Divemedic

Typical

My son posted a comment to the book of faces essentially claiming that men say things to each other in private that are offensive, and he doesn’t understand why everyone is in a twist about Trump.

One of his coworkers (a female) immediately responds that she has never heard people talk like that, she would never, and that she has never heard a coworker speak like that. My son pointed out that when people speak, they change their conversation around strangers and people who are easily offended. He also pointed out that men speak differently when women are around. (This used to be called ‘speaking in polite company’)

She responded with a comment of “If you can’t say something around everyone, you shouldn’t say it at all.” Then pointed out that she would expect language like that would get you fired, and rightly should.

At that point, I jumped in.
Here was my comment:

I cannot believe that you have NEVER had a conversation in private that was not inappropriate. I know for a fact that women frequently say things when men aren’t around that are inappropriate as well. Recording a private conversation without the other party’s knowledge, and then releasing it later to damage his career makes you a jerk.
Likewise, a conversation that a firefighter has (even if in front of a chief) off duty and out of uniform, not to mention eleven years before he even APPLIES for the job is not going to be held against him.

Here was her response:

I deleted my comments and will be unfollowing this post. Like I said I will not argue about this. I really hope for better out of everyone. I do not discuss politics on Facebook because it’s pointless. I love being a firefighter and I love the people I work with. I make it just fine. Hopefully, most of them continue to be respectful and are held to the same high standard that I’ve always seen. I will be reporting your comments to your supervisors, maybe they should be on the lookout for your ‘private conversations.’

Here was my final response:

 I never attacked you, all I did was disagree with you. By hoping for better, I assume that you mean that you hope everyone will agree with you. 

Hypocrites, all of them.
By Divemedic, ago

Light sentence for a scumbag

A friend of mine experienced a tragedy last year when their 8 year old daughter was killed in a hit and run accident while walking home from school. Aubrey Clark was struck and killed by Lastevie Howard as she was walking home from school with a friend.

After running over the two children, he fled the scene and was caught a mile and a half away by bystanders who had witnessed the crash. Aubrey died in the hospital several days later, her friend was only slightly injured and fully recovered, unless you count the trauma of watching his best friend die. Police later released traffic surveillance video, which showed Howard’s black SUV leaving the scene of the accident after the crash.

Lastevie V. Howard was originally charged with reckless driving with great bodily harm and leaving the scene of an accident involving personal injury, but the state later added vehicular homicide with failure to render aid, and leaving the scene of a crash involving a fatality. The dirtbag initially plead not guilty, but then entered a plea bargain where he plead guilty to two of the charges. He was sentenced to 7 years on the two charges, for which the minimum was 4 years EACH.

The problem that I have with this, is that this man was already a convicted violent felon. He was convicted of:
He was convicted of burglary in 1994 for a burglary that he committed in May of 1993. He was only 19 years old.
He plead guilty to aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer in January of 1995, for an incident from an arrest in July of 1994.
He was convicted of forgery and resisting arrest in January of 1995 for an arrest that happened in September of 1994. He plead guilty in a plea deal and was sentenced to 1 year in the county jail.
He was convicted in 1994 of carrying a concealed firearm, misdemeanor. He was released after only serving two weeks because the jail was overcrowded. Even though he was a convicted felon at the time, there were no charges for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Burglary and theft (both felonies) in August of 1997 for a burglary he committed in December of 1996. He plead “no contest” to the charge, and received probation.
While awaiting trial on the Burglary and theft charges, he was convicted of Petit Theft in May of 1997, for a shoplifting arrest in January of that year, for which he received 1 year and nine months in prison.
While awaiting trial for the shoplifting and burglary charges, he committed an armed robbery in April of 1997. A jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to 12 years.
He was released in April of 2009. In the three years that followed, he received no fewer than 6 traffic tickets. In January of 2015, he killed an 8 year old little girl.

He had at least seven felony convictions, many for violence. He was found in possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. Instead of running free, he should have been in prison for the rest of his life.

Our legal system has failed us, and most of all, it failed Aubrey.

By Divemedic, ago

Indoctrination

I want you to read the handout that teachers at my school were given, and ask yourself if this is about educating children, or indoctrinating them:

There are two things that jump out at me. The first is the one where they provide homosexual information to children from Kindergarten to 5th grade. Since when do children need to be indoctrinated with homosexual information at age 5 or 6?

The second is where it says teachers should provide accurate information. Are they saying that I should tell children how to perform sex acts? If asked, am I supposed to give instructions on performing cunnilingus or fellatio?

I am NOT getting involved with explaining sexual activity to CHILDREN, gay, straight, or any other type. I simply refuse. Fire me, I don’t care.

By Divemedic, ago

Bust

Matt Drudge has been coming under fire for accusing NOAA of over exaggerating Hurricane Matthew’s data. The hurricane’s eyewall passed right over a data buoy, and the highest sustained wind reported was 56 knots, with a gust to 68. That is FAR below the reported strength. In fact, not one weather station has reported winds of the reported strength. In fact, the station in the Bahamas is not only offline, but so is all of its historical data.

Here at my location, the highest wind we have had is 25 mph. We have gotten an inch and a half of rain in the past 24 hours, and most of that was a single band that passed over us yesterday afternoon.

The preparations for this storm cost the people of this state tens of millions of dollars, far more than the storm damage cost. There were already people who refused to evacuate, and next time there will be even more who refuse to do so.

Good job, NHC.

By Divemedic, ago

It begins

This is the first time that I have had to use any of my contingency plans since I have been with my fiance. She, not being from Florida and not being a prepper, is not used to preparing for hurricanes. I, on the other hand, am from Louisiana and grew up on stories of past hurricanes like Camille, spent more than 2 decades as a firemedic, with five of those years being as a member of the USAR that was deployed to hurricanes and other disasters all over the south. 

My preparations caused her to tell me that I was “panicking” and that we wouldn’t have a problem because she has never had a weather related problem in the 7 years she has lived here. I had to show her pictures from Katrina, which had 120 mile per hour winds, and then show her that this storm would have 140 mile per hour winds in order to get her to go along. Still, I assume that she is simply humoring me and that I will hear about it later, if we don’t have too much bad weather.

As a prelude to this storm, we filled both vehicles with fuel, made sure all of our propane tanks were full, and ensured all batteries were charged. I filled all of our reserve water cans and removed all of the loose stuff from the yard. I tested my HAM radio system and checked in with the local radio network, to ensure that we can call for help if and when the phone system goes down (as it did with Hurricane Charley in 2004 in Central Florida, and with Katrina in Mississippi in 2005).
I have all the food that we need, and much of it doesn’t need to be cooked. The generator was started and run for a bit as a test, and that is as much as I think we need to do.
Yesterday, this is what the bread aisle looked like in the local supermarket:
There were lines at the gas station, and police were there to keep an eye on things, as there were a few fights at some locations. Society unravels quickly. 
The first rain band came through here about a half an hour ago, and in less than 15 minutes we got half an inch of rain. I will update from time to time.
By Divemedic, ago

NYC soon to have no groceries

A new law proposed for New York City will allow citizens to upload videos of vehicles sitting with their engines idling, and the citizen will receive 50% of the collected fine, which for a tractor- trailer can range from $500 to 18,000 for a first offense.

Since over the road truckers MUST stop periodically by law for mandated rest periods, and the engine must be running to power air conditioning and other equipment, this law is posed to eliminate trucks from New York City.

By Divemedic, ago

Riot law review

Let’s review the applicable rules: 
Throwing a Molotov cocktail is arson, which is a forcible felony. 
A Molotov cocktail is also considered to be a destructive device under 790.001.Throwing one is a forcible felony 
Participating in a riot whereby the participants are forcibly and violently attempting to destroy any building is a forcible felony under 870.03.

Throwing stones and rocks into an occupied structure is a forcible felony under 790.19.

A person who is occupying a vehicle that is forcibly and unlawfully being entered is presumed to be in reasonable fear for his life under 776.013.  A person who is attacked in his or her dwelling, residence, or vehicle has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and use or threaten to use force, including deadly force. 
This means that anyone who attempts to forcibly pull me from my vehicle may be lawfully engaged with lethal force. 
By Divemedic, ago

Security report, SeaWorld Orlando

Sea World Orlando’s security was tested by me on four different occasions during a two year period, ending in the Spring of 2016. During each of those 4 occasions, I was legally carrying a handgun and successfully entered the park each time without being questioned or stopped for security in any way.

There was little to no security visible in the parking lot. Several unguarded access gates were noted to be locked with no security personnel visible nearby, but there were security cameras. To what extent they are monitored is unknown.

The park was inspecting all bags coming through the front gate. This inspection was cursory, and a bag with a hidden compartment would probably result in the ability to smuggle other items in, but this was not tested. Park employees were pulling some people from the line to be checked with a handheld magnetometer, but the check was poorly done.

There was an average of four police officers visible at the front gate, who were standing around shooting the breeze.

Security inside the park was limited to a few uniformed security officers.

Overall, it was easy to enter the park armed and wander about. The parking lot appeared virtually unguarded and unmonitored. A person who is carrying a weapon will likely not be discovered, as there is effectively no limit on the carrying of weapons.

By Divemedic, ago