Divemedic

You can’t fire me, I don’t even work here

Imagine receiving discipline from an employer that you don’t even work for, and haven’t worked for in over a year and a half. That is what happened to John Franklin III.

There is a huge controversy with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Specifically, that three players have been suspended after being accused of misrepresenting receiving the vaccine. In full disclosure, I don’t even watch football, but this story is too ridiculous not to mention. You have to dig a bit, but the story of the third player is the one that is most ridiculous.

John Franklin last played in an NFL game during the fall of 2019, when he was injured. He spent the remainder of that season, and all of the 2020 season, on the injured reserve. He was cut from the team in August, and is no longer an NFL player. In other words, by the time COVID existed, he had no longer played or been around any NFL players. He doesn’t even work for, nor is he affiliated with, any NFL team.

He is being suspended, even though he doesn’t work for any NFL team. Read the quote:

Free agent John Franklin III, if signed by a club, is also ineligible to play in the next three games.

National Football Association

OK, I know it’s the NFL, but let’s put that aside. We have reached a point in this country where a business is reaching out and punishing people for violating company policies when those people don’t even work for them.

“I know that employee doesn’t work here, because we fired him, but we have policies in place, and those policies were violated. So we are gonna say that, should he ever be rehired, we are going to suspend him without pay for a quarter of the year. Because reasons.”

By Divemedic, ago

Lost Wisdom

2003

The call came in around supper time. It was for a man having chest pain. On arrival, the man was pale, cool, and he just didn’t LOOK well. He was complaining that he was short of breath, having chest pain which radiated down his right arm, and also said he felt “weak.”

A 12 lead EKG revealed that he was having an anterior wall MI, which is the medical term for a heart attack in the front portion of his heart. I started an IV, and gave the standard medications: nitrates, aspirin, oxygen, and morphine.

Once stoned on the morphine, he was an extremely funny man. We all had some big laughs when we got to the hospital. The cardiac alert I had issued while we were on the way to the hospital had worked just as intended- the man was taken to the cath lab, and he was operated on and the clogged artery repaired in less than hour.

2005

Two years later and 400 miles away, the same man walked into an emergency room and collapsed in cardiac arrest. The ER team was able to restart his heart after only a few minutes of effort, but due to a 4 minute delay in beginning CPR while they moved him from the lobby to the ER, he had permanent brain damage. He never regained consciousness, and died ten days later.

This man had a family, he was important to them. This man taught me the value of money, taught me to fish, taught me to play baseball. He taught me how to live my life. He wasn’t always there, but then again, I wasn’t always there for him, especially when he needed me the most, the day he died.

That man was my father.

I don’t blame anyone for his passing, but I use this case to illustrate that we are responsible for the things that others take for granted.

I tell my students that becoming the best practitioner that you possibly can is more than just pride in your job. Those skills are not just for your patients. They can be for your family. Ask yourself a question: “If my father or mother had a heart attack, would I be comfortable knowing that I was the one working to save them?”

If the answer is no, then why are you here? Every patient you see is SOMEONE’S mother, father, brother, or sister.

It has been more than sixteen years since the day he left. I still miss him every day. It still makes me sad twice a year: the anniversary of his birth, and the anniversary of his death. My dad would be in his eighties now. Even as I approach the age that he was when he passed away, I still sometimes long for his wisdom, his guidance, and the steady knowledge that he passed along. There are so many times that I wish I could seek your guidance.

Dad, I still remember that day when I was 12 years old, and we were standing in the back yard burying my pet. You put your arm around me as we dug the grave together, and you said to me, “I know it’s hard, but he knew you loved him.”

That pet is long gone and largely forgotten. However, I still mourn your passing.

By Divemedic, ago

We’re Doing Science!

“Sir, someone who has COVID took a dump yesterday.” What a waste of time, money, and resources, developing a test to find COVID variants in sewage.

This is what government does- they spend taxpayer money on stupid ideas that help no one. All this test will do is tell you that someone who has COVID pinched off a loaf recently.

This post makes me laugh, because I get to use euphemisms for defecation, like saying “Dropping a Deuce,” or “Taking the Browns to the Superbowl” or “Dropping the Cosby Kids off at the Pool.” Biden even gave me a great idea for a new one: “Taking a visit to the Vatican”

By Divemedic, ago

Jackboots coming soon

The German Chancellor has announced that unvaccinated individuals will be excluded from nonessential stores, restaurants and sports and cultural venues. Where have I seen this movie before?

How will the German people know who is unvaccinated and who isn’t? Perhaps they can wear some kind of identifying symbol on their clothing, so that good Germans will know that they are not to be trusted. Might I suggest an oldie but a goodie:

Germans sure are good at breaking out the jackboots.

By Divemedic, ago

First and Second

Slate is always good for seeing the left’s faulty opinions, and this article is no exception. My first thought when I read the headline: “The Supreme Court May Elevate the Second Amendment Above the First” was something along the lines of, “Oh, what fresh idiocy is this?”

The article begins by pointing out that there are numerous restrictions on the time, manner, and place of free speech. Examples include rules that a ensure that expression does not interfere with their normal use. Rallies interfere with picnics and family gatherings. Parades and picketing block traffic and access to homes and businesses. The author then asks if firearms prevent the public from use and enjoyment of public spaces before going on to say:

Individuals may be injured and even killed when firearms are misused, improperly handled, or even when they are used properly. Even when a gunshot strikes the intended target, others may still be injured because the bullet may pass through the target and injure someone else or because the presence of the gun and gunfire cause a panic.

This is flawed, because the mere possession of firearms do nothing of the sort, any more than mere possession of a bible, political literature, or other materials that some find offensive interfere with the public’s use of a space. What the author is doing is conflating possession with use. No one is saying that people should be permitted to fire weapons in the middle of the street. The above argument is nothing more than the tired, old “yelling fire in a crowded theater” argument.

The author goes on to say:

the plaintiffs are not demanding the right to merely carry the firearm; they are demanding the right to use the firearm for self-defense. Thus, the fundamental question is not whether the presence of firearms threatens public safety but whether their use threatens public safety. The answer should be obvious, and the lessons of First Amendment jurisprudence should apply.

I actually agree. You see, using a firearm for self defense means that the person using that firearm is doing so to protect his own (or another’s) life from the unlawful use of force from a person illegally using that force. Just as a judge may prevent me from yelling out and disturbing his courtroom, no judge would argue that I cannot yell out to warn the occupants that the building is on fire, or that there is a man about to strike the judge with an axe from behind.

The author actually goes on to make a great point, and one which I agree with in principle, but I am betting not in the way that he is intending:

According to the court, “the peaceful enjoyment of freedoms which the Constitution guarantees contingent upon the uncontrolled will of an official—as by requiring a permit or license which may be granted or withheld in the discretion of such official—is unconstitutional.” The same should be true for firearms, and, arguably, this is where New York’s law fails. The requirement that applicants must show “proper cause” may be insufficiently clear and objective, allowing officials to exercise an unconstitutional amount of discretion.

If the court adopts this approach, it will follow a clearly marked path that will force New York to reconsider its standards for restricting guns in public, but allow it to still maintain some such standards. If the public forum doctrine is good enough for those seeking to exercise their First Amendment rights, it should be good enough for those who wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights as well.

My agreement here is that they should be permitted to require permits for concealed carry, as long as those permits are issued under clear, and unbiased criteria. I would accept shall issue- that is, anyone who completes a reasonable safety course and is not a prohibited person shall be issued a permit.

I am betting that isn’t what the author is thinking.

By Divemedic, ago

In the beginning

Nearly 26 years ago, a woman named Jennifer Ringley made internet history when she created the website Jennicam. She placed cameras throughout her apartment and streamed video 24 hours a day, documenting every second of her life. Users could pay for a subscription and tune in 24/7 for a glimpse into what Jenni was doing.

While there were times when she was nude, that wasn’t the focus of the site. It merely allowed electronic voyeurism. The site proved to be very popular, drawing in as many as 100 million visitors a week. The money she collected from this paid her way through college.

This was 1996, the beginning of the Internet. Listen to what Letterman had to say: “This will replace television.” This was an incredibly accurate insight. This was the beginning of the whole “influencer” career we see today.

After almost 8 years, she pulled the plug. At 45 years old, she now has almost no presence on the web, and likes it that way. According to web sources, she is married now, and her name is “Jennifer Johnson” which is a great way to be anonymous as the woman who changed American culture.

By Divemedic, ago

More homicides?

In response to my post about the increase homicide rates nationwide, a police officer from Houston sent me an email confirming that the same is happening in his city. Since he sent me an email rather that post a public comment, I will assume that he wants his identifying information held confidential. Here is what he had to say:

while we are nowhere near the 600-900 murders per year when I was a rookie in the early 1990’s, we had been cruising for years with 230-250 per year. Which ain’t bad for 2+million population and a police department with less than 5000 total classified officers.

Buuuuut, beginning in 2020 things have certainly changed: at this point in 2019 we had 249 murders enroute to around 300 total This time in 2020 it was 360 and ended up at 405, first time over 400 in years. This year, 2021, we are at 448 with a month to go. Probably gonna top 500.

Combination of low morale, administration that disincentivizes proactive policing, and officers not wanting to get screwed over, PLUS our local Soros-funded DA, Kim Ogg, putting violent offenders on the street with low/no bail to continually re-offend. Perfect shitstorm.

Things are looking worse all over. Once the police have collapsed nationwide, they will be replaced with cops who are more, shall we say, politically reliable. Maybe a national police force, maybe not. No matter what, they will be more amenable to the left.

By Divemedic, ago