As our US Navy seems incapable of even getting in and out of San Diego harbor without nearly having a collision. Our military is filled with officers chosen for political reliability and not competence.
My Grandson
Rion
It’s been ten days since I last updated you on my grandson’s progress. He continues to do well in therapy. He can walk moderate distances now, and has learned to roll his own wheelchair around. He appears to have control of all of his appendages, but has some issues that are being worked on in therapy.
He still has trouble with fine motor control. What this means is that he cannot control his fingers individually, so he eats like a small child by grabbing whatever he wants to eat in his fist, then cramming his entire fist in his mouth before opening his hand. That’s one thing that we have been working on with him- trying to get him to pick up food with just his index finger and thumb. I was using M&M’s to try and get him to feed himself.
He is still non-verbal. He can make the “f” and “s” sounds, but can’t seem to use his vocal chords on a voluntary basis, nor can he move his mouth for other sounds. This seems to frustrate him while he is trying to talk. I’ve been working on any word at all. The one he seems to enjoy shooting for is “fart.” After half an hour or so of trying he begins getting angry and stomps his feet. I can’t imagine what that is like, to want to communicate and be unable to. The family has been taking bets to see what his first word will be. I don’t care what his first word is, he can shout an expletive for all I care, as long as he can come back to us.
The therapists have given him multiple cognitive tests, and have determined that his thought processes are working fine. In fact, he is reading at a 5th grade level, so he is far ahead of where he should be.
There are a few personality changes that have become apparent. Foods that he used to enjoy, he can no longer stand. The neurologists say that this is common in people that have sustained brain injuries- as the brain rewires itself to route new pathways around the damaged areas, some things will be different.
All in all, he is making what they say is good progress, and is on the path to recovery. When that will happen is anyone’s guess, but typically it takes anywhere from a six months to two years to see a complete recovery. The goal right now is to get him to a point where he can be home schooled, so that we don’t see him fall too far behind his peers. In the short term, getting him moved from an inpatient status to home health care is on the horizon. We are hoping that he will be home with his family in time for Christmas.
It’s easy to forget that eight weeks ago was the last time he was well. Just six weeks ago, he was still in a coma and we were worried that he wasn’t going to survive. Three weeks ago, and he was still in the intensive care unit, with doctors telling us that he would likely be paralyzed for life. He continues to improve, one week at a time. Whatever the future holds for Rion, it will be better than the one he had just a week before.
Police State
Don’t Answer Questions
This encounter is why you don’t answer a cop’s questions. Hand over the license and registration, and then respond with “I am not trying to be disrespectful, but I don’t wish to answer any questions at this time,” and then shut up. If you get officer road rage, it likely won’t help, but at least you have a stronger case later.
Antigun
Sickening
Yahoo news says that the number of guns sold on Black Friday makes them sick. The shooting that they use to illustrate the issue was that of a 12 year old black child who was killed in Atlanta when two groups of “youths” (read as: Criminal Street Gangs) started shooting at each other.
The kid wasn’t “caught in the crossfire” he was an active participant, a street gang member himself. Don’t blame me and my guns because your criminal child is involved in gang activity.
“I tried, y’all. I called the police office almost 30 times in the last two years, and they told me they can’t do nothing. I said he’s out and breaking into these folks’ cars, can you please get him off the street,” Deerica [his mother] said.
Now mom claims he wasn’t actually *IN* the gang, but he was running around with other criminals, committing felonies. I suppose he wasn’t in the gang because he hadn’t paid his annual dues to the club?
EDITED TO ADD: Four days after Black Friday, we know exactly how many guns were sold. Three weeks after election day, we still don’t know how many votes were cast and for whom.
Uncategorized
Racism
Don’t tell me that whites are the ones who are racist. (Watch the second, or bottom video)
Uncategorized
Breakfast Comes to the Door
People in one neighborhood are being attacked in their own yards by wild hogs. A suppressor, a crossbow, even putting some spikes in the end of that bat, and you have some bacon coming to you.
tyranny
Petty Tyrants (ABN)
A member of the 21st Waitress Division (Airborne) threatened to have a disabled man pulled from a plane at gunpoint. His crime? Asking the stewardess to follow the law and make sure his wheelchair was on the Jetway, so he could use it to leave the plane.
What’s next for her? Punch a baby for crying and interrupting her during her seatbelt speech? Kick the crutches out from under a disabled child for taking too long to find a seat?
This is what happens when you give people a little power. They become little petty tyrants. When I was in the military, we used to joke around and say “What is the military gonna do? Take away my birthday? Confiscate my name?” I think that is exactly what we should do. Tell them that they are no longer “flight attendants.” You are now “Stewards” and “Stewardesses.” Keep screwing up, and we will start calling you “waitress” and you can work for tips.
Or we can just tell them that the days of threatening to have people arrested for “not complying with the instructions of a flight crew” are over, because they are now subject to being sued personally for violating the law and people’s civil rights under color of authority.
tyranny
I’m Not Sure That This is a Good Idea
The Brevard county sheriff paired up with the Brevard Public Schools Chairman to announce a new discipline policy for the county’s schools.
“Not only safe from active shooters, intruders, and other potential threats to our campuses, but also from the clowns who continually disrupt our classrooms and our assemblies with bad behavior, violent acts, and even cellphones, that disrupt class room environments and distract our incredible teachers.”
Look, I am in agreement that there are some kids in school that are out of control. I just don’t like that there are no details of this new policy, and I definitely don’t think that the police are the proper tool for addressing those children. If he is talking about children who are committing big boy crimes, that is one thing, but referring to using police to control a kid who is only disrupting class is another. Read this quote and see what I mean:
“If you are a teacher that is passionate about teaching children and are sick and tired of trying to do it in an environment where you are physically and verbally threatened or subjected to constant childish outbursts, then starting today, your prayers have been answered, because all of us have had enough of this crap as well.
(emphasis added by DM)
In school, childish outbursts are expected. They are CHILDREN, after all. The teachers need to worry about those things, not police. I’m with the Sheriff on things like violence, stealing, and actual crimes. Not on kids simply being kids.
Keep in mind that this is the same school board last year that voted to restrict parents to one minute of speaking time when addressing the school board, and had parents arrested for going over the time limit. The claim was that too many people were speaking for too long, and this was causing school board meetings to last too long.
So excuse me if I don’t trust the school board to say one thing, but use the resulting rules to be petty tyrants.
Me
Computer
I have been having computer issues. That is, the battery on this laptop never seems to stay charged. I replaced the battery. Nope. New charger. That didn’t do it. I replaced the cable that runs between the motherboard and the charging port. That wasn’t it, either. Nothing I tried seems to work for more than a week or so. I bought this computer in April of 2020, and I have been trying to baby it along for about four months.
I saw a Black Friday ad for a new, higher performance computer, half off. So I pulled the trigger. It will be here on Thursday.