Divemedic

As a nation, we passed $22 trillion in debt back in February. Since Trump took office, we have borrowed $2.2 trillion. We are currently borrowing a trillion dollars every 11 months, and that doesn’t count the monetization of another half trillion or so per year, thanks to the Federal Reserve Bank.

Just 20 years ago, we “only” owed $5.6 trillion. We have nearly quadrupled the debt in 20 years. The debt is now doubling about once every 117 months. and has been since the 1970s.

When President Obama left office, the government debt stood at $19.57 Trillion. In all, Obama’s share of our national debt is about $8 Trillion, or an increase of 185%, a increase that is nearly identical to his predecessor. His share of the debt would have been higher, but interest rates were at or near zero for most of his tenure.

President George W Bush borrowed his first trillion dollars in two and a half years. He borrowed his second trillion a year and a half later. Another two years, another $1 trillion. All told, President Bush borrowed $5 trillion in 8 years, increasing the national debt by 187%.

It took President Clinton 3 and a half years to borrow his first trillion dollars. All told, he borrowed $1.2 trillion in his first term, and $600 billion in his second. He increased the national debt by 140% in eight years.

George HW Bush borrowed his first trillion in 3 years, and he increased the National debt by 170% in four years.

Reagan borrowed his first trillion in 6 years, and doubled the National debt during his eight years in the White House.

Carter increased the National debt by 150%, but “only” borrowed $300 billion in 4 years. I guess that was when $1 Billion was real money.

Ford increased the debt by 147% in 3 years., Nixon by 135% in 5 years, Johnson by 116% in 6 years, Kennedy by 106% in 2 years, Eisenhower by 108% in eight years.

Democrats, and Republicans, both in a contest to see who can spend the most in our society of “how much can you give me if I vote for you.”

I recently came across a post about the direction of US politics shifting towards socialism, and how this is the most likely TEOTWAWKI event. It got me to thinking about Florida and its 29 electoral votes. These votes are important, because Trump would only have had 275 electoral votes without Florida. With 270 votes needed to secure the Presidency, that is a very slim margin indeed.

What concerns me so much about Florida is its changing demographics. In the 2018 election, the margin between the Republican and Democrat gubernatorial candidates was less than 33,000 votes. Although voter registration records show that those in Florida who are registered as Democrats has fallen slightly in the past year while Republican voter rolls have increased slightly, Republicans are still outnumbered in the state by almost a quarter of a million voters.

There is a proposed ballot initiative to add an assault weapons ban to the state constitution. This initiative includes a provision that would make me a prohibited person, because I have been accused (not charged or convicted) of domestic violence. If 60% of the voters go for it, my wife and I are making plans to move from the state before any such ban takes effect.

Florida flipping into blue territory would place the White House in jeopardy. The silver lining here is that neither of Florida’s Senators are up for reelection this term, as losing the White House and the Senate would be a disaster for individual rights and a boon for the attempted Socialist/Communist coup.

Florida has a means of amending its Constitution through ballot initiatives. A special interest group hires some people to collect signatures in favor of a new amendment, and once enough people have signed, it is placed on the ballot. Should 60 percent of the voters on election day favor that amendment, it becomes part of the constitution.

This process was famously used to outlaw keeping pregnant pigs in pens, even though it later turned out that the small pens were needed to keep pregnant sows from trampling their young. The law only affected two farmers, who sued the state and at least one was awarded half a million dollars in damages.

Thanks to tricky wording, many voters in 2016 thought they were voting to approve casino gambling in Florida when they voted for an amendment backed by Disney and the Indian tribes, but instead voted to guarantee that we would never see casino gambling outside of an indian reservation in this state, because any casino to be opened will now require approval of voters in a statewide referendum.

With that in mind, know that there is a proposed Constitutional Amendment that would do a few disastrous things to gun rights in Florida. Here is the wording:

The people of Florida declare that a well-regulated militia is necessary for the security of the State and further designate the National Guard of the State of Florida and organized police forces as its militia. The Militia, while on active duty, while training or in their training facilities shall possess all types of weaponry and arms required to defend the State. The weapons shall include, but not limited to fully automatic weapons, assault weapons, large magazine weapons holding more than seven rounds of ammunition and magazines with capacity over seven rounds. No other person entering or residing in the State shall possess any weapon or firearm that functions like or has the capacity of a military style weapon. Military style weapon means any gun with a magazine capacity of more than seven rounds of ammunition or any weapon capable of firing in fully automatic mode, any weapon capable of being modified in any manner to fire in a fully automatic mode or any weapon classified as a sniper rifle.

Any person other than the well-regulated militia who possesses such a gun or weapon, shall within one year of the enactment of this section surrender that gun or weapon to the local police or militia at which time that gun or weapon shall be destroyed. Possessing such a gun or weapon thereafter shall be a felony with punishment by up to one year in prison.

Further, to protect the population of the state no person shall possess a firearm of any kind if: 1) they have been convicted of a felony; 2) convicted of three or more misdemeanors; 3) had their drivers license suspended or revoked for driving under the influence, careless or reckless driving, or excessive speeding; 4) has been the subject of two or more domestic abuse emergency calls or investigations; 5) they are a person whose mental condition has been affirmed as temporarily or permanently psychologically disturbed by a person with a medical degree; 6) or if they are a person who has made any substantiated threat of violence against another person.
The provisions of this section are self-implementing and are immediately in effect upon adoption.

There are a few things here that are truly disturbing:
 First, there is “has been the subject of two or more domestic abuse emergency calls or investigations” this would make me a prohibited person, because I was twice falsely accused by the same woman of domestic violence and we proved in court that I was nowhere near her on the dates in question, and the accusations were thus shown in court to be completely fabricated, it doesn’t matter, because it says “investigated.”

What about “suspended or revoked for driving under the influence, careless or reckless driving, or excessive speeding.” In Florida, your driver’s license can be suspended or revoked under a points system. Any at fault accident is 4 points. Speeding tickets are 4 points. If you have ever gotten three traffic tickets in 12 months your license was suspended for 30 days, and you lose your guns forever.

Even worse, “a person whose mental condition has been affirmed as temporarily or permanently psychologically disturbed by a person with a medical degree.” Note that it doesn’t say a doctor or a mental health doctor, nor does it say a doctorate or even masters degree. It says a person with a medical degree. Some nobody with an associate’s degree in nursing can now remove your right to own a gun. Any person who has ever been subject to the “Baker Act” will become a prohibited person.

This doesn’t even go into the definitions in the AWB section of the proposal. It proposes to ban firearms with a magazine capable of holding more than 7 rounds. This would make every firearm in my safe illegal, with the exception of a couple of 5 shot revolvers. Even my pump action 870 Wingmaster will hold 7+1 of the 2 inch shells. All semi-automatics are capable of being converted to full auto.

In short, if this passes, I have a year to get my firearms out of the state of Florida before I, and my firearms, become prohibited.

Your sibling is the first friend that you have in your life. My younger brother and I spent our childhoods growing up in Central Florida during the 1970s and 80s. There were times where we got along, and times when we didn’t. My family has had its share of ups and downs. In the late 90s, my brother’s infant son died. In 2004, our Father died and my brother and I were two of the pallbearers.

Last week, my brother went to the emergency room complaining that he was fatigued all of the time. They did some tests and found out that he was anemic. They began looking for the cause and saw that his lymph nodes were swollen. More tests, and the diagnosis came: cancer.  Not just any cancer, but a form of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma called Mantle Cell Lymphoma. This particular form of cancer is fast growing, incurable, and deadly. It is rare and aggressive. His life expectancy is likely less than three years.

A man is being tried for murder, and one of the key prosecution witnesses testifies that HE in fact was the one who committed the murder, not the accused. The witness can’t be prosecuted because the prosecution screwed up and granted him total immunity in exchange for his testimony. The defense immediately moves to have the charges dismissed but the judge refuses the request, saying that it is up to the jury.

Cases like this one and the one of Major Matt Golsteyn are the reason why I told the recruiters to stay away from my kids, back when they were in high school. Our military is being run by political hacks who will destroy a man for doing his job, while they themselves are chasing prostitutes and guzzling taxpayer funded liquor.

I love this country and the ideals upon which it was founded, but I no longer feel that our military or our government are safeguarding those ideals. The men that serve have my respect, but the men that command them do not.

This is the reason why I think that the military would not be used to go door to door against the American people. Those above the rank of 0-5 might follow such an order, but many below that rank would not.

Police encounter short stormtrooper.

The EPA’s highest-paid employee and a leading expert on climate change was caught bilking the government out of nearly $1 million in salary and other benefits over a decade.

He told his bosses that he REALLY worked for the CIA, and frequently took months long sabbaticals, claiming he was on missions and task forces in the war on terror. He then used his EPA accounts to pay for the first class air tickets and stays in luxury hotels. The EPA paid all of the expenses without question.

He even got a handicapped parking spot by claiming he had complications from malaria that he caught while serving in Vietnam. He never had malaria and never served in Vietnam.

He was only caught when he told his boss and coworkers that he was retiring, and stopped coming to work. They even threw him a retirement party. Six months later, his boss noticed he was still on the payroll and inquired. Had that not happened, one wonders if he would have EVER been caught.

You have to read the whole thing in order to believe the incompetence of the supervisors. Good to know our taxes are being so well spent.