Saturday, 8 October 2016

By on October 8th, 2016 in personal, politics

09:41 – We’re up to 2.4 inches (6 cm) of rain since Thursday night. It’s been light but steady the whole time. The breeze has picked up this morning, but a gentle rain and a light breeze are the only effects we’ve seen from Hurricane Matthew. My guess is that the sprinkle and breeze will continue through tomorrow afternoon.

I keep seeing articles about Trump supporters being poor, lower-class, poorly educated, and (implicitly if not explicitly) stupid. Obviously, none of those fit the Trump supporters who comment here. No one comments on the fact that it’s simply mistaken to equate a college degree with being educated. Most of the people I know have a college degree. In fact, most of them have a post-graduate degree. But those degrees are in real subjects. Calling someone who has an undergraduate degree or even a doctorate in non-disciplines like psychology or sociology or education “educated” is just flat-out wrong. The media are using “educated” to mean people who have undergone four or more years of progressive indoctrination, and by that definition it’s no wonder that “educated” people are more likely to support Clinton.

Several commenters yesterday warned me to expect 4H to require a background check before accepting me as a volunteer. My first reaction was simply to refuse. I’m not a pervert. The only time in my life that I’ve been stopped by the police was 30 years ago, when I was ticketed for driving 40 MPH in a 35 zone. I’m 63 years old, married for more than half of those years, and own a home locally. If you chose a random universe of 10,000 people like me, maybe one would be a pervert. Insulting all 10,000 in that group to catch maybe one pervert is ridiculous.

When I mentioned this to Barbara this morning, her only comment was that in this day and age she didn’t think a background check was unreasonable. Which is true. Someone commented yesterday that this insanity may not have reached our rural area, and that’s probably true for local organizations. But 4H is a national organization that’s administered locally by the state Department of Agriculture. So it’s quite possible that they will require a background check. I’m undecided as to what I’ll do if they do insist on it. And, in this day and age, I’m actually more concerned about protecting myself than I am about protecting the kids. I want to make very sure that I’m never in a position where a kid could accuse me of something perverted. Obviously, that means never being alone with a kid, particularly a girl. That’s a sad commentary on how far we’ve let things get.


53 Comments and discussion on "Saturday, 8 October 2016"

  1. Dave Hardy says:

    “Obviously, that means never being alone with a kid, particularly a girl. That’s a sad commentary on how far we’ve let things get.”

    It’s worse than that; you can’t be in a room behind closed doors with an adult woman, either. (Unless it’s your wife, girlfriend or mistress).

    As for college degrees, they mean nothing to me anymore unless they’re in a hard science or engineering at a reputable college or university. My own in English literature, with advanced graduate study means zip to me, except that I’ve learned some things that bring me intellectual pleasure and will do so until I finally croak.

    Overcast and very breezy here; forecast calling for possible showers all weekend.

  2. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    As I’ve been saying for a long, long time, only a tiny percentage of young people belong in college. For the rest, it’s a four-year (or more) vacation at their parents’ and taxpayer expense, majoring in non-subjects. And that’s no coincidence. The vast majority of them are useless to the economy and aren’t bright enough ever to be useful. Those college years are a way of warehousing them and keeping them off the unemployed/unemployable rolls.

    That’s another reason I favor using certifications rather than college credentials. It should be set up much like Cisco or Redhat certifications, with tests administered at local testing centers. If I’m going to hire someone, I want to know which fields that person has demonstrated competence in. Certifications are the best way to do that. They’re inherently unbiased by sex, race, etc., since the testing agency and center do not even collect that information.

  3. Dave Hardy says:

    “If I’m going to hire someone, I want to know which fields that person has demonstrated competence in…”

    I demonstrated competence in English literature via the Advanced Graduate Record Examination with a score of 700, which put me in the 98th-99th percentile.

    As for Red Hat and Cisco, it’s possible, but only just, that I may be taking one or both of those exams this next year. At age 63-64. It pretty much depends on someone hiring me with the same idea as me, that I’m good for another ten to fifteen years of IT drone work. If not, back to the drawing board.

  4. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Yeah, there’s no reason that certifications in stuff like Medieval English Literature couldn’t be offered. Of course, a serious certification program would soon kill universities, which employ about 99%+ of specialists in such fields.

    There are obvious issues for lab-based disciplines, but those could be worked out by companies offering local lab facilities.

  5. Dave Hardy says:

    “Of course, a serious certification program would soon kill universities…”

    To be devoutly wished for. Until they can restore the universities as they existed in…oh…medieval times, with the Trivium and Quadrivium. Where the emphasis was on STEM, incidentally, as it existed then.

  6. Ray Thompson says:

    Obviously, that means never being alone with a kid, particularly a girl

    Exactly. In my substitute role at the school there has been more than one time when I opened the door to enter the classroom and there was only one student in the room. I do not fully enter and stand in the hallway holding the door open until at least a couple of students arrive. And I am well known at the school having been involved for 28 years.

    expect 4H to require a background check

    I had to get a background check to sub at the school. Filled out a form online and scheduled finger prints. Prints were taken electronically and I had to pay $38. That money will be reimbursed by the school district after I have subbed five times. First month I only subbed four times so the reimbursement will be in this months paycheck. Even though I have been involved in the school for 28 years background check still required.

    My wife has been subbing for 28 years and never had a background check. When the policy started about five years ago she did not have to have the background check.

    it’s a four-year (or more) vacation at their parents’ and taxpayer expense

    And if the bitch queen gets elected even more of the vacation will be a taxpayers expense. A degree in any liberal arts is a complete and total waste of time and money.

    My experience in the schools is that the elementary and middle schools are almost 100% female. When the minds are young they are being warped by liberal feminism and the boys are being pussified. High school is not so bad in my area where there are several male teachers because they are also coaches. But the school district is still run by a female administrator whose policies are definitely leaning toward the female objective of turning all males into wussies.

    Telling 17 years old male who has a disagreement with another 17 year old male to go to the office where they are handed a sheet of paper and told to express their emotions using crayons is just not going to work. Assemble them in the gym after school with boxing gloves, head protection and adult supervision. Let them beat the snot out of each other until they are too tired to continue. Problem solved. They will probably become friends and go coon hunting the next weekend.

  7. SteveF says:

    To be devoutly wished for.

    Ahem, Mr Hyperliterate, but shouldn’t that be “a consummation devoutly to be wished”?

    I’m actually more concerned about protecting myself than I am about protecting the kids.

    Just so. From your perspective, you know you’re not going to hurt or prey upon the kids, but you don’t know what overprotective mother, busybody flunky, or vindictive little shit of a preteen will file a bogus charge against you. Your own protection needs to be weighted much more heavily than theirs in this case.

    re certifications, I’m not convinced. My own detailed experience was 20-ish years ago, with Netware and Cisco for networking, Microsoft for OS admin and networking, and a couple of accounting software companies for using and customizing their suites. Not a one was worth anything as regards showing that the cert holder knew anything or could provide good value for his clients. In fact, I, with no certifications at all, frequently got brought on to clean up the messes made by earlier, certified consultants. It’s possible that the situation has changed since I gave up in disgust about it, but I wouldn’t bet on it. There are very few economic incentives for the certificate awarding companies to do a good job of checking the candidates’ knowledge and skills.

  8. MrAtoz says:

    They will probably become friends and go coon hunting the next weekend.

    If you weren’t in TN, I’d say raaaaaayycist!

  9. Miles_Teg says:

    My sister has been a teacher since 1971. I think she has to get a background check every few years, for which she has to pay out of her own pocket.

    I support this, because I have seen so very many cases of teachers (99% male) and other authority figures abuse their trust – some horrifically.

    I wouldn’t take it personally if I was asked for a background check on a statistical basis, but would consider it a mortal insult if I knew that I personally was suspected.

  10. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Over the last few rears, I’ve seen at least as many reports of female molesters as male.

  11. DadCooks says:

    So the WA State goobernor is going to get the State Legislature to pass more restrictions on the dispensing of legal opioids. All in the name of eliminating heroin abuse.

    The WA State goobernor is also working with the federal gooberment to place production restrictions on the legal opioid manufactures so that the supply will never equal the amount legally prescribed opioids.

    From my perspective this is just going to increase illegal heroin abuse and deaths. And street heroin is sooo safe, not:

    Elephant tranquilizer carfentanil linked to 19 deaths in Wayne County
    Christina Hall , Detroit Free Press 7:16 p.m. EDT October 6, 2016
    Authorities believe it is being mixed with heroin, other street drugs; making a very quick, lethal concoction.

    Officials say it is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl.

    Now, carfentanil — an animal tranquilizer being mixed with heroin and other street drugs — is killing people in Michigan and has been linked to at least 19 deaths in Wayne County since July, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Carfentanil was also suspected but not confirmed in a Kent County case last month.

    The confirmation Thursday from the state and Wayne County puts residents and health care providers on alert of the deadly danger the drug poses — a drug that officials say has no antidote…

    http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2016/10/06/carfentanil-drugs-wayne-deaths/91687358/

  12. Miles_Teg says:

    For example, I have a bus driver’s licence. I could easily volunteer for the local council’s free bus transport service, or meals-on-wheels. But that would involve working with kids, and elderly people who might not have all their marbles. I wouldn’t like to have to pay to get a background check just so I can give up my free time to be a suspect in some people’s eyes.

  13. nick flandrey says:

    In our school district, anyone who wants to volunteer in any capacity must pass a “quickie” BG check. Here it’s called a “name check” and is basically a quick scan of criminal records and possibly a credit score. There is a long list of behavior rules that boil down to ‘don’t touch, never be alone, no unsupervised/unofficial contact (ie. online). My approval took a day or two, was all online, and had fewer questions than a job application.

    While I dislike the idea of it (and since it’s ineffective at catching perverts) it would seem to be a reasonable minimum standard. At least catch the low hanging fruit. NO reason for a registered sex offender to be working with kids.

    WRT effectiveness, it should be obvious that it only catches those who F’ed up and got CAUGHT. It certainly doesn’t identify the competent, un-prosecuted pervert.

    WRT women, anyone here who reads the Daily Mail, well, daily, sees articles every week about female teachers (who are more thoroughly vetted than volunteers) abusing boys and girls (under the law as written.)

    WRT background checks in general, one of the wife’s objections to filing NFA Trust paperwork was that it would draw attention to us. I pointed out that in the last year or two alone, I’ve been BG checked for my CHL, by the school as a volunteer, by the constable’s office for the Citizens Police Academy (which included followup calls to another state-ie, they took it seriously), and before that as a contractor for an oil company, as an employee of multinational Big Company ™, and I was investigated at the border by Canadian authorities on 2 different occasions for my green card. Add a preliminary pass by a Major Defense Contractor ™ as a potential employer, and enough of a check to get me an ID with a Major Aerospace Contractor ™ with a National Defense Priority project and ITAR training. Add whatever informal passes happened after some injudicious comments on a couple of secure sites, and I’ve probably drawn PLENTY of attention.

    If you are out in the world today, you will be checked. And if you come to the attention of TPTB or the press, you will be checked yea unto the 3rd generation…..

    nick

  14. Dave Hardy says:

    “It’s possible that the situation has changed since I gave up in disgust about it, but I wouldn’t bet on it.”

    I can attest that the current RH and Cisco cert exams are ball-busters; you’d better know your chit before you get in that room. They’ll have you set up whatever configs, and then break them, and you’re timed while you fix them. It’s a fah cry from what it was twenty years ago. The higher levels are akin to engineering problems, including design.

    I might be ready for the RHSCA and CCNA by spring if I have to ramp up on either one or both of them for a job. The RHCE and CCNP and CCNE will take a bit longer….

    And the point can easily be made that little of what you’re tested on comes up in the real world where you work and people with loads of experience will be more capable. It’s good to have the bedrock skillz, though, and it helps with the HR douchenozzles and recruiters.

  15. SteveF says:

    I wouldn’t like to have to pay to get a background check just so I can give up my free time to be a suspect in some people’s eyes.

    Exactly. I disagree with most of what you’re saying (on this topic, I mean, not about everything) but this one is spot on. Only change I’d make is swapping out “wouldn’t like to have to” for “flat-out refuse to”.

    I’ve seen at least as many reports of female molesters as male.

    Such stats as I’ve been able to dig up agree. Women lead men in physical and emotional abuse of children, the senile elderly, and the mentally disabled. This is often denied (witch hunt!) or hand-waved away. (85% of teachers and elder care workers are women, so why should anyone be surprised if 55% of the reported abuse cases are by women? I suppose there is something to that.)

    It’s almost certainly much worse than reported. Probably most of the abuse by women — belittling, haranguing, nagging — isn’t even considered by most to be abuse, let alone a crime. And of course many people think that women cannot be sexual abusers.

    What to do about it? Damned if I know. Let the system collapse and hope to build something better from the ruins, I suppose.

  16. MrAtoz says:

    Know your parasites.

  17. Ray Thompson says:

    If you weren’t in TN, I’d say raaaaaayycist!

    This being TN where was the implication that I was talking about four legged furry creatures? 🙂 (I am joking!)

    no unsupervised/unofficial contact (ie. online)

    I have about 1200 friends on FB. I probably know 20 of them by name and face, probably 800 of them are (or were at the time) under the age of 18. I post the sports pictures on my FB page and that is where the students go to look at (and steal watermarked) the images. I am probably on the governments pervert list.

    My wife does not help the situation when she jokingly (grrrrrr) tells some people that I take pictures of teenage girls in my basement (senior pictures). However, when doing so there is the absolute non-negotiable requirement that one or both parents be present at all times. Sometimes I have to touch the model to rearrange something and in all cases I ask permission of both the model and the parent. I have to be extremely careful. Some clients I have refused because of the reputation of their family.

  18. Miles_Teg says:

    Reputation…

    Once you’ve lost it you’ve lost it.

    I read of a case in Queensland where a male teacher was accused of sexually abusing kids. In court the case collapsed almost at once, as it became obvious the kids had made up accusations out of spite.

    Last I heard of the accused, he was living in a city 200 km away washing cars for a living.

  19. Miles_Teg says:

    Jerry Coyne has just called the election for Illary, for the 78th time.

  20. Dave Hardy says:

    “Jerry Coyne has just called the election for Illary, for the 78th time.”

    Is that guy good for anything at all? I haven’t seen his stuff for ages. The MSM has continuously called it for Killary since she filed for it. BFD.

    ANYTHING can happen between now and 11/8.

  21. Ray Thompson says:

    the kids had made up accusations out of spite

    Unfortunately nothing will happen to the kids. I feel the parents should be held responsible for all legal fees, must pay restitution to the person including any possible lost wages, take out a full page in the papers in the region explaining and apologizing for their actions. Then shoot the little bastards.

  22. Dave Hardy says:

    “Unfortunately nothing will happen to the kids.”

    Hahaha. No chit. Take a little trip in OFD’s time machine to ye vicinity of Salem Town, circa 1692….little fuckers who started that whole mess got off scot-free, too; the Reverend Parris and his household of poltergeist teenage grrls moved to what is now Sudbury, Maffachufetts; other accused witches landed in what is still a rural section of Framingham, MA, Salem End Road. OFD grew up with all that stuff, and walked or cycled throughout those neighborhoods. And a bunch of people got hanged (or crushed to death) for nothing.

    Since then, nothing has happened to the countless little bastards who’ve done similar stuff, including modern-day Maffachufetts, and elsewhere.

  23. lynn says:

    “US judge: end software patents, copyright is sufficient”
    http://www.osnews.com/story/29432/US_judge_end_software_patents_copyright_is_sufficient

    Finally.

  24. Dave says:

    I’m not so much a Trump supporter as a as long as he’s not Lucifer he has to be a better choice than Hillary. Some of the real life Trump supporters I know are working class, but then the working class label buts them one rung above the entitlement recipient class.

  25. lynn says:

    “Why Does This Happen on My Vacation? (The Trump Tapes)”
    http://blog.dilbert.com/post/151504993671/why-does-this-happen-on-my-vacation-the-trump

    What a list ! I am very tempted to paste it all. My favorite:

    “8. If the LGBTQ community wants to be a bit more inclusive, I don’t see why “polyamorous alpha male serial kisser” can’t be on the list. If you want to label Trump’s sexual behavior “abnormal” you’re on shaky ground.”

    The Truth:

    “14. Trump wasn’t running for Pope. He never claimed moral authority. His proposition has been that he’s an asshole (essentially), but we need an asshole to fight ISIS, ignore lobbyists, and beat up Congress. Does it change anything to have confirmation that he is exactly what you thought he was?”

  26. Dave Hardy says:

    Mrs. OFD was driving Princess on the road north of here to the border and they were AGHAST at the plethora of Trump signs on peoples’ lawns. Pretty much working-class area.

    Trump is not Lucifer but I’m fairly certain that the bitch-hag from Hell is possessed by one or more of the lower-order demons.

  27. Greg Norton says:

    So the WA State goobernor is going to get the State Legislature to pass more restrictions on the dispensing of legal opioids. All in the name of eliminating heroin abuse.

    Election year. Gov. Inslee has been fairly useless for most of the last four years.

    Inslee was the direct beneficiary of sharing a state-wide ballot with Obama, gay marriage, and weed legalization four years ago. Otherwise, Perkins Coie would have found enough car trunk ballots to swing the election to his opponent, a RINO former partner in the firm.

  28. SteveF says:

    they were AGHAST

    I suppose it would be mean-spirited to laugh at their misery. -sigh-

  29. Dave says:

    So let me see if I have this correct. Hillary is the socialist/feminist corruptocracy candidate, Trump is running as a blue collar Democrat, Johnson is the liberal Republican, and Jill Stein is the corruptocracy-free version of Hillary?

  30. DadCooks says:

    My Pentecostal Minister nephew is really pissing me off today. Sure, Trump is rude and crude but the religious nutters are considering him totally unclean and unredeemable. Whereas Illary is God’s gift to the victim class. IMHO, these holier than thou folks have drunk the oligarchy fascist Kool-Aid® and may just be the death of our Republic, from which there will be no return for tens of generations, if ever.

    BTW, I too read Scott Adams’ blog (http://blog.dilbert.com/post/151504993671/why-does-this-happen-on-my-vacation-the-trump) earlier today and “shared” it on my FaceCrack page. Some people refuse to listen to reason, truth, and logic. In addition the reality is that only Illary or Trump will be elected and I stand by my belief that either not voting or voting for Illary, the Liberturd or the Greenie is sanctioning treason, high crimes, and misdemeanors.

  31. Dave Hardy says:

    “I suppose it would be mean-spirited to laugh at their misery. -sigh-”

    Color me mean-spirited, then; I laughed my ass off.

    “So let me see if I have this correct. Hillary is the socialist/feminist corruptocracy candidate, Trump is running as a blue collar Democrat, Johnson is the liberal Republican, and Jill Stein is the corruptocracy-free version of Hillary?”

    Killary has no particular political ideology to speak of, unless it be the Party of Killary, first, last and always. She mouths various Bolshie platitudes and bromides but happily consorts with and would be in bed with, the corporate fascist oligarchy. She also worships at the Church of Killary; it’s all about her. Trump is playing the Blue Dog Dem some of the time, sure; but he is also a willing tool of the CFO and would do the bidding of more powerful and wealthier oligarchs. He’d probably like to be the Murkan version of Prince Vlad, first among equals of oligarchs, and also controlling the military and police. I’ve heard it opined, however, by thoughtful persons, that he genuinely seems to like the country and its people and cares for it. Well, Prince Vlad cares for Mother Russia, too.

    Gary Johnson and William Weld are renegade fruitcakes with no purpose other than to muddy the waters and siphon off votes. Stein is just another crackpot lefty fembat prog.

    And it can still turn out that NEITHER Trump nor Killary get elected; they’re turning up the heat on the alleged Russian involvement in hacking the Party’s computers and data and email. We could have a case of…………National Security! Cancel the election entirely or declare it null and void and Obola remains in office a while longer, probably well into next year. Or longer, if any Black Swan events occur.

  32. Dave Hardy says:

    Just checked the automatic nooz alerts from the MSM on my iPhone: they’re ALL shrieking bloody murder over dumbass “sexist” and probably misogynist chatter from him recently and wailing and gnashing of teeth and rending of garments calls for him to withdraw immediately. CNN, USA Today, WaPost, etc.

    I’m beginning to wonder again if he’s deliberately torpedoing his own campaign now; the only Killary ads we’ve seen on the tee-vee (while I’ve been watching NFL games) focus on similar but ancient chatter he’s done likewise over the decades.

    Of course, as someone else said, for her campaign to resort to getting on HIM for sex and marriage issues smacks of desperation.

    It’s a pretty weird campaign this time, the weirdest I’ve seen in my half-century of paying any attention to them.

  33. lynn says:

    I am tired of his fellow Republicans like Mike Lee and Paul Ryan calling for Trump to resign today. Amazing, they think that Trump is running for Pope.

    And in other news, Obola is bringing in over 900 refugees per day:
    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/10/07/obama-rushes-900-refugees-u-s-single-day-track-now-185000/

    Where is he getting the money for 3 or 4 plane fulls of people PER DAY ! We are broke !

  34. nick flandrey says:

    It’s not just the flights. It’s the resettlement money. The housing. SNAP. Medical, dental, (oh and you can bet there is some pent up demand for that), etc.

    Bastard.

    Wanna puke in your throat, look at the 3 strikes losers he’s be pardoning too. I’ll bet within a year 50% have reoffended and within 3 years, all of them.

    nick

  35. Dave Hardy says:

    “I am tired of his fellow Republicans like Mike Lee and Paul Ryan calling for Trump to resign today. Amazing, they think that Trump is running for Pope.”

    Here’s a little quip/post via the WRS site’s email just now:

    https://westernrifleshooters.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/screen-shot-2016-10-08-at-8-55-04-pm.png

    Bunch of holier-than-thou sanctimonious scheisskopfen who’ve probably said and done far worse in their worthless lives.

    “Where is he getting the money for 3 or 4 plane fulls of people PER DAY ! We are broke !”

    Remember “fundamental transformation”? This is what he meant, among other things. In the long run, WE are being REPLACED. The Cloud People think this is great and that they’ll maintain their positions of power and wealth, lol. Boy, are they in for a yuuuuuuge surprise!

    “It’s not just the flights. It’s the resettlement money.”

    It’s coming out of the tax money me and Mrs. OFD pony up every month; she’s yet to be outraged by this, but she puts on blinders and earplugs anyway and doesn’t know much beyond what the Party and MSM and FaceCrack tell her every day. Gotta love those pixels and funny-as-hell anti-Trump memes! I start yakking about it and she turns right off.

    “…look at the 3 strikes losers he’s be pardoning too. I’ll bet within a year 50% have reoffended and within 3 years, all of them.”

    SOP for these sons of bitches; Larry Klinton did the same thing, with a horde of scumbags.

    “Wanna puke in your throat…”

    IIRC, that’s a Mr. SteveF specialty.

    Mrs. OFD just called from Denver; her seatmate on the ride from Chicago to there was a drunken maniac who was slugging down Jack Daniels and diet Coke and making lots of trips to the bathroom, while also cursing out the flight crew. He kicked it up a notch as they were getting off the plane and she got as far away from him as she could.

    Just watched “The Siege of Jadotville” on Netflix, about a company of Irish UN troops in the Congo circa 1961; yet another tale of front-line soldiers fucked over, lied to, and left to rot and be killed, and when they survive, they’re labeled cowards.

    Don’t. Sign. Up.

  36. lynn says:

    Well, is Matthew going to circle around, cross the Florida peninsula, and enter the Gulf of Mexico ?
    http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at4.shtml?5day#contents

  37. Dave Hardy says:

    For those folks realizing that the most likely CQB incident they’ll face in the near term crises, probably at home or on the road somewhere, will involve their use of a handgun (rather than an AR or AK) and making up their minds what to carry:

    http://weaponsman.com/?p=35634

    It’s nice to be on the same page as the Army, with probably zillions of these floating around soon.

    Although my Glock is the G40, running 10mm with the long six-inch slide. I’m not a “Belgian Horse” size person but can manage CCW with it w/o too much hassle. My standard four-inch slide is a CZ-P09 running the 9mm. Most folks would do very well handling and concealing the G19 and it has come highly recommended by other knowledgeable gun people.

    Gotta immediately learn how to disassemble, clean, reassemble and fire in training scenarios beyond the paper target on a square range in broad daylight. And do dry fire practice at least weekly. There are a few really good target/training gear packages but too spendy for me right now.

  38. Dave Hardy says:

    Isn’t this a lot like the Roman Empire, the British Empire, the Soviet Empire, etc., etc?

    https://warisboring.com/happy-15th-birthday-to-americas-endless-war-in-afghanistan-60fe09c4fcef#.7rcph4elj

    I wonder how our younger combat group members feel about this shit still going on fifteen years after they’ve come home…I’ll ask them next time I see them. They’ve both come a long way since returning and are working at regular day jobs now, so we don’t see them much anymore.

    “Hey guys, looks like all your shit was for….NOTHING.”

    Welcome to the club.

  39. Dave Hardy says:

    More fun and games with Mr. and Mrs. OFD’s tax money:

    http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2016/iraq-161007-dsca01.htm?_m=3n%2e002a%2e1838%2ebe0ao08rl2%2e1ouj

    Allegedly “only” $65.3 million. Peanuts.

    More peanuts:

    http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2016/10/mil-161007-dsca01.htm?_m=3n%2e002a%2e1838%2ebe0ao08rl2%2e1oun

    $81.4 million.

    Multiply this by days of the week, the number of our “strategic partners,” etc. and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.

    Let’s keep sending billions to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Taxpayer pockets are bottomless and apparently infinite.

  40. nick flandrey says:

    80 and 40 meters booming in tonight.

    16k km….

    Greece is S9 on 9.420Mhz

    hams on 80 m hitting S9, first time I’ve heard anything that strong. I was beginning to think I had a problem.

    Helps tremendously to kill almost all the LED lighting in the house too. Not just the tape light under cabinet, but the LED down can replacements too.

    nick

    vatican radio in french out of madagascar S7 and 16k km….

  41. Denis says:

    “Just watched “The Siege of Jadotville” on Netflix, about a company of Irish UN troops in the Congo circa 1961”

    How was the movie, apart from the Jacks being F’ed over by the PTB? I don’t have Netflix, but might consider trying it to watch that.

    Commandant Quinlan was a hero, who kept his entire company alive, in the face of overwhelming enemy forces, but he and they got no recognition until long after he died, because the incident was embarrassing to the Irish and Belgian governments and the UN. 155 Irish men with light weapons held off probably over a thousand Katangese and Belgians, killing over 300 of them, for only five or six wounded. In the end they had to surrender because they ran out of water.

  42. Greg Norton says:

    Well, is Matthew going to circle around, cross the Florida peninsula, and enter the Gulf of Mexico ?

    Doesn’t look like that will be the case this time, but the tracks sometimes work that way. Jacksonville saw damage with Matthew, and one of the selling points of that area is that storms are rare.

    Back when I had to sweat hurricanes in FL, I learned to trust the Navy site more than NOAA. They don’t play politics when it comes time to move billions of dollars worth of aircraft and ships out of harm’s way.

    http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html

    If you don’t see a loop in that track, it isn’t happening.

  43. Dave Hardy says:

    “In the end they had to surrender because they ran out of water.”

    The movie has them running out of ammo; their ammo dump got hit by a mortar, and the water had been poisoned. Also has the men mos def not wanting to surrender, and I thought for a second they wouldn’t, but then the next scene has them loaded into trucks. Very sad that Quinlan died before being exonerated and honored but I hope at least his family got to see that. Conor Cruise O’Brien does not come off well at all.

  44. Denis says:

    “Conor Cruise O’Brien does not come off well at all.”

    Well, let’s just say he had that coming. Too bad he didn’t live to see it.

  45. MrAtoz says:

    Mrs. OFD just called from Denver; her seatmate on the ride from Chicago to there was a drunken maniac who was slugging down Jack Daniels and diet Coke

    Who the Hell drinks Jack with *diet* Coke! They should have cufffed him just for that!

  46. Dave Hardy says:

    “Well, let’s just say he had that coming. Too bad he didn’t live to see it.”

    Agreed. The actor played him as an arrogant SOB who refused to back off a stupid project and then left those guys to fight or die. Ditto, pretty much, the Irish general running the show under him.

    “…They should have cufffed him just for that!”

    Agreed. At most, ice cubes. When I drank whiskey, though, it was usually either Irish, or Scottish single malts. Rarely, lol, as too expensive. My poison was vodka, cheap, and mixed 50-50 w/fruit juices.

    The guy should have been chloroformed and strait-jacketed and then frog-marched to whatever jail on landing.

  47. Miles_Teg says:

    I’m not fond of straight vodka. I drink it with orange juice in a ratio of about 1:10.

  48. Dave Hardy says:

    “I drink it with orange juice in a ratio of about 1:10.”

    I didn’t drink it straight, either; my ratio was usually 50-50. 70-30 if it was 100-proof. My liver hated me. In fact, most of me hated me.

  49. SteveF says:

    Alcohol kills off liver and brain cells … but only the weak ones.

  50. nick flandrey says:

    And pain is just weakness leaving the body…..

    n

  51. Dave Hardy says:

    Well, damn, I feel a whole sight better now!

    Thanks, guys!

  52. c-90 says:

    Just be glas the 4_h is state run. Imagine being Federal DoA run, you’d have to submit for a security clearance. 8*)

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