DC USA USA USA

Tails of the Gun (Hot Linked)          In D.C., Response to Judge’s Handgun Ruling Is Mixed and Muddled (Updated)

“ Updated 6:01 p.m. | For all practical purposes, a federal judge’s weekend ruling that overturned local laws prohibiting District of Columbia residents from carrying guns outside of their homes has opened the door for non-residents to tote handguns into the city and has made it potentially easier for members and staffers to transport firearms across the District to the Capitol. D.C. police have been ordered not to arrest people for carrying pistols and deadly weapons in public. Washingtonians can still face criminal charges for carrying unregistered firearms and ammunition, but the millions of people who visit the nation’s capital are exempt from those provisions under an order from Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier. The chief’s guidance effectively put the District’s firearm regulations, at least for non-residents, on a par with the most permissive gun jurisdictions in the country. D.C. police got additional guidance from Lanier on Monday afternoon. She clarified that the ruling applies only to handguns, not long guns or shotguns that are still illegal, and that committing crimes with handguns remains illegal. For non-residents, legal possession of a handgun in D.C. is based on the laws of their home jurisdiction, meaning D.C. police will be responsible for knowing and enforcing licensing and permitting restrictions from around the country. Lanier noted that additional information on gun laws in other states will be forthcoming and said that in the meantime, officers can call a 24-hour information line. Lanier’s orders came in response to Judge Frederick Scullin Jr.’s July 26 ruling in Palmer v. District of Columbia that D.C.’s complete ban on the carrying of handguns in public is unconstitutional. In the 19-page decision, Scullin wrote that he was stopping enforcement of the law “unless and until” the city adopted a constitutionally valid licensing mechanism. In her follow-up guidance to officers, Lanier nodded to the confusion. “Unfortunately, this ruling has left many unanswered legal questions that are currently being reviewed by the [Office of the Attorney General],” she stated. Federal laws and a portion of D.C. code still prohibit people from carrying weapons on Capitol grounds, according to Capitol Police spokeswoman Lt. Kimberly Schneider. But members and staffers already have weapons privileges for the Capitol campus dating back decades. Although the D.C. prohibition against firearms was put into place in 1975, members of Congress and their staffs have the legal right to bear arms on the Hill. Capitol Police Board regulations established in 1967 permit members and their aides to transport licensed firearms on the Capitol grounds in the course of carrying out their official duties, provided the weapons are “unloaded and securely wrapped.” Although the regulations expressly prohibit weapons on the floor of either chamber, as well as in the adjacent lobbies, cloakrooms and galleries, individual members  can “maintain firearms within the confines of [their] office.” Before Lanier issued her order on Sunday, members and aides might have had to violate District law to transport a handgun to the Hill. “Easing gun restrictions in the District of Columbia whether by court ruling or by regulation, certainly eases the way weapons are transported through the District,” said a former high-ranking Capitol Hill law enforcement official who spoke on background about the potential impact of the law. On Monday afternoon, D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan filed a motion to stay the effectiveness of the opinion. Alan Gura, the lawyer who argued against D.C.’s gun law on behalf of the nonprofit Second Amendment Foundation, said the case had nothing to do with the Hill, but he expects members of Congress will be playing close attention to the outcome. “As part-time residents of the District of Columbia,” Gura told CQ Roll Call, members can now enjoy “a greater measure of freedom in their lives,” thanks to the ruling. The Supreme Court’s 5-4 District of Columbia v. Heller decision made clear that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to gun ownership within the home. It also recognized that guns may be banned or controlled in certain “sensitive places,” including schools and government buildings. Gura thinks a legal challenge to the federal and local laws prohibiting people from carrying guns on the Capitol grounds would be “far-fetched” under the Heller precedent and said it wasn’t a case he would argue. Republicans in Congress have tried to overturn the city’s gun laws, to the outrage of locally elected officials. D.C. Councilmember David Catania, a mayoral candidate running as an independent, said in a statement that strong gun control laws are critical to the District’s public safety, “a fact supported by the ban on possessing guns in federal buildings, on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, and Congressional office buildings.” “Having more guns on our streets does not make us safer and a rushed roll back of our laws will only result in confusion and create additional challenges for law enforcement in the District,” he said. “Once again, the democratic will of District residents and their elected leadership is being marginalized and threatened by those who know little about our city and the nearly 650,000 people who call it home.” Democratic mayoral nominee Muriel Bowser, who represents Ward 4 on the D.C. Council, said the ruling was “troubling and poses a serious threat to public safety in the District of Columbia” and vowed to fight for gun safety legislation. In the wake of the ruling, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., chided Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., for his attempt to roll back gun laws in the District. “With two people arrested in the last two weeks for bringing guns into the Capitol complex, both of whom were charged under D.C.’s carry law, Representative Massie can no longer hide behind that D.C. law,” she said in a statement. “The only thing standing between guns and the Capitol now is a federal law. Will Rep. Massie be consistent and finally try to overturn a law he has legitimate, direct jurisdiction over?” Norton said she expects the District to appeal the decision, which goes beyond what the Supreme Court has held. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has upheld the constitutionality of three of the District’s four major gun laws, she pointed out. Massie told CQ Roll Call he was encouraged by the judge’s decision. “In fact, his ruling strikes down a provision of the DC Firearms Registration Amendment Act of 2008, which I specifically referenced in the text of my successful amendment on July 16th,” Massie said in an email. “Clearly, Ms. Norton and the Mayor missed the mark when they asserted that my legislative effort to restore a fundamental human right was an overextension of congressional authority.” He cited Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the Constitution as evidence of authority over D.C.’s legislative matters, and said the ruling “re-affirmed my assertion that the peoples’ right to keep and bear arms cannot be denied by any locality or state.” Now,  if only anyone could find ammo for sale ”

A home wrecker and a Laura Dekker

The Morning Girl via Tommy Lee Smith Picked up my fixed Quad Core from Computer Geek JW this morning, and am now waiting for my new disk drive to get here.  JW also donated a Windows 7 Pro install disk, so woot-woo.  I know what you're saying, "Whoa Rodge, we sure do miss reading in detail about your computer woes, and how they've been fkng you over lately.   Can't you at least find a few minutes to tell us more?"  Well, okay. I haven't let moss grow under me old mouse pad this past month. First I bought MoSup a HP Chrome Book (recon from Woot. $200).  That thing was heavier than a granite bowling ball, but the 14" Way Hi_Def screen was awesome.  I figured it out, loaded it with stuff MoSup likes and she actually quite liked it.  Then morning came and it wouldn't start.  HP suggested that I open it up and do things with the drive, etc.; I sent it back to Woot. Then I bought her a HP Pavilion 23-b010 All-in-One Desktop PC (recon from Woot for $300).  The 23 inch screen impressed her, but at this point she was tired of it all.  She has her desktop, a gen 1 iPad, and a Kindle.  She could prolly live with just the Pad and Kindle.  I don't know if I'll send it back yet.  I will say that Window's 8 is a revelation.  Total departure from anything MS has put out before.  What they're doing is following the Apple template (where you have to have a MS Store ID to ad apps.  I sort of like it.  What I don't like is the 1.3Gb processor (not replaceable)  and 4 GB ram (will take 16).  What I really don't like is the flimsy burner drive that took a full hour to install PS Pro X3.  Plus,  I don't really know what to do with it.  If I was a bachelor I'd leave it on the kitchen table, where it is now, and not have anyone complaing that we have too many computers in too many places.  Oh,  one more thing. That "Morning Girl" above?  I truly admire her humor, her sense of adventure, and her "don't give me that liberal crap" spirit (all of which I sense).  But, this girl, Laura Dekker.   HFS!  She sailed a 42 foot boot around the globe at age 14 (youngest person ever to do that).  A snip of the  fascinating documentary of that adventure is here;  and full on NetFlix.

A tight fit

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Stuff Men Don't See They come off a lot easier.

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On the Floor Again, and other Fav OSU songs

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Doin' Da BIG A celebration of the Ohio State marching band The history of this publication goes back further than any of us will remember….Throughout the history of this book, it has been called many different things, ranging from Band Bible, Song Publication, and even The Unofficial OSUMB Handbook. The songs in this “item that does not exist” have been passed down from generation to generation during I-dots, bus trips, Beer Busts, and the occasional bored sober free time….Take it with you on trips and to parties….But never leave this out of your sight. Trip Tic Multiple witnesses stated that a special newsletter named “Trip Tic” was produced by an anonymous member for away game trips. Two copies of the newsletter were distributed to each marching row. According to most witnesses, this publication included disparaging information about members and sexually explicit content, including sexual activities of members. Two witnesses stated that some issues included females and males listed by attractiveness ratings. One witness stated that an issue included a “Marry, Fuck, Kill” list. EXCERPTS Boner Question: List all the Members of Row in descending order from deepest box to largest penis. Explain your reasoning in 2 to 3 sentences. Calculate in days, hours, minutes, and seconds (all separately) the countdown to the M*ch*gan game. If you were gay (or straight if you are already gay) who in the band would you be gay (or straight) with? Why? Write a short story using the following words/phrases: BOX, hammy situation, lettuce, navy hymn, virgin, brown noise, snookie, special place, Aahsome, syphilis, cumblood, bale of hay, flash mob, Elvis, “Give ‘em Hell!”, to be late…, Jerry Sandusky, twat, face Please draw the female reproductive organs with arrows detailing what each part is used for. Be as clear as possible Create and draw a sex position for fat people. Use detailed images (including facial expressions), words (sound efects) descriptions, etc. There should be steps to the process, as if teaching someone your sex position. As a result of this INVESTIGATION REPORT / Complaint against Jonathan Waters, Director of the OSU Marching Band - he was fired.  In addition, the handbook offers a very representative selection of bawdy  drinking songs, like; My Grandfathers Cock (Tune My Grandfathers Clock), Ten Tons of Titty (Tune These Things Remind Me of You), Clitoris (Tune: Oscar Meyer Theme), and On the Floor Again (Tune: On the Road Again) The Terps certainly have their work cut out for them, trying to live up to this high standard.  And we thought the UVA pep band was déclassé? g

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When the NYT speaks - Babies cry

“ CONCERN OVER NATIONAL GUARD TRAINING; LACK OF FED OVERSIGHT... NYT TWO FreeRepublic COMMENTS What kind of training would the Feds give them? The Feds will not let this happen without formal training because they might start apprehending members of the officially sanctioned cartel smuggling operation. Without training they very well might arrest the wrong drug smugglers, thereby directly affecting the Governments Bottom Line, and The War on Drugs in a negative way for Government at all Levels. Got it? 5 posted on 7/25/2014 9:44:46 AM by eyeamok Hmmmm.......I might be the only one on this thread that might agree with the Slimes, but for completely different reasons. I'm not worried about "potentially fatal encounters with illegals"...I'm thinking more along the lines of a bad precedent being set. Namely, the same argument for deploying troops along the border of TX can (and would, do you trust Gov. 'Moonbeam' Brown?) be used by other state governors to deploy troops against protesters at "Send the @$#@$@ illegals home" rallies. You're absolutely correct on the ROE. That'll tell the tale. Truly, we're living in interesting times.  10 posted on 7/25/2014 9:55:29 AM by wbill ”

Use firing squads ...

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Federal Judge: Use Firing Squads, Not Lethal Injections - Don't pretend killing isn't brutal, Kozinski says  Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals, calls the current system "inherently flawed" and says states that want to execute inmates should return to more "primitive—and foolproof—methods" of execution, NBC reports. "The guillotine is probably best but seems inconsistent with our national ethos," he writes. "And the electric chair, hanging, and the gas chamber are each subject to occasional mishaps. The firing squad strikes me as the most promising. Eight or 10 large-caliber rifle bullets fired at close range can inflict massive damage, causing instant death every time." [Full] Actually, the Brits - when they were at the top of their game - probably had the best idea.

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Please don't fkitup again

Once again, the fate of a nation

Classic Ski-Slope (is that racist?)

Rorschach Tests I Have Failed

Marc the Miller

Harry Reid wants mote border enforcement

An Inconvenient Flashback

HBO Asshats

" “ "Oh my God I'm a republic**t" On Sunday's episode, as Breitbart TV explained, two of the characters crashed a Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) fundraiser at the George W. Bush Presidential Library that they said only lets in "a**sholes." The fundraiser ended up turning into a bloodbath: While HBO's Award winning "True Blood" a popular vampire drama has had a long-running narrative with the bad guys cast as southern conservative politicians, last night's episode took it a step farther, calling Ted Cruz supporters a**holes and offensively referring to conservative woman in eveningware as "republic**ts" When two of the main characters, vampires Eric Northman and Pam De Beaufort, are planning to crash a fictional fundraiser for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) held at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas they are warned “They only let in a**holes.” While dressing for the event in cowboy hats and Western evening attire Pam De Beaufort says "Oh my God I'm a republic**t" And finally De Beaufort enters the gala proclaiming "Of all the horrible things I've seen in the last hundred years this could be the most disturbing." [SARAH PALIN DRIVES STAKE THROUGH HEART OF 'TRUE BLOOD' PRODUCERS] HBO is owned by Time Warner, and is a flagship Progressive Politics media laboratory.  Lefties fired from their alphabet channel venue, because of outrageous leftist screed,  are routinely picked up and nourished by this cable channel —Bryant Gumbel, Bill Maher, et.al. But guess what? Pam De Beaufort will find this terrifyingly disturbing. Murdoch's bid for Time Warner threatens the golden age of ... unbridled leftist agitprop? Financial Times‎ - by John Gapper ‎ - 2 hours ago At any rate, I've been looking to cancel my Verizon cable premium channels, and this will get me off my duff.  By the by, look for Dems in congress to try and block Murdoch's takeover of TW.  Losing control of media messaging is truly a stake in their hearts. ”

What commies do

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This begs the question ... I assume this is authentic. It appears the right engine and wing area took the hit. Note the camera operator is able to record the moment of impact in the first 2 seconds of this clip. Note the smoke burst left behind on impact with the #2 engine area. There is an 18 second delay (speed of sound delay) due to the distance and altitude of the explosion. Note that the pilots are maintaining wings level, the airplane and burning wing still intact, in what appears to be an uncontrolled descent from 33,000 feet when the video ends at 1+19sec. This begs the question, how did they know it was there? Obviously someone was monitoring the sky with radar & someone said "shoot it down".     * This is not the action of a bunch of Russian sympathizing Eukranian civilians.     * This is the action of trained professionals (soldiers?) The question is not only where did the missile come from, but who was operating the search radar and who has the authority to approve or order the attack.  Question Primo: how did this video operator know to have his camera running just prior to the missile explosion? How many people run their camera in the sky looking for an airplane cruising at altitude so high that most are not visible to the human eye? -cuzzin ricky

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Cotton Wood Trees Again

Techno Thrills

Three Things Now entering week, what?—38?, of having to work with a 1893 HP computer running Windows XP and with 65 Giga storage.  It's been *cough* fun.  Who remembers Clear Mem? Or ipconfig /flushdns? Or Using CTRL-F5 to unclog the browser?  It's like being in high school again.  I had been use to using about 9-10 applications to publish this rag every day.  Now I don't even have room to install them, let alone memory and speed to run.  But here are the few that I missed so much that I made room for them.  They are life sustaining for me. 1. Irfan View The single best all-around (free) do-it all tool in the universe.  Here's an example.  I used to have several  thousand pictures that had accumulated over the past 19 years.  Finding one in particular is so daunting a task that it became almost impossible.  Irfan View search is so fast (and who knows how everything got indexed, because it like just is) that I can find a picture of Hillary Clinton posing with Chinese commies  in mere seconds.  You could  use Irfan View to edit, resize,  blah-blah blah.  The search utility will also find text likety-split.  Kompozer - This program has been out of print for a few years, but I've yet to find an alternative that can do what it does, as easily as it does it.  For instance I can copy a web page, paste it on Kompozer, delete stuff I don't want , and then copy the source code for posting.  I am certain that other programs exist that are one-up, but none are better than the woman you know. Paint Shop Pro - Because I've used it since PSP 1.  Even though I own Corel PSP X5, I use X3 because it does what I want . And isn't buggy. That's it.  I only need those three. Unless I want to get into the movie business again, and then it's ShowBiz, because I know it. ~ Aside- All this could have been resolved.  JW the computer geek set me up with a lovely Windows 7  installation package.  All I had to do was install it on my 3T disk.  But, oh no.  I decided I didn't like that disk for, various reasons, and prepared to send it back to Amazon while my 30 days was still  active.  Took it out, and then thought, what the hell?  I have all that Linux stuff that Jimmy from  Montana helped me with, and I wanted it erased.  So I put the drive back in and—while most of you will never see this—if you fry your computer guts by being careless about static electricity, say,  the computer will start flashing an orange light.  That's what I got.  So I hauled it over to JW geek, and he will try to find out to what exactly was fried, and is it fixable.  That's what I get for trying to land between two cotton wood trees on an open prairie. Again.

One makes sense

Rollover bitch-slap

Makes more sense

A Joke

Obama, Queen Elizabeth, and Vladimir Putin all die and go to hell. While there, they spy a red phone and ask what the phone is for. The devil tells them it is for calling back to Earth. Putin asks to call Russia and talks for 5 minutes. When he is finished, the devil informs him that the cost is a million dollars, so Putin writes him a check. Next Queen Elizabeth calls England and talks for 30 minutes. When she is finished, the devil informs her that the cost is 6 million dollars, so she writes him a check. Finally Obama gets his turn and talks for 4 hours. When he is finished, the devil informs him that the cost is $5.00. When Putin hears this, he goes ballistic and asks the devil why Obama got to call the USA so cheaply. The devil smiles and replies, “Since he took over, the country's gone to hell, so it's a local call.

cuzzin ricky (from my iPad

The will to fight

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Does the Right believe it's right? Limbaugh's column [Has the Right lost its will to fight?] follows an op-ed posted earlier this week on washingtonexaminer.com by Americans for Limited Government Vice President Richard Manning [Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson lifts veil on Establishment GOP's Stockholm Syndrome]. Manning tore into former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson for criticizing Tea Party conservatives who, he claims, seek "to break with the past in a very different manner - repudiating 80 years of institutional development and reinventing American as a nation that rejects the substantive role for regulation or a social safety net.” In other words, Gerson implied that the Right should simply accept the steady centralization of government and erosion of individual liberty caused by the "progressive" policies of Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, FDR, LBJ and Barack Obama. Outraged, Manning argues that the GOP should utterly reject "the Regulatory State [that] is killing our nation, destroying the very concept of private property and consigning us into a Kafkaesque world ruled by an army of Lois Lerner clones." Can the GOP survive itself? The Limbaugh-Gerson-Manning debate points to what is likely to be the defining issue of the post-2014 state of American politics. By over-reaching across the domestic policy board, Obama has all-but discredited Big Government as a viable governing agenda. The ugly consequences are accelerating as his second term enters its terminal phase. That reality makes the debate within and without the GOP over repealing or reforming the wreckage of the progressive era the decisive discussion in American politics for years to come. Participants and observers should act accordingly.  [Full Do Republicans want to repeal Democrats' disastrous Big Government or surrender to it?] Even as I gobbled up everything George Will wrote in the 80s and 90s, there was an undercurrent of liking big government too much that bothered me.  And George Will back then was pretty much the voice of conservatism.  Both Bush 41 and 43 were somehow able to incorporate big government into their brand of conservatism.  It was worrisome.  The Blogger "Spoons" and I argued over which of us had been the first person to call for Dubya's impeachment -- in early 2001! because of his proliferate spending (I'm sure it was me).  That canker blossom  has burst ,and there's pus everywhere.

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Greeper

Oh My  is he a teenager already?

Happy son  #2 Birthday His  mom's looks and brains; my irascibility

Making the best of things

Oh My

This is real time fun .  I'm in for some tests and this is Tricia , the tech that does my pet scan. She's quite pretty, and over the past two years we've become familiar - in a proper way .    Since it takes 45 min for the dye to insinuate itself., I asked her to belly dance for me.  Life is good.

Agents provocateurs

I should make a sign that says Democrats for Romney. Just as truthful. Reminds me of when GHWBush was speaking at a college as an ambassador to the UN that Noam Chomsky suggested that instead of protesting his presence that they should instead dress up as KKK and have signs that say they support Bush and sit in the audience. It was effective. thoR~!

Condel in a right moment

Pat Condel is a piece of work.  When we were students at Eton I would regularly thrash him for being a general arsehole, just to keep in shape.  Still, even a "broken-clock," wot?  As General Petty Officer 5th Class Skyhawker Doug is wont to say,"He's [at times] serious when he is funny and he is funny when he is serious. This is one of those times.  BTW, this rant is four years old, but it's testament to how hidebound and predictable Islamos are that it is still fresh as daisy.

Worst President Ever (Chicago)

But, other than that?

Obama on line one ...

"Hi. This is the President. Is Senator Schumer in?" "Not today, sir. This is Yom Kippur." "Well hello, Yom. Can I leave a message?" Metzger

Gammy's Douche Formula Revived

Today's PSA

Very Orwellian, wot?

Today's Irony

My Eyes

They're all lovely, of course ...

..  but this is one area in critical need of some serious upscaled recruiting  Like maybe someone with a waist?

Brownie Cup

Oh My

NomNomNom

Hippy Fruit

JFC!

Rejouy

When Andrew Sullivan speaks ...

“	One of these profiles stands up under scrutiny — and one indulges in psycobabble	”

If it's Islamo it must be bullshit

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Talk about bad luck! By Thomas Lifson From De Lowe in Israel, we learn of this amazing run of bad luck. Pictures show that the same family that was killed in Syria by Assad, was also killed by IDF bombing Gaza few days ago, according to Arab media. skoonjer

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That and $5 will buy a cup of coffee, but still ..

NCAA Basketball Power Rankings: Big Ten’s Top 5 Sports Illustrated

Obama's War on Success

Limbaugh is right about Obama’s war on suburbs

Next- Eric Holder?

The news is even worse for Lerner personally, whose pension would be defunded under the House passed legislation so long as she remains in contempt of Congress. Eric Holder would also qualify

Answering the New Atheism,

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Liars and Other Progressives Last December I was trying to empty my bucket by finally reading Augustine's Confessions.  I landed on "Spark Notes," which  in turn led me to auditing on-line Yale classes  (philosophy, music and the Old and New Testaments).  While having attended parochial schools until mid-high school, my only prior exposure to the Old Testament was a literature class in college. (It's only been since Vatican ll that the Catholic church have fully incorporated the Bible into the mass, etc.  Or, maybe I just wasn't paying attention? ) Anyway,  after a long sojourn, I concluded from the Yale course that despite protestation to the contrary, the professors had an agenda.  A leftist agenda.  Coincidentally, a new parish priest, who holds a PhD in Bible and Theology (and is  a real dynamo), began holding Bible study that was way, way over my ken.  That led me into independent study where I became acquainted with Dr. Scot Hahn.  He has two things going for him.  1.) He (an ex Presbyterian Minister) is a fabulous speaker and 2.) I can hear him (meaning I don't need earphones or CC).  Over last week-end I happened upon Answering the New Atheism, which pretty much would parallel  "Answering the New Left Wing MoFO Progressives." For what it's worth.

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Deep Thoughts

True Love Tale Here Boss

scroll  Let's say a guy named Fred is attracted to a woman named Martha. He asks her out to a movie; she accepts; they have a pretty good time. A few nights later he asks her out to dinner, and again they enjoy themselves. They continue to see each other regularly, and after a while neither one of them is seeing anybody else.  And then, one evening when they're driving home, a thought occurs to Martha, and, without really thinking, she says it aloud: "Do you realize that, as of tonight, we've been seeing each other for exactly six months?"  And then, there is silence in the car.  To Martha, it seems like a very loud silence. She thinks to herself: I wonder if it bothers him that I said that. Maybe he's been feeling confined by our relationship; maybe he thinks I'm trying to push him into some kind of obligation that he doesn't want, or isn't sure of.  And Fred is thinking: Gosh. Six months.  And Martha is thinking: But, hey, I'm not so sure I want this kind of relationship either. Sometimes I wish I had a little more space, so I'd have time to think about whether I really want us to keep going the way we are, moving steadily towards, I mean, where are we going? Are we just going to keep seeing each other at this level of intimacy? Are we heading toward marriage? Toward children? Toward a lifetime together? Am I ready for that level of commitment? Do I really even know this person?  And Fred is thinking: ...so that means it was...let's see...February when we started going out, which was right after I had the car at the dealer's, which means...lemme check the odometer...Whoa! I am way overdue for an oil change here.  And Martha is thinking: He's upset. I can see it on his face. Maybe I'm reading this completely wrong. Maybe he wants more from our relationship, more intimacy, more commitment; maybe he has sensed - even before I sensed it - that I was feeling some reservations. Yes, I bet that's it. That's why he's so reluctant to say anything about his own feelings. He's afraid of being rejected.   And Fred is thinking: And I'm gonna have them look at the transmission again. I don't care what those morons say, it's still not shifting right. And they better not try to blame it on the cold weather this time. What cold weather? It's 87 degrees out, and this thing is shifting like a garbage truck, and I paid those incompetent thieves $600.  And Martha is thinking: He's angry. And I don't blame him. I'd be angry, too. I feel so guilty, putting him through this, but I can't help the way I feel. I'm just not sure.  And Fred is thinking: They'll probably say it's only a 90-day warranty...scumballs.  And Martha is thinking: Maybe I'm just too idealistic, waiting for a knight to come riding up on his white horse, when I'm sitting right next to a perfectly good person, a person I enjoy being with, a person I truly do care about, a person who seems to truly care about me. A person who is in pain because of my self-centered, schoolgirl romantic fantasy.  And Fred is thinking: Warranty? They want a warranty? I'll give them a warranty. I'll take their warranty and stick it right up their...  "Fred," Martha says aloud.  "What?" says Fred, startled.  "Please don't torture yourself like this," she says, her eyes beginning to brim with tears. "Maybe I should never have...oh dear, I feel so..."(She breaks down, sobbing.)  "What?" says Fred.  "I'm such a fool," Martha sobs. "I mean, I know there's no knight. I really know that. It's silly. There's no knight, and there's no horse."  "There's no horse?" says Fred.  "You think I'm a fool, don't you?" Martha says.  "No!" says Fred, glad to finally know the correct answer.  "It's just that...it's that I...I need some time," Martha says.  (There is a 15-second pause while Fred, thinking as fast as he can, tries to come up with a safe response. Finally he comes up with one that he thinks might work.)  "Yes," he says. (Martha, deeply moved, touches his hand.)  "Oh, Fred, do you really feel that way?" she says.  "What way?" says Fred.  "That way about time," says Martha.  "Oh," says Fred. "Yes." (Martha turns to face him and gazes deeply into his eyes, causing him to become very nervous about what she might say next, especially if it involves a horse. At last she speaks.)  "Thank you, Fred," she says.  "Thank you," says Fred.  Then he takes her home, and she lies on her bed, a conflicted, tortured soul, and weeps until dawn, whereas when Fred gets back to his place, he opens a bag of Doritos, turns on the TV, and immediately becomes deeply involved in a rerun of a college basketball game between two South Dakota junior colleges that he has never heard of. A tiny voice in the far recesses of his mind tells him that something major was going on back there in the car, but he is pretty sure there is no way he would ever understand what, and so he figures it's better if he doesn't think about it.  The next day Martha will call her closest friend, or perhaps two of them, and they will talk about this situation for six straight hours. In painstaking detail, they will analyze everything she said and everything he said, going over it time and time again, exploring every word, expression, and gesture for nuances of meaning, considering every possible ramification.  They will continue to discuss this subject, off and on, for weeks, maybe months, never reaching any definite conclusions, but never getting bored with it either.  Meanwhile, Fred, while playing racquetball one day with a mutual friend of his and Martha's, will pause just before serving, frown, and say: "Norm, did Martha ever own a horse?"  And that's the difference between men and women. There are so many variations of this that it must be true.  And it is.  Of course,  she grows up and votes a straight Democrat ticket because she's, well, a deep thinker. Tim W

Obama's Private Army

Police State          TEXT   ARMED HOMELAND SECURITY AGENTS IN ‘COMMUNITY OUTREACH’ TO “LET PEOPLE KNOW THEY’RE IN THE AREA” The visible presence of armed federal agents for no other reason than to represent a show of force will only deepen concerns that the Department of Homeland Security is becoming America’s domestic standing army, a notion posited by the Rutherford Institute’s John Whitehead in a widely circulated article last month.  “The menace of a national police force, aka a standing army, vested with so much power cannot be overstated, nor can its danger be ignored,” wrote Whitehead, before listing numerous examples of how the DHS is instrumental in pushing America’s decline into a militarized police state.

Jet Shot Down

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Not this again ... Shot down by a missile, LOL.  This below is almost certainly what happened. After a four year investigation of the very similar TWA Flt. 800 "missile attack,"  the FBI, the NTSB, and a  CIA animation proved that it was caused by a faulty fuel cell. Same here with the Ukraine.   Sheesh. Putin, or other terrorists, had nothing to do with it. Sheesh.  The four-year NTSB investigation concluded with the approval of the Aircraft Accident Report on August 23, 2000, ending the most extensive, complex, and costly air disaster investigation in U.S. history.[8][9] The report's conclusion was that the probable cause of the accident was an explosion of flammable fuel/air vapors in a fuel tank, and, although it could not be determined with certainty, the most likely cause of the explosion was a short circuit.[10] As a result of the investigation, new requirements were developed for aircraft to prevent future fuel tank explosions.[11] [TWA Flight 800]

Women at War

Oh My

T-Bone Smith