Gig economy

I retired in 2011. Went to graduate school in 2012 to get a Masters in Health Care, but couldn’t stand the left wing slant of the education. I had a professor in a clinical psychology class spend 2 hours of class time saying that Ronald Reagan deliberately caused the AIDS pandemic to kill minorities. So I left college and entered the gig economy.

I began teaching on my own. I taught CPR, ACLS, bloodborne pathogens, and other classes. I landed a lucrative set of classes teaching the staff of a hospital. I was being paid to come in 2 days a month and train the staff, and was charging them $3,000 a month. In order to be able to give CPR, ACLS, and other certification cards, an instructor needs a school affiliation. The owner of the school affiliate was a guy named Antonio (name changed for various reasons). I paid him $2 for each CPR card, and $25 for each ACLS card. 
Antonio also paid me $20 an hour to teach college courses at his school. I taught phlebotomy, paramedic, EMT, physiology, pathophysiology, and other medical classes. I was only paid for the time I was actually in the classroom teaching. All of my prep time, computer software, and other materials had to be paid for by me, out of pocket. I had to wear a uniform that I paid for (5.11 pants in black or khaki, polo with school logo embroidered on it).

Many employers do that now- they claim that you are a contractor, even though the law plainly says that you are an employee. They do that because, if you are a contractor, they don’t have to pay for insurance, workers’ comp, the matching half to your Social Security, overtime, health insurance, and a host of other expenses and benefits. 
Since I had to buy the certification cards from Antonio, that was how he found out I was teaching at the hospital. He went over there and underbid me. He agreed to do the same classes for half the price. Then called me and demanded that I teach the class for him at $20 an hour. 
My own supplier undercut me. Let’s say that I taught 20 staff members ACLS for that $3,000. The cards cost me $500 which I paid to Antonio, and I would make $2,500 for the two days. Antonio came along and made $1,500 for the same 2 days and then wanted to paid me $240 for teaching it. 
That was one of the reasons why I decided to become a teacher. If I could go back, I would have found a school affiliate who would sign a contract prohibiting him from taking my customers, not that he wouldn’t have slimed his way out of it.
Then the next year, he sent me a 1099, then sent a copy to the IRS with a significantly higher amount on it. I am sure it’s because he was trying to hide income and committing tax fraud. All I know is that it triggered an audit. 
Off topic, but when I was audited, the IRS said that they contacted the college where I was attending graduate school, and the school told them that I was never a student there, so the IRS disallowed my tuition deduction The disallowed deduction, along with the increased 1099 income increased my income taxes by $800. 
I told the auditor that I had no problem paying the taxes and penalties. I just wanted a copy of the letter from the school saying that I was never a student, so I could refuse to pay the $14,000 in outstanding student loans. After all, if I was never a student, this loan is obviously not mine. The auditor said “never mind.”

Man comes forward in Foster shooting

Garret Foster was a BLM marcher who was shot in Austin while open carrying an AK clone. The man who shot him has come forward and released a statement through his attorney.

The man is Daniel Perry, an active duty US Army sergeant who was driving for Uber on the night of the shooting, when he turned a corner toward a protest he did not know was taking place. At that point, the protesters began beating on Perry’s car. Foster then allegedly approached the car window holding an assault rifle and gestured with the gun for the driver to roll down the window. Perry did so because he believed the person was associated with law enforcement.

Soon after rolling down the window, Perry realized Foster was not an officer when Foster raised his rifle at Perry. The attorney said Perry perceived that as a threat to his life and fired at Foster using a handgun he kept in his car.

Don’t go without a gun

It’s just a car that is likely insured. There is no need to open your door and allow a criminal access to your house. Call the cops. However, if you DO feel the need to confront someone:

Don’t ever answer the door or confront a trespasser unless you are armed with a quality firearm. This guy didn’t do that, and paid for it with not only his own life, but the life of his son and the health of his wife, while his grandson hid for his life.

A man who had earlier fled from police, who terminated the pursuit due to high speeds, was confronted by the homeowner as he was trying to steal a car in the driveway. The criminal then used a baseball bat to kill the homeowner, his adult son, and seriously injure the homeowner’s wife, all while their 10 year old grandson hid in the closet while calling 911.

Officers from four different law enforcement agencies responded and were eventually able to take the man into custody.

Security scare

I was sitting at home at 10:30 this morning when the doorbell rang. I was in my underwear and not expecting anyone, so I didn’t answer it. A few minutes later, I see that he is walking around the outside my house.

I threw on some body armor, grabbed a PDW, and watched him as I called the cops. He left before they arrived. I got a picture of him, his car, and the back of his shirt, which had the name of a local business on it.

It turns out that he was a construction worker who had the wrong address. I am on XXX road, and he was looking for the next street over, which is XXX avenue. He was supposed to install rain gutters. The funny thing is that the numerical parts of the address on my road are not the same numerical addresses as the houses on the avenue. 

Officers

During my six years in the US Navy, I was assigned to an aircraft carrier. During that time, we had 4 different commanding officers. The problem with being on an aircraft carrier is that the CO is a former aviator, and he is so close to making admiral, he can taste it. The officers that make it that far are pure politicians who are looking to trade that eagle on their collar for a star.

The first one didn’t want to be bothered with having to actually DO his job. He would hold NJP on an aircraft carrier as follows:
He would be on the flight deck, standing behind a lectern.
The accused sailors would be lined up in ranks on the aircraft elevator at the hanger deck level.
The elevator would be raised to the flight deck.
The CO would say: “You all must be guilty, or you would not be here. I find you guilty as charged. I sentence you to reduction in rank by one paygrade, you will forfeit a half month’s pay for two months, restriction to the ship for 45 days, with extra duty for 45 days. Dismissed.” and then the elevator with the accused on it would be lowered back down to the hanger. He used to say that if he had one hundred enlisted men with video cameras with one hundred videos showing an event taking place, and one officer who said “That wasn’t how it happened,” then he would take the side of the officer every single time.

Our second CO was a decent guy. His career was destroyed when our ship collided with another, 30 minutes after he had left the bridge with the ship’s Navigator in charge.

The third CO we had was probably the best. We had just received a new radar repeater for the Captain’s chair on the bridge. I installed and tested it. It was cool. It attached to the arm of the chair and allowed the CO to see any radar display that was available to the ship.

It also turns out that the power supply for it was faulty. Not may fault, it came from the factory like that. That power supply caught fire while the CO was sitting in the chair. The power supply was mounted to the chair, just under the CO’s ass. It burned his left cheek and melted a hole in his pants.

A couple of months later, I was standing in formation so the CO could pin my Surface Warfare pin on me. This was back in the day when warfare pins were difficult to get and most people didn’t have them. (Not like today when nearly everyone does) As he was pinning it on me, he said, “Congratulations, Petty Officer Divemedic. You aren’t going to set me on fire in celebration, are you?” We both laughed. As I said, nice guy.

We went to war with that CO. I respected him a lot.

Then we got the fourth one. He took over just after we returned from the war. He was, to put it mildly, a warmonger. We were a nuclear capable command, and it scared all of us that this man was in charge of nuclear weapons. He used to begin every announcement with “When we arrive, there will be blood on the water,” then would talk about how he was eager to go to war. I think that this was because he was the only person in the ship that had not been in the combat zone.

Even the junior officers would complain about him. In front of NCOs. If you have ever been in the military, you know things are bad when the JO’s are complaining about the CO in front of enlisted personnel.

It seems, from talking to people I know, that the officer problem has gotten worse.

Men are evil, says Federal judge

Long article about how men are evil, hate women, and guns should therefore be outlawed. What the Federal judge has to say is the issue:

“It seems to me it’s almost always men, with these obsessions. They act on on them in violent ways. And it ends up in (these) tragedies,” Lefkow, 76, told The Associated Press.

If I were ever to appear in that judge’s courtroom, I would immediately demand that she be recused in any case involving a male defendant. She has publicly stated that she is prejudicial towards men. How a judge can make a public statement like that is beyond me.

Here is the test: How would people feel about what you say, if it were said about black people (the current popular victim class)?

“It seems to me it’s almost always blacks, with these obsessions. They act on on them in violent ways. And it ends up in (these) tragedies,” Lefkow, 76, told The Associated Press.

See what I mean? It doesn’t matter who the target is, for a judge to make a statement like this should result in every man who has appeared in her courtroom since the 2005 incident should receive a new trial, and the judge herself should be removed from the bench.

Is deadly force authorized?

We are seeing that Antifa has stepped up their game. They are now using lasers to intentionally blind people with whom they disagree. It isn’t just cops.

776.012 Use or threatened use of force in defense of person.—
(2) A person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony. A person who uses or threatens to use deadly force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground if the person using or threatening to use the deadly force is not engaged in a criminal activity and is in a place where he or she has a right to be.

Now I am not a lawyer, but the law seems to be clear here- the person across the street is shining a laser in your face, with the deliberate goal of causing you to be blinded. It seems to me that being blinded for life is great bodily harm.

I also need to see about getting some laser goggles for green lasers.