can recover three times the actual damages or $25,000, whichever is greater, along with reasonable attorney fees and costs.

What is also a feature is the possibility of “Alternative penalties” under the proposed law.

An alternative sentence may include an order requiring the offender to complete a period of community service intended to enhance the offender’s understanding of the impact of the offense upon the victim and wider community. Community service ordered under this subdivision must be performed with the consent of and in support of the community targeted in the violation.

I can’t see how this isn’t a violation of the First Amendment. Let’s see how it plays out.

By Divemedic, ago

Cops Are Not Referees

Too many people think that calling the police is the adult equivalent of telling your mom that someone is being mean to you. This guy had a black man approach him with a knife, and while brandishing it, scream “Die!”

So the man called the cops. The cops arrive and arrest him, so the caller begins sobbing because he didn’t want the black suspect to think he was a racist. Holy shit.

By Divemedic, ago

Mass Psychosis

The fads of the last few decades:

  • The 50’s: Duck’s Ass Haircut
  • The 60’s: Gogo boots, Hippies, birth control means screwing anything that walks
  • The 70’s: the Disco craze, Leisure suits
  • The 80’s: Big hair, parachute pants
  • The 90’s: The information superhighway
  • The 00’s: sucking dicks
  • The 10’s: cutting off your dick, having your tits removed.
  • The 20’s: teaching kids to play with your dick

Note that the new fad is claim to be a faggot. According to recent surveys, 1 in 5 young people claim to be transgender.

By Divemedic, ago

The Question

The left likes to pretend that the road is public, and

  • they have the same right to stand there and block the road as drivers have to drive on the road
  • this is a ‘peaceful protest’
  • until someone tries to get through, then this is considered “violence” against the crowd on the part of the driver that permits them to attack that driver in self defense through a twisted interpretation of “stand your ground”

In other words, allow them to block the road, or get physically attacked by the “peaceful” crowd. They have taken Ghandi’s tactic of sitting there and waiting for the government to use force in removing you- a so called “sit in” and turned it up to level 11 by using force to hold their position.

This is, in my opinion no different than the person who engages in a “peaceful rape,” a peaceful armed robbery, or a peaceful occupation of your house by an armed home invader. It’s the “or else” that changes the act of peaceful protest into an act of violence. This is the threat of force in order to get the public to capitulate to their demands. They are holding the ability to travel and engage in commerce hostage while holding a metaphorical gun to the heads of those who refuse to comply.

They claim that they are unarmed. False. They are armed in that the amount of force that can be brought to bear by a large crowd is far in excess of the capabilities of individuals that would oppose them. The only choices that an individual has is to:

  • Try and reverse down the highway, which is unsafe and impractical or
  • sit there, or
  • Drive through.

Once the person attempts to sit there, the crowd will usually try to disable and/or gain entry to the passenger compartment by breaking the glass. This means that there is only one remaining option is the last one: floor it.

This is nothing more than holding someone against their will. The legal term for this false imprisonment. In Florida, false imprisonment is a felony.

787.02 (1)(a) The term “false imprisonment” means forcibly, by threat, or secretly confining, abducting, imprisoning, or restraining another person without lawful authority and against her or his will.

(b) Confinement of a child under the age of 13 is against her or his will within the meaning of this section if such confinement is without the consent of her or his parent or legal guardian.

(2) A person who commits the offense of false imprisonment is guilty of a felony of the third degree

Since it involves the threat of force, or if the crowd has already used force, a person has the right to use a reasonable amount of force in order to prevent the imminent commission of that felony. That would be the case that I would make, were I forced to drive over the crowd that was attempting to hold me against my will.

By Divemedic, ago