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The Republican who runs the FCC is writing regulations by doing exhaustive research, including repeated viewing of science fiction movies.

Our laws are being written by morons.

This is how it’s possible: $7200 per child in free money.

All employees who work at my hospital must provide proof of vaccination by November 24, or they will be terminated. A third of my department remains unvaccinated. I can only assume that this is true of other departments as well.

Since my hospital is already in the midst of a staffing shortage crisis, I have no idea what this will do or how they will manage to enforce this.

I want to make something clear with regards to my disagreement with Aesop’s opinion on the Rusty Baldwin shooting. The disagreement that I have with him is about his opinion on this topic. Yes, he and I have disagreed in the past. We have also agreed on topics in the past. That is the nature of human interaction.

I still believe that he and I agree on more topics than not. Don’t take our little discussion as anything other than a disagreement between colleagues.

I don’t have a problem with him or his blog. It’s the nature of human interaction- we don’t always agree. We also have a tendency to circle the wagons when we want to defend our own opinions, which MUST be the correct opinion, or we wouldn’t have it, would we?

Let’s burn another post on the Baldwin Rust shooting and get some legal opinions. We will start with a quote of New Mexico’s manslaughter law:

Involuntary manslaughter consists of manslaughter committed in the commission of an unlawful act not amounting to felony, or in the commission of a lawful act which might produce death in an unlawful manner or without due caution and circumspection.

There was a death, and I think that we can all agree that SOMEONE didn’t show due caution and circumspection, or else a woman would not have been killed by a supposedly unloaded gun. In a case like this, one or more people could have contributed to the incident.

Erlinda Johnson, a practicing New Mexico criminal attorney and former state and federal prosecutor said that Baldwin could face possible criminal liability for involuntary manslaughter. “All the state needs to demonstrate is that he was engaged in a lawful, but dangerous act and did not act with due caution,” she said. 

She speculated that Baldwin may rely on the defense that someone handed him the gun, “but then, well it was incumbent upon him, since he was handling the gun, to make sure there were no rounds.”

Johnson continued: “Clearly someone didn’t do their due diligence. They should have been checking those guns to make sure there were no live rounds.”

So the key question is not one of law, but of fact. That is, did Baldwin, as the one holding, pointing, and shooting the gun, have a responsibility to check to ensure that the gun was not loaded before he pointed it at another human being and pulled the trigger? Or was it sufficient that he relied on someone else to check the weapon for him?

As we have demonstrated in the blogging world, opinions are split on that.

In the American legal system, the jury is the primary finder of fact. That is what a jury is for. Put the case in front of a jury and let them decide whether or not Baldwin was criminally negligent. The proper place to try this is not in the court of public opinion, or on various blogs. The place to try this is in court.

In either case, Baldwin and the movie’s production company will still face civil liability. There will still be a lawsuit. From another article:

“There’s no explanation where you have this happen on a set where there’s not civil negligence,” said attorney Jeff Harris

The only people who win in this case will be the attorneys. The biggest issue that I have here with all of this is that we all know that, as an ‘A’ list celebrity, Alec Baldwin will get special treatment and will not get nearly as many repercussions from this as one of us would.

That really burns my ass.

Aesop has taken exception to those of us in the blogosphere who think that Baldwin should have inspected the firearm he was handed before he pointed it at a living person and pulled the trigger.

I dont normally call out other bloggers here, but since he referred to us as “Jasper and Billy Bob,” and I tried to post further comment on his blog but the comment was moderated away, here it comes.

People pointed out to him that, as a nurse, he checks medication vials that are handed to him before he gives them, rather than simply taking their word for it, so why shouldn’t an actor check to ensure a firearm isn’t loaded, even if the prop master says it’s not loaded. He replied that the medication is different, because ensuring it is correct is the nurses’ job, but actors are different because they aren’t trained.

He then goes on to claim that we aren’t qualified to judge him, because we don’t work in Hollywood on movie sets. He even brushed aside Branca’s opinion for reasons.

Aesop believes that since actors are busy, rich, and experts in making movies, that they are too busy and important to be bothered with mundane things like firearm safety, so should be permitted to pick up a firearm that a flunky tells them is uploaded, point it at someone, and pull the trigger. If someone is killed, well that’s just unfortunate, but at least the famous actor wasn’t inconvenienced with having to learn firearm safety.

So if he won’t listen to us, nor even to an actual attorney, maybe he will listen to the guy at this link, who DOES make movies. HE thinks that Baldwin messed up. An actual quote:

“Loaded or unloaded, a weapon never gets pointed at another human being,” said Bryan Carpenter, who heads Dark Thirty Film Services, “Even on a film or TV set,” he said “you never let the muzzle of a weapon cover something you don’t intend to destroy.”

The weapons consultant cited what he called “Colonel Jeff Cooper’s four fundamentals” of gun safety.

“All guns are always loaded. Even if they are not, treat them as if they are,” reads the No. 1 rule by Cooper, an influential gun safety expert who died in 2006.

The consultant also said that for safety purposes, live firearms used in TV and movie productions are typically aimed at a dummy point, not at equipment, cast or crew members, as was the case with the weapon handled by Baldwin.

Or you could take the word of a prop expert from this article, who said:

“There should be a number of people on-set checking,” said one prop assistant, who has worked on a big-budget Hollywood thriller. “If it were me, I would also have the actor check.”

Just because someone else is paid to do something doesn’t absolve you of responsibility. To use Aesop’s own example, if a pilot is told the plane was fully fueled by the maintenance crew, he is still responsible if the plane runs out of fuel mid flight.

No one is saying that the actor should be the only one to check the firearm, but he should be the last.

Here is a story about Venezuelans who are using gold in the wake of the Bolivar’s collapse. At today’s exchange rate of $1784 an ounce, a gram of gold is worth about $63.

Food for thought. Instead of gold flakes, it is a good idea to have silver for small purchases. Fractional gold is a good idea as well.

Colin Powell dead.

Way back when I was still in the military, I was once home on leave and attempted to buy beer. At that time, if you were in the military and stationed outside of Florida, your driver’s license was renewed by mail. Instead of a picture, the license read “Valid without photo.” I presented that license, together with my Military ID, to the clerk. He looked at them, declared them to be fake, and refused to sell me anything. He also called the cops. The arriving cop had never seen such a thing, put me in cuffs and called his sergeant. When the sergeant arrived, I was let go with an apology. I accepted it and went on with my life.

To bad this woman couldn’t. This wasn’t racism and it didn’t happen because she is black. It happened because she was an E6 at only 22 years old. Admittedly, I was in the service a long time ago, but the fastest I saw anyone make E6 was six years. That same guy made E7 in just less than nine years.

Apparently this diversity hire managed to join, make E6, graduate college with a 4 year degree, then attend OCS and become an officer, all before the age of 23.

If that isn’t a free ride because she is a minority female, I would be surprised. And yes, that last comment sounds racist because it is. Being a black woman is the only way to earn a 4 year degree, attend 4 months of OCS, and still earn 5 promotions, all in 5 years. The minimum time in service to make E6 in the army is supposed to be 84 months.

One of the things that really sucks about long term preps is that beans and rice, though long lasting, are rather boring. Not only that, but those who have blood sugar issues can’t eat a lot of rice. I am posting this recipe for Cajun style red beans and rice. It is delicious, and this is the one that my mama taught me all those years ago. Authentic Louisiana Red Beans and Rice.

The blood sugar issue is fixed by serving rice with beans. It turns out that the fiber of the beans prevents your blood sugar from spiking, and is actually beneficial to diabetics.

In a traditional Louisiana family, Red Beans and Rice is served on Mondays. The reason for this is that Monday is laundry day, and mama needed a meal that she could prepare without too much fuss, so she could get the laundry done. So this is my childhood on a plate.

• One pound of Red Kidney Beans
• One large white onion
• One large Bell pepper
• Rice
• 1 tbs. Butter
• Red (Cayenne) pepper to taste
• Salt to taste
• One pound of Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage

Now you can use other kinds of sausage like Kielbasa, Andouille, or the like. The essence of Cajun cooking is that it is simple country food. You use what you have. My advice here is to use the ground hot sausage. The beans dilute the heat of the sausage. The meal isn’t too hot- trust me on this one.

Dice the onion and the bell pepper. Melt the butter in a hot pan, then add the peppers and onions. Cook them, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to soften. Add the crumbled sausage and cover. Occasionally stir, and cook until the sausage is browned.

Put the beans in a large pot with 6 cups of water, and add the contents of the pan into the pot with the beans and cover the pot. Heat on high until the water just starts to boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.

Let simmer until the beans are soft (about 2 and a half hours). Walk by every 15 minutes or so and give them a quick stir, because you don’t want the beans on the bottom of the pot to burn.

Once the beans start to soften, smash some of the beans against the side of the pot with a spoon, and they will cause the water to thicken into a nice sauce. Add salt and cayenne to taste. If the consistency of the beans is too thick, you can add some water.

Serve over rice.

In my family, we serve it at the table with ketchup and Louisiana Hot Sauce. Those eating it can use those to flavor the beans to taste.