Divemedic

Mostly Peaceful Trespassing

The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho was having a town hall meeting, and that meeting was being interrupted and interfered with by Democrat protesters. Security for the even asked those who were being disruptive to leave, and they refused. Security attempted to walk them out, and the protesters became violent. At least two of those protesters were arrested. In particular, one woman had already interrupted the meeting at least seven times, had been warned three times, then refused to leave when asked to do so. When security tried to forcibly remove her, she bit one of the officers. She was then arrested for battery.

The town dropped all charges and then suspended the business licenses of the security company. The license wasn’t suspended because the guards had used inappropriate force. No, they were suspended because their uniforms hadn’t been inspected and approved by the police chief within the past three years. No surprise there, as the current Mayor is a fruitcake Democrat from Southern California.

The protesters and their supporters are claiming that they have a constitutional right to speech and to redress their elected representatives for their grievances. The howls from the lefty press are becoming louder:

In the past week, with Congress in recess, Republican lawmakers across the country have faced hostile town halls, where constituents dissatisfied with the Trump/Musk chaos in the federal government boo, chant, and interrupt. Some Democrats have been facing pressure from their own. “Tyranny is rising in the White House, and a man has declared himself our king,” one audience voter challenged his representative at a town hall in Georgia days before. “So, I would like to know rather, the people would like to know, what you, congressman, and your fellow congressmen are going to do to rein in the megalomaniac in the White House?” Like the rolling pickets outside Tesla showrooms in recent weeks, these actions have at times been intentionally disruptive, meant not merely as protest but to interrupt business as usual. What was done to Borrenpohl in Coeur d’Alene for speaking out at a town hall is a terrifying escalation. In Idaho, the lines between Republican politics and political violence are thinner than they are in some places, but there’s no reason to believe this escalation won’t be repeated.

Let’s start by pointing out that a meeting of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee is not a government function. That committee is a private club and can set whatever rules that it wants for its meetings. So this is not a “redress of grievances,” but is instead an attempt to disrupt the lives of those with whom the left disagrees. Just like the picketing of a business in which Musk has an interest (Tesla dealerships), the left is attempting to annoy and disrupt people’s lives.

This isn’t an escalation, it’s a response to the weaponization of the FBI investigating and intimidating parents who dared show up at school board meetings to speak against trannies having access to their children.

The left hasn’t stopped their endless attack on our nation. This is just another battle. They are still coming for you. There is so much news coming out of this area of Idaho over the past three years, it is obvious that this is where the main battles between the communists and the rest of America are happening. There are stories of the FBI front group “Patriot Front,” as well as Proud Boys, Ammon Bundy, and plenty of arrests and violence.

By Divemedic, ago

Sue Them All

Stanley Zhong is a recent high school graduate who was hired by Google as a PhD level software engineer. He is suing the University of California and the US Department of Education. Why?

Because Stanley has a 4.4 GPA on a 4 point scale, and scored a 1590 out of 1600 on his SATs, yet was not accepted into any state school. He is suing because other students, not as well qualified as he, were accepted. He says that it is discrimination against Asians.

I agree.

Cal Poly, one of the schools who rejected him, has this to say about their “diversity” admissions:

The freshman class at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) is diverse, with a high percentage of women, students from underrepresented communities, and first-generation college students.

Cal Poly defines an underrepresented minority student as someone who is Hispanic, African American, Native American, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, or multi-racial with at least one of those four ethnicities. Note that Asians and whites don’t count.

Take them to the cleaners, Stanley.

By Divemedic, ago

Article 94

Donald Trump just fired a significant portion of the senior military leadership, and I don’t think that the bloodletting is finished yet. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, as well as the JAG officers for all three branches. The reason? The press would have you believe that it’s simply politics as usual. However, there are media outlets reporting that it was much more serious than that. The story goes that they, along with portions of the FBI, were engaged in a mutiny against the President of the United States, which means that we were on the verge of an actual military coup. This is HUGE.

The implications here are downright grave- we were on the cusp of having a nuclear armed military engaged in overthrowing civil authority. I can’t understate how serious this was and is. How did it come about?

James O’Keefe released a report just before the inauguration, where a former FBI agent was bragging to an undercover reporter about how he had been in the Tank (that is the Pentagon underground command post) meeting with a number of senior military Generals, and they were planning to resist the legitimate orders of the President upon his inauguration. This wasn’t a one time conversation- this FBI agent was a senior advisor to the Pentagon, and also a key player in the efforts to torpedo Trump’s 2016 campaign for the Clinton campaign.

During these meetings, according to the interview, high-level Pentagon officials were discussing in secret meetings defying and potentially overthrowing Trump if he issued orders deemed controversial by military leadership. If that sentence doesn’t send a shiver down your spine, you don’t understand the US military.

I believe that Biden knew about all of this, which is why Milley got a Presidential pardon. After all, we already knew that Milley had staged a coup back in 2021.

What’s important here going forward is in the title of this post: Article 94. Being that most of these players are in the military, they are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice: the UCMJ. It’s the law for all members of the US military that are in Federal Service that is second only to the Constitution. Article 94 of the UCMJ deals with mutiny and sedition. Read what it has to say:

Article 94:

(a)Any person subject to this chapter who—
(1)with intent to usurp or override lawful military authority, refuses, in concert with any other person, to obey orders or otherwise do his duty or creates any violence or disturbance is guilty of mutiny;
(2) with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of lawful civil authority, creates, in concert with any other person, revolt, violence, or other disturbance against that authority is guilty of sedition;
(3) fails to do his utmost to prevent and suppress a mutiny or sedition being committed in his presence, or fails to take all reasonable means to inform his superior commissioned officer or commanding officer of a mutiny or sedition which he knows or has reason to believe is taking place, is guilty of a failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition.
(b) A person who is found guilty of attempted mutiny, mutiny, sedition, or failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.

You read that right- anyone who was involved, assisted, or who knew and didn’t report it can be given any penalty that a court martial directs, up to and including the death penalty.

What’s even more important here is the timing. Mark Milley was given an full and unconditional Presidential pardon on January 19, 2025 (pdf warning). If it can be proven that this mutiny was still being discussed on or after January 20, and especially if Milley was still discussing this with the plotters, his pardon means jack shit. He, along with the other plotters can (and in my opinion should) be lined up against the wall and shot. There is no other penalty that will suffice for playing with military officers overthrowing the legitimate civilian authority of the Presidency.

This is also why the three service’s JAG officers needed to be relieved. They cannot be impartial in investigating and prosecuting their bosses. Mutinies are a HUGE deal. Here are a few examples of US mutinies:

  • The Houston Riot of 1917 was an example of 156 Black troops disobeyed orders from their superiors, seized weapons and attempted to march on the City of Houston. Nineteen of them were executed, and 41 of them received life sentences.
  • In the wake of a magazine explosion in Port Chicago in 1944, black sailors (258 of them) refused to return to work, saying that it was unsafe. Fifty of them were charged with mutiny, and received 8 to 15 years of hard labor and dishonorable discharges.
  • Up to this point, nearly every mutiny involved black troops violently refusing to obey orders of white officers. To my knowledge, there has never been a case of an officer refusing to obey orders, and certainly never a case of a group of officers discussing overthrowing the President.

To be fair, the left is claiming that the FBI agent’s statements, while provocative, lack specific details about actionable plans, and some argue they reflect personal frustrations rather than an organized conspiracy. People who claim this don’t understand the military. Even rolling your eyes when given an order is sufficient to see a military member tossed in prison. There is no such thing as free speech in the US military. Want an example of just how harsh the military treats minor infractions? Read this story about how trials are done, than read this about a person making a small joke.

At the VERY least, the officers involved are guilty of Article 134, making disloyal statements. A conviction under Article 134 for Disloyal Statements can mean a maximum possible punishment of a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances (meaning pension, as well), reduction in rank to E1, and confinement for three years. Upon release, the person would be a convicted felon. That would be the minimum if those excusing the meetings were taken in the light most favorable to them. Personally, I think that this goes far beyond that.

Now I don’t think that any full action should be taken until a complete investigation is carried out. This needs to be fully investigated and brought to a courts martial of all individuals with any involvement or knowledge. Perhaps a deal can be cut with one or more of them to testify against the others. Say, an offer of “plead guilty to Article 92, dereliction of duty, we will give you a BCD, 12 month’s confinement, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, but you testify against the others who were involved.” I promise that one or more staff officers who were in the room will sing like a bird.

It’s important that the entire government sees what happens when you engage in a mutiny. If this is investigated, who can be trusted to do the investigating? The steps that must be taken are immediate: Everyone who was even loosely involved needs to be relieved for loss of the trust of the chain of command. Then the President needs to request a special investigation team. That team should then begin an investigation, the results of which will be submitted to an Article 32 investigation. Those officers who are charged with offenses under the UCMJ should be held in military confinement until the conclusion of their courts martials.

There is no other way, unless you would like to see some general on TV with a shit load of ribbons on his chest, proclaiming himself to be the interim Supreme Commander, just until he can reestablish the government, of course.

By Divemedic, ago

Bayside Shooting

A pair of cops in Virginia Beach were shot and killed this weekend. The area of town in which they were killed is just a couple of miles where I was involved in an incident between myself, a couple of military guys, and a local street gang. The area where these cops were killed is lousy with gangs.

You can read about my own incident here in part one, then you can find the rest of the story in part two and in part three. It’s a good story that tells how I was once arrested for aggravated battery and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle.

At any rate, it’s a bad neighborhood, and the VA Beach police are pretty ineffective, or at least they were 30 years ago when I lived there.

I used to express condolences to police when they were killed in the line of duty. I don’t any longer.

By Divemedic, ago

Hey guys

They want to play. The side that has a bunch of pink-haired sissies who don’t even know what bathroom they want to use, “men” who think they’re stunning and brave because they went to Starbucks without their emotional support animal, the side that has Harry Sisson and David Hogg as its leaders wants to take on the ones who have 600 million guns and several billion rounds of ammunition.

By Divemedic, ago

Civilized

Imagine living in a city where a person can’t wear nice clothes out of the fear of being killed for them by rampaging packs of criminal youths. Now imagine that defending yourself from those criminals is seen as not civilized. See this post

Read the thread. Any society where a person is murdered for their possessions and the best advice is “don’t be seen in possession of anything they want, and if attacked, give it to them and hope they spare your life” is a failed one.

By Divemedic, ago

Practice Pearls

I have done previous posts on firefighting, brain injuries, and other things seen in my various lines of work. Response to these insights into how the sausage is made have been generally positive, so I figured I would toss out another one.

Ever since Florida legalized medical marijuana, those of us who work in the emergency department have seen an alarming uptick in people coming in with complaints of nonstop vomiting. If you ask, they will usually admit to you that they smoke marijuana. Those who won’t admit it always show it on toxicology screens.

The syndrome that is responsible for this is Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome, or CHS. This is a fairly new thing that has been becoming more and more of a thing since the legalization of marijuana has gained steam across the country.

How is it spotted?

It is reported in people who are frequent (more than once per week) users of cannabis for a year or more. The signs are pretty easy to spot:

  • The victims make a loud, very characteristic retching sound
  • Vomiting as often as 6 to 10 times per hour
  • History of frequent marijuana use within the past 24 hours and over the past year or more
  • Symptoms do not respond well to standard antiemetics (Zofran, Reglan, Compazine)
  • The person will seek out and even crave hot baths and showers for temporary relief, but as soon as the shower is over, the vomiting starts back up again
  • The symptoms ARE well controlled with psychoactive medications like Haldol
  • They will also admit that they have been having lower abdominal pain/cramps for weeks before they began vomiting.

CHS is often misdiagnosed as Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome, but note that CHS patients when questioned will tell you that they seek out hot water baths and/or showers for temporary relief of symptoms. CVS patients don’t get relief from hot bathing and showering.

Whenever I get a patient who complains of frequent bouts of vomiting, I always administer 8mg of Zofran (I have standing orders that I can give that to anyone over the age of 16 without asking the doctor) and order a urine drug screen. If the Zofran doesn’t work, I can be fairly sure that CHS is what we are looking at.

Then I ask them what they do to relieve their symptoms. They will always tell you that while they are in a hot bath or shower, they stop vomiting. Once we know for sure that they are cannabis users, I ask the doctor for an order for Haldol. I usually get it.

At the same time, we need to make sure that the frequent vomiting hasn’t been causing any mischief , so we will also do a CBC, a Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, and will also give them a liter of normal saline and possibly 2 grams of Magnesium sulfate. Expect to see elevated WBC counts in patients who have been vomiting for a while. Absent other signs of infection, this is an inflammatory response to the vomiting.

Depending on other factors found in the initial assessment, an abdominal CT with contrast, or even a head CT without contrast will also be ordered.

Prevalance

Since people are frequently dishonest about marijuana use, its impossible to know for sure, but among people who DO admit to frequent use of cannabis, between 35 and 45 percent report frequent vomiting. This is in line with my personal experience- nearly two thirds of those who come in with vomiting complaints test positive for weed, as opposed to about ten percent of general teen and adult patients.

No one is exactly sure what causes CHS. It is believed that, although cannabis calms the vomiting center in the hypothalamus, it also irritates the enteric nervous system. That theory also explains why hot bathing seems to give temporary relief, as the hypothalamus also controls body temperature.

The patients that I talk to admit to anything from “just one joint at night before I go to bed to help me sleep” all the way to “all day, every day. As many as 15 joints per day.” With edibles, I have had people say that they eat as many as 6 to 10 edible gummies per day. That’s a lot of weed.

Treatment

To stop them from vomiting, the administration of 5 mg of Haldol usually does the trick and will stop the vomiting for a few hours. Antiemetics, including Zofran and Reglan don’t work very well or at all. Even with Haldol, the next time they use, the vomiting will start right back up again. The only way to stop the vomiting on a permanent basis is for them to stop using cannabis. Within a day or two, the vomiting will stop.

The problem is that people who use marijuana don’t believe you and will continue to do so. You will see them again in a week or two. Rinse, repeat. There is also a myth that you can’t overdose on weed. We are finding out that this is not true. The more weed, the higher your odds of seeing me with your CHS. Left untreated, constant vomiting can be fatal by causing lethal electrolyte imbalances. The severe retching that comes with it can cause issues like a Mallory-Weiss tear.

*I have also heard that rubbing capsaicin cream on the abdomen provides the same temporary relief as hot showers, but I have no personal data or experience on that. I would assume that long term use of this method will become less and less effective over time.

By Divemedic, ago

Good

Colorado has proposed SB25-003, a law which would ban the manufacture, distribution, transfer, sale, and purchase of any semiautomatic firearm that has a detachable magazine, with the exception of .22 rimfire. First offense would be a misdemeanor, second offense a felony.

Exempt from this law is the government, colleges, and armed security guards that work for companies operating armored vehicles.

It also appears to establish a requirement to have a firearms license with required training that expires every 5 years and must be taught by a sheriff department approved instructor.

I hope this passes. This is so blatantly unconstitutional that there is no way it makes it through the courts.

By Divemedic, ago

Identity Theft

I have been the victim of identity theft a couple of times. A year ago, someone opened an online bank account using my information. I am sure that information had been obtained through one of the many data breaches that have happened in recent years. This episode was easy to clear up. Just call the bank in question, tell them that it was fraudulent, and it’s a done deal. Identity theft is so common nowadays, it’s become routine.

That wasn’t always the case. About 25 years ago, I was the victim of identity theft. I had just divorced my first wife and I needed a car, seeing as how she had gotten most everything in the divorce. I went to a small used car dealer, and it turns out that they were a bit, shall we say, shady. The finance manager had a scam going- he would file finance paperwork for several cars using the information of customers and by cutting and pasting their signatures onto multiple sales contracts. He would then take the checks for the car sales that had never actually happened. Since the dealer hadn’t sold those cars, they never missed the checks. He was also making money on the side by selling people’s financial information.

You can complain to the credit reporting agencies, but their investigations are a joke. In the end, it took me about two years to clear my name.

I solved it by becoming a pro se litigant. I sued several collection agencies and one fairly largish bank- SunTrust. I wasn’t greedy about it. Each entity I sued, I settled out of court for a few hundred dollars and for removing the credit line from my record. The Suntrust people were vindictive. They reported the “forgiven” loan to the IRS as income, and I wound up having to pay the IRS about 8 thousand dollars in taxes on the income when they subsequently audited me. I tried telling the IRS that my identity had been stolen, but back then it was such a new crime that they didn’t believe me.

Years later, SunTrust and their lawyers turned out to be just as shady and I wound up suing them half a dozen times with the mortgage scandal that caused my bankruptcy. It’s why I won’t do business with Truist to this day, that being the bank that SunTrust morphed into.

By Divemedic, ago