Proving that the courts are a partisan mess, a Federal Judge has just ruled that Trump’s use of the National Guard was a violation of Posse Comitatus. Where was all of this judicial activism 4 years ago?
Criminals
In Case You Missed It
Justice Jackson, in a recent dissent, complained that SCOTUS is favoring only rich litigants. That’s especially ironic, considering that she has received $3 million for writing her autobiography. Does anyone really think that the publisher will sell enough copies to pay that? Of course not, this is how payoffs are done:
An investor wants to pay off a high-ranking political figure. They make a deal that, on its face, looks like a legitimate business deal. That’s how the Cattle Futures market worked for the Clintons, it’s how the paintings for Hunter Biden sold for so much, it’s how Chelsea Clinton was being paid $300,000 a year by NBC while she was still in college, and how she had a net worth of $30 million before she was 40 years old.
Both parties are corrupt. They are stealing us blind.
Police State
The Feds and Terrorism
I just finished reading the book Blowback: The Untold Story of the FBI and the Oklahoma City Bombing. The book is filled with documented links between the FBI, the CIA, Secret Service, and the ATF. The entire story of the OKC bombing is filled with witnesses who committed suicide in front of malfunctioning video cameras, witnesses disappearing so completely that their SSN was deleted, missing documents, and other odd “coincidences” that it seems almost incredible.
There is missing video, supposedly hidden because it is classified, of multiple people exiting the Ryder truck just before the bomb went off. Body parts that don’t match any DNA of any known victim. Mystery fingerprints that couldn’t be matched to any known suspect. A second Ryder truck. FBI agents seen trying to use radio direction finders in the OKC area in the lead up to the explosion- the author alleges that they had a tracking device on the truck, but couldn’t locate it.
The names that are part of the investigation come up again and again- Larry Potts, Merrick Garland, and other familiar names. At least 6 witnesses either disappeared or were killed. There were explosives experts in town on mysterious orders, including Air Force EOD, but the logbooks are unexpectedly missing. At least one alleged CIA operative fled to Germany. It’s hinted in the book that the Southern Poverty Law center is an FBI front operation for hiding the sources of illegally obtained evidence and intelligence.
After reading it, I am firmly convinced that McVeigh was up to his ears in this bombing. However, I also think that there were numerous other players, and some of those players were government assets. If even half of this book is true, the OKC bombing is proof that the Federal Intelligence community has been pulling the strings of all sorts of lone wolf attacks.
As I read the book, I thought about the mysterious ties to the Vegas shooting, COVID, Antifa, the 2020 election, and the Epstein “suicide.” It’s enough to make you question everything and begin to feel paranoid.
The book could stand to be better organized, and you almost need to take notes in order to follow all of the details, and this makes it a long, difficult read. There are enough ties and names that are named that it is difficult to follow and connect the dots. Even with that, this is a story that would read like a cheap novel with an implausible plot if it weren’t for the events that have happened since 2019, and I still recommend reading this book.
The disclaimer: I don’t advertise, and receive nothing for my reviews or articles. I don’t think that I ever will. I have no relationship with any products, companies, or vendors that I review here, other than being a customer. If I ever *DO* have a financial interest, I will disclose it. Otherwise, I pay what you would pay. No discounts or other incentives here. I only post these things because I think that my readers would be interested.
Anti American left
NY and GOA: A Larger Issue?
There is a case in NY that is important, where the U.S. Northern District Court ruled in Higbie v. James that New York’s concealed carry laws are violating the Second Amendment rights of nonresidents by making it nearly impossible for nonresidents to obtain a concealed carry license. It was sponsored by Gun Owners of America.
The plaintiffs in this case argued that they each have firearms licenses which permit them to bear arms in public in their respective states “and across most of the country.” They also claimed that New York does not permit them to carry their firearms while they are in New York solely because they are not residents or employees of the State. They argued that New York’s licensing scheme is an extreme outlier among the states because at least 27 states do not even require a permit to carry a concealed firearm in public, while the vast majority that do require permits will issue permits to out-of-state residents. The US District Court agreed, and struck down NY’s complicated and overly onerous regulations as being unconstitutionally designed to deny nonresidents their constitutional rights under the Second Amendment. The court ruled that state lawmakers can not restrict concealed carry licenses to maintaining residency, property ownership, or business interests in the state.
The tyrants of NY government attempted to make the argument that their licensing measures were not entirely prohibitive for non-residential applicants, saying certain guidelines allowed for those who owned habitable property or a business stake in the state to apply for such a license. In essence, they claimed that, because they allowed one nonresident to have a permit, this excused violating the rights of the rest of them. In essence, they are relying on the “token negro” defense. The court rightly called them out on this.
Look, this case will have no direct impact upon the reality of CCW for nonresidents in New York. We all know that, because those ass clowns will simply find another way to violate the rights of US citizens while bleating loudly about the rights of illegal immigrants to take a dump on New York city streets. Even those residents who have permits nominally have to have criminal background checks, a mental health professional sign off on the permit, and multiple references.
The reality is that New York’s scheme is all about who you know and political payoffs when deciding who gets a permit. I know someone who has a New York carry permit. He also has a state police license plate, which starts with 1SP. He began telling me that the state police union had a series of special plates made, and they are only available through Hamilton county in New York. He claimed that this plate was given to “friends” of the police union, and the lower the number was that followed the 1SP, the more important you were to the cops. He said that this plate routinely gets him out of traffic and parking tickets. Not because he paid for it, nor did he jump through hoops. It’s because he knows someone, or as he puts it, “I’ve got a guy.”
This sounded like a lload of BS to me, so I activated my Google skills. What I found was that handing out special plate numbers is a common practice in New York. and I quote:
To some recipients, special license plates issued by the Saratoga County clerk are a symbol of county pride. For others, they are an inherited treasure passed on by a family member or loved one.
For many who have them — a list that ranges from county workers to state Supreme Court judges — an unwritten rule is that a lower number may indicate a special driver.
Indeed, an examination of the recipients of the special plates, which carry an “SP” prefix, shows they are coveted by a select group of government employees and elected officials, including judges, prosecutors, town supervisors, attorneys and political party leaders. The spouses and children of those people are also among those, estimated to be in the hundreds, who have the plates.
Now the SP prefix goes to Saratoga County. The 1SP prefix, which I can find little about, belongs to the State Police. This is how things are done there, from Concealed Weapons Permits to License plates, corruption and special favors rule the day.
They claim it is for “county pride” but I am sure there are not that many people who believe that. This is a way of announcing to the police that you are politically well connected and should receive special treatment.
The real impact of the Higbie case is that the noose is closing. The era of violating people’s rights to bear arms is closing through the courts. That doesn’t mean the fight os over. Evil, corruption, and man’s quest for power to rule others never ceases. That’s why the fight can’t either.
Donate to the GOA or the FPC. They are doing the work of patriots.
Cops
Warrants
The left is running around saying that it is illegal for ICE to arrest people unless they have a warrant. The idiots are injecting themselves into the situation by confronting police and demanding to “see the warrant.”
- The leftist isn’t involved in the case. Random people can’t walk up to police and demand to see anything. The cops are under no compulsion to show you a warrant, nor to explain themselves to randos on the street.
- The cops don’t have to be in physical possession of the court order or warrant in order to make an arrest. All they need is to know that the warrant or order exists. That’s why they call in the identification of people they are in contact with. If they call in your ID and are told there is an arrest warrant, it isn’t a “get out of jail free” card if they don’t have the physical warrant.
Stop being morons.
Anti American left
Karens
This woman is upset that the FHP arrested an illegal who was driving with no license, no insurance, and unregistered tags. She feels that the cops should have just given him a ticket and let him go.
I saw this situation many times, back when I was a fire paramedic. This is what they do- The scam here is that an illegal buys a van with a valid plate from someone who is legal. They leave the tags on the vehicle, because they can’t get new tags or insurance without a valid license. They use the vehicle until it either gets impounded or in an accident. The driver they hit is left holding the bag, unless they have uninsured motorist coverage.
When they get in an accident, they give the fake name. They get a ticket for canceled tags, for the accident, for no insurance and for no driver’s license. The tickets require a court appearance. They don’t show up for the hearing, and an arrest warrant is issued, but they already have a new identity and vehicle. They are never seen again.
I know, because I saw plenty of people fall victim to that scam. It also happened to me once: July 4, 2002. I was rear ended by an illegal, he had no insurance, and he never showed up to court. The new bumper for my truck cost me $1000 that I had to pay myself. That’s why I still carry uninsured motorist coverage to this day.
She is literally defending a criminal.
Cops
In The Finest Tradition
Cop takes cover behind a woman. I applaud shooting the robber, but any man (especially a cop) who takes cover behind women and children is a pussy.
This isn’t the first time I’ve had to say this. Remember the time cops in South Florida hid behind cars filled with soccer moms?
EDIT: Comments here have crossed the line and are generating more heat than light. With that, comments on this post are now closed.
Economy
Another Trillion
It didn’t make major news, but it should have. The US government borrowed another $724 billion last week when it sold large amounts of government paper. The odd thing is that the Treasury and the Fed appear to be coordinating their efforts in transitioning US debt from long term bonds into shorter term T bills.
This means that the national debt has grown to $37 trillion. Six years ago, we were at $23 trillion. We hit $36 trillion in late November of last year, meaning that this last trillion in debt was borrowed in just 9 months. We are doubling the debt every 8 to 9 years, and have been for decades– since Nixon took us away from the gold standard.
Of course, this sort of thing can’t go on forever, and whatever can’t go on forever has an end. When is the end coming? In 1891 Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a short story called “The Bottle Imp” that reminds me of this.
The story is about a working class native of Hawaii who buys a strange bottle from a sad, elderly gentleman who credits the bottle with his wealth and fortune, and promises the imp in the bottle will also grant the man his every wish and desire.
Of course, there is a catch, as there usually is in these stories — the bottle must be sold at a loss, i.e. for less than its owner originally paid, or else it will simply return to him. The currency used in the transaction must also be in coin (not paper currency or check). The bottle may not be thrown or given away. If an owner of the bottle dies without having sold it in the prescribed manner, that person’s soul will burn for eternity in Hell.
The bottle was said to have been brought to Earth by the Devil and first purchased by Prester John for millions of dollars; it was owned by Napoleon and Captain James Cook but each sold it. At the time of the story the price has diminished to eighty dollars, and declines rapidly over the course of the story to a few pennies.
The problem here is that as the price approaches a penny, it will become harder and harder to sell the bottle, as the buyer will be in fear of being left holding the bag.
This tale reminds me of our current national debt. As our debt increases, the interest payments will balloon. They can only get so large before default is inevitable. At that point, anyone in possession of a US bond will be stuck with worthless paper. Because of this, the returns for these bonds will have to increase, so as to entice people in taking the risk of buying them, which will make the interest payments higher, thus making the end that much closer.
Failure of Education
School
The headline reads “Florida school tackles chronic absenteeism with unconventional model — and it’s working,” but that’s a lie. This is a carefully written story that not only ignores the facts, it downright fabricates them.
First, let’s look at the most obvious lie- that the school is working. The school’s graduation rate is 9 percent, less than one in ten. Even with their “largest graduating class yet” they are graduating less than half of the students who are currently still there. The student body here is about 314 students, with more than 200 of them being 12th graders. Who cares if you graduate from a program like this? We have public schools who are graduating students that are literally illiterate. I once had a student in the 10th grade who wrote assignments like this one.
More than a third of Florida’s students are chronically absent. This school is intended for students who won’t go to school. That’s a real problem, especially when you remove the kids who at the top of the class- the college prep kids, the ones who are dual enrolled, the honor students. I don’t understand how this school makes a difference, since when the kids DO come to this school, they are only there for half a day. This is nothing more than a daycare center that awards a diploma for merely being present. The students can’t even meet that absurdly low standard.
Making things worse, students and parents actively try to get the teachers who DO hold kids to a standard fired.
One other thing that this article flat out misrepresents- 85% of the student body of this school is not white, yet the interviewed the white girl. I’m guessing it was to conceal the fact that it is a nearly homogenous school.
This entire school is a waste of money, and only perpetuates the cycle of poverty and lack of education. I have a more cost effective solution:
For students under the age of 15:
- If a student misses more than 5 school days in a quarter, then the parents will be subject to a monetary fine of up to $250, unless they can produce a doctor’s note outlining an illness that prevents the child from coming to school.
- If a student misses more than 10 school days in a semester, then that fine increases to a maximum of $1,000. If the 10 day absence is due to an illness of the child, then there will be a hearing where a panel will review the doctor’s explanation of the illness. Also: If the ruling is that the child’s absence is unexcused by illness, the parent doesn’t get any public assistance- no welfare, no food stamps, nothing. Get your kids to school, or we aren’t going to pay you to raise more little drains on society.
- If a student misses more than 30 days in an entire school year, then the parent can be sentenced to up to 30 days in jail and additional fines. Additionally, the parent is not eligible for any public assistance for 3 years.
For students over the age of 15:
- If a student is tardy to school more than 5 times in a semester, then the student loses campus parking privileges. Take the bus.
- If a student skips or otherwise misses 15 hours of any single class in a single school year, they will automatically fail the course and their parents would be subject to a fine of not more than $500. The student’s driver’s license is suspended for not less than 6 months.
- If a student misses more than 5 school days in a quarter, then the parents will be subject to a monetary fine of up to $250, unless they can produce a doctor’s note outlining an illness that prevents the child from coming to school.
- If a student misses more than 10 days in a school semester, they will be subject to a hearing that will determine whether or not they are defacto dropouts. If they are ruled to be dropouts, the student will be removed from taxpayer funded school and will not be able to re-enroll in school at taxpayer expense. Wanna skip school and waste money? Do it on your own dime.
- Dropouts are not eligible for any public assistance for at least 3 years, or until 21 years of age, whatever comes first. You already had public assistance in the form of a free education, and you aren’t going to use your failure as a means of getting money to be an even bigger waste of time than you already are. Stop being a loser. We are deporting tons of illegal immigrants, and someone has to harvest the crops- you can go pick lettuce or something.
Harsh? It’s no harsher than what the government will do to me if I refuse to pay all of the taxes that are the source of this wasted money. It’s time we stop wasting all of this money.
Economy
How I Became Homeless, Then Not
Yesterday, I talked about struggles and how we overcome them. I have had mine, and most of them were caused by my poor selection of female partners. This is the story of my journey from divorce, homelessness, on to success. Maybe it can inspire someone who is struggling.
I’m going to mention a song today. It’s a song from a genre that I typically don’t like- rap. This particular song was popular while I was in the military, and the reason why I mention it is related directly to a period in my life when I was really struggling: the summer of 1999. Most rap “music” is simply someone talking over music while loosely rhyming. Typically, they are talking about their genitals, drugs, gang violence, or some other antisocial drivel. However, every once in awhile, one of them displays a level of societal truth, proving that they are the exception to the rule of rap being an annoying waste of time.
I had just gotten divorced, and things were financially rough for me. I was making $8.25 an hour as a firefighter/EMT. As a firefighter, you work a 24 on/48 off schedule, and this results in three different sized paychecks:
- The large paycheck has 106 hours of straight pay and 14 hours of overtime.
- The medium paycheck has 106 hours of straight pay and 6 hours of overtime.
- The small paycheck has 104 hours of straight pay.
The divorce was punishing. The judge gave her the car, the kids, child support, and I got all of the debts. Those debts would be taken out of my paycheck before I even saw it. By the time all of my deductions were taken out (including child support) I wound up making an average of about $525 per two week paycheck. Since the rent on my apartment was $535 a month, it wasn’t long before I was homeless. I just couldn’t afford rent, utilities, and all of the other expenses that went with living in an apartment.
I was sleeping on the couches of friends until I could save enough for a buy here/pay here car, then I began living in my car. This was probably the worst time of my life. It took more than 3 months to save enough for a down payment on a 10 year old Ford Tempo. I would go several days at a time without eating. At work as a firefighter, I would eat everyone’s leftover food, and for that reason, they started calling me catfish, because I was a bottom feeder (from the bottom of the pot, you see). I lost 25 pounds in three months. Finally, after 3 months, I was able to come up with the $1200 I needed for a down payment and for the first 6 months’ insurance.
That’s when the song came into play. It was “Bust a Move.” Here are the lyrics that really struck home with me:
Girls are fakin’, goodness sakin’
They want a man who brings home the bacon
Got no money and you got no car
Then you got no woman and there you are
Some girls are sophistic, materialistic
Looking for a man makes them opportunistic
They’re lyin’ on the beach perpetratin’ a tan
So that a brother with money can be their man
So there I was: homeless, broke, and living in my car. I was alone, and couldn’t even have my kids over for visitation, because I had no place to bring them. I was alone: no friends, no money, no place to live. Every day was a search for ways to make a better living. I got a second job, working as a janitor in a theme park. I had to keep that second job a secret from my ex-wife, so she wouldn’t take me back to court to have that extra income be used to calculate a higher child support amount. Things were a bit better, because the extra income from the janitorial work nearly doubled my take home pay. Things were hard, but I knew that I could make it.
I lived in my car for about six months, parking it in various places so I wouldn’t have the cops called on me. I showered at work: once when I got there, then again when I left. On the third day, I was able to shower at the city’s owned gym, because city employees got a free membership.
That lasted until I found a woman willing to rent me a room. She was s supervisor at the theme park where I worked who found out how much I was struggling and decided to help me out by letting me rent her spare bedroom for $200 a month. I lived there for about three months, until she moved to Montana. Now here I was, just over a year after my divorce, and had to find another roommate.
That brings us to the summer of 2000.
The place I was living wasn’t great- it was in the middle of one of the most dangerous, most crime filled neighborhoods in Orlando, but it was cheap, and it was all that I could afford. If I remember correctly, my share of the rent and expenses was around $400 a month, my car was another $300 a month, and by the time I was done with the “must have” expenses like gas, insurance, and the like, I had $200 a month left over for food and other things. While still rough, things were much better than they had been just a few months before. Sometimes, I would only have $30 to last from one payday to the next, and $15 of that went to gas to get me to work.
Meanwhile, I didn’t stop working to get myself out of the situation I was in. I was working two jobs and began going to school at the same time. I spent the next year getting my Paramedic license, and along with it, an AS in Emergency Medicine. That was a miracle for my monetary situation.
It was now the summer of 2001.
My pay in the fire department was so much better at that point. As a Paramedic, I was finally making $10.65 an hour. On the days that I was acting engineer, I got an extra 75 cents an hour. It was during this time that I moved out of my ghetto apartment, and moved into an apartment in a better neighborhood. I had two roommates in this new place, a woman and a man. It was a good arrangement for them, because my now three jobs meant that I only slept there one night out of every three. It was good for me because it was half a mile from my fire station, and I could have my kids over for visitation. I was still living there on 9/11. Yeah, that 9/11.
It was that experience that gave me a unique perspective on needs versus wants, as well as how to make your money stretch. I know what it means to struggle, I know what it means to know that your next meal is likely days away.
That’s why I become so offended when the current generation complains that the generations that came before had it easy, while complaining that they can’t buy a house. Bull crap, they just don’t have any idea what the difference is between a need and a want.
The world doesn’t owe you a thing. You can have the lifestyle you want, but you can’t expect others to give it to you, you have to earn it. Doing so requires hard work and consistently making good decisions. One of those decisions, perhaps the most important of them, is the person you choose to partner with. That is the decision that I have struggled with more than any other, and I am glad that I finally got that one right.