COVAX firings continue

Officials with the fire department of Orange County, Florida have announced that they are firing one of their Battalion Chiefs because he refused to issue written reprimands to employees that failed to disclose their vaccine status.

In other local fire department news, Osceola county wants to have firefighters, police officers and EMTs to fill in on school bus routes, because the schools don’t have enough bus drivers. This idea is going to be difficult, for the simple fact that none of those workers have a CDL as a part of their job and will first have to get trained and pass the CDL exam.

Additionally, the hourly pay for firefighters, EMTs, and cops is far higher than what they pay school bus drivers. I doubt you will get many volunteers, especially since public safety agencies are busy firing all of their emergency workers.

Chickens Roosting

A man rapes a woman on a train while bystanders film it with their cell phones and people are amazed. How can you be? California has enacted a law that allows people to be sued for making 911 calls about minorities. The law is called the ‘CAREN Act,’ named for a racial pejorative that refers to middle aged white women and their “use of white privilege” to get their way or complain about the behavior of minorities. The left claims that the CAREN Act will save lives because blacks are being prejudged by people whose unfounded fear triggers them to call 911, then the cops are showing up and killing them.

So I have been commenting on local media sites that I completely understand why this is happening. Why would a white person risk a lawsuit or criminal prosecution for a stranger by calling 911 or otherwise intervening?

Ask George Zimmerman what happens when you intervene. You risk everything: you might be called a racist ‘wannabe’, prosecuted, cancelled, and having your life destroyed. You may even have to defend your life before having it destroyed by the media lynch mob.

EDITED TO ADD:

So I brought that up, and one leftie poster said:

You are comparing a child, Trayvon Martin walking through an apartment complex as the same thing as an adult raping a woman? Zimmerman shouldn’t have intervened. He deserved his future being ruined my killing an unarmed child.

So I see what I think is a man raping a woman. I call out and tell him to stop. He stops, and instead decides to pounce on me, beating my head on the steel floor of the train. I cry out for help, and the others on the train simply film it with their phones. I am about to have my skull caved in because it is being beaten on the floor of the train. So I draw my legally concealed handgun and shoot him. It turns out that it wasn’t a rape, it was a 17 year old and his 16 year old girlfriend who were just playing around. Now I am being tried for killing an unarmed child. Since he is not the same race as I am, I am accused of being a racist, my life is destroyed, and I am charged with murder.

Why risk it? Instead, I decide to mind my own business. It isn’t my responsibility to defend you, or anyone else. Try bringing a mental health counselor with you to deescalate the situation. 

Rental Inflation

It isn’t just food. The hardship that was imposed upon landlords during the COVID eviction moratorium, combined with the massive migration of migrants from the large cities of the north, who are fleeing lockdowns and high taxes, is affecting rents in lower cost areas of the country. For example, South Florida is seeing skyrocketing rents.

Even here in North Central Florida, rents are rising. In the area where I own my rental, there isn’t much to rent. What there is, is becoming more expensive. I am renting out my three bedroom, 1,900 square foot home with a fenced in yard and two car garage for $1,700 a month ($0.89 per square foot). That rent includes lawn maintenance and a washer/dryer.

A new apartment complex that is nearby recently began renting a three bedroom 1,000 square foot apartment for $1,600 a month ($1.60 per square foot), and that doesn’t include a garage or washer/dryer). They are fully rented with a waitlist at that price.

My current tenants have been living in my rental for two years without an increase. In that time, my costs for insurance, property tax, and lawn maintenance have increased by about $120 a month.

What this means is that I should be increasing my rent by at least $200 a month. I could probably get $2,000 a month. The tenants would have little choice- it isn’t like they could go anywhere else and find a better deal. My wife and I have discussed it, and we don’t want to do that. At the same time, we have a business to run. We decided to compromise and will be raising the rent to $1,800.

Inflation continues.

Inflation continues

More stories about increasing prices on the horizon. The inflation we have been seeing for the past year is only the beginning. The president of Gristedes and D’Agostino Foods (A New York supermarket chain) thinks that food prices will rise dramatically in the next several weeks, and predicts a 10% increase in food costs over the next 60 days, just in time for the holidays.

No one can claim that the signs weren’t there, nor can they claim that they didn’t know this was coming. You were warned.

Not racism

Way back when I was still in the military, I was once home on leave and attempted to buy beer. At that time, if you were in the military and stationed outside of Florida, your driver’s license was renewed by mail. Instead of a picture, the license read “Valid without photo.” I presented that license, together with my Military ID, to the clerk. He looked at them, declared them to be fake, and refused to sell me anything. He also called the cops. The arriving cop had never seen such a thing, put me in cuffs and called his sergeant. When the sergeant arrived, I was let go with an apology. I accepted it and went on with my life.

To bad this woman couldn’t. This wasn’t racism and it didn’t happen because she is black. It happened because she was an E6 at only 22 years old. Admittedly, I was in the service a long time ago, but the fastest I saw anyone make E6 was six years. That same guy made E7 in just less than nine years.

Apparently this diversity hire managed to join, make E6, graduate college with a 4 year degree, then attend OCS and become an officer, all before the age of 23.

If that isn’t a free ride because she is a minority female, I would be surprised. And yes, that last comment sounds racist because it is. Being a black woman is the only way to earn a 4 year degree, attend 4 months of OCS, and still earn 5 promotions, all in 5 years. The minimum time in service to make E6 in the army is supposed to be 84 months.

Stunts

I read about an injury on the set of America’s got talent. It was an escape stunt where the stunt man was suspended between two swinging cars. The man needed to escape in order to not be crushed by the cars.

He didn’t make it in time and was seriously injured.

My opinion is that the so called stunt man was an untalented amateur who had no idea what he was doing. The people in charge of that show are no better. The situation is perfectly summed up by Penn Gilette.

I believe it’s morally wrong to do things on stage that are really dangerous. It makes the audience complicit in unnecessary risk.

Stunts like this should carry the APPEARANCE of danger, but not the reality. This is how a professional does it: