Bye-bye 2020 II...

 

May Day, 2018

This about sums it up:

This #MayDay, hundreds of thousands of protesters across the world will fly the flag of communist dictators who have butchered millions, demand a more authoritarian government, and be praised by the media for doing so. pic.twitter.com/bgDBcVEKEd

— Far Left Watch (@FarLeftWatch) May 1, 2018

Alabama

Expanded upon from elsewhere, because, as Tamara likes to say, why waste it at an away game?

I'm laughing at all the people acting like Roy Moore was the GOP-anointed candidate for Alabama's Senator.

They clearly paid no attention to this race until last week.

I have spent little time in Alabama, too little to parse these events from the POV of a resident of The Heart of Dixie, but I have some thoughts on what this means, (some supplied or inspired by others):

• The US Senate is now 51 (R) 49 (D). 
• Since Harry Reid introduced "The Nuclear Option", this means less than it might.
• Long will be a two-year Senator. Alabama is still the reddest of states
• The Ds cannot, now, accuse the Rs of harboring a pedophile. (Whether you believe those claims about Moore or not.) I expect Franken will be out in the coming days, not weeks.
• Steve Bannon's influence is much diminished, if not completely eliminated. He owns this.
• I've been seeing items to the effect that Mike Pence, not Donald Trump, is the head of the GOP. 
• Normally, the sitting president is considered the head of the party, but Obama had little or no interest (or was an even bigger SCOAMF than we thought) and Trump has little or no influence over the GOP, being an outsider. (Arguably, being an outsider is what got him elected.) 
• So the question is, can Mike Pence take the bull by the horns elephant by the tusks and force them into a coherent, effective strategy?
• The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution should be repealed. 
• Ironically, it was implemented in Alabama before it became national...
• Any suggestion that the mainstream media is even remotely impartial and unbiased should be met with derision and howls of laughter, followed by "...oh, wait. You're serious. Maybe you should get that looked at." 
• (Addendum)  Part of the objection to Roy Moore seems to be that he was removed from the bench for allowing his religious convictions to interfere with his judicial decisions.
• If Judicial activism is wrong for Conservative Christians, it is wrong for Progressive... Progressives. 
• Granted if it wasn't for double standards the left would have no standards at all.
• Time for a revival of A Man For All Seasons, perhaps. (I prefer the Charlton Heston version, for esthetic reasons. The Scoville version is probably more likely to get a hearing these days, though...)

I have no great love for Trump, but he is still a vast improvement over either Sanders or (shudder!) Clinton.

I have even less love for Roy Moore. His emails go directly to my spam folder, where they belong.

I don't know if his personal politics go over well in Alabama these days, but I do know they do not play well on the national stage. (FWIW, I noted that while in Alabama this past September on my way to Florida for a date with Irma, I saw only one sign for Judge Moore, and that was handmade.)

I'm not sure the fact that he has (or had) a habit of dating women young enough to be his daughters matters; I note that the "evidence" of his one alleged relationship with an underage woman is, to say the least, dubious. (And is now admitted to have been altered. Anyone who actually used the term "pedophile" should probably be leery of lawsuits, just sayin'...)

I do know that this election in and of itself is not a great victory for the left, and hardly spells the death knell for the right. There are aspects of this election, however, that could be symptoms of just what is wrong with politics in the USA.

I am glad I live in a country where we can hash these things out in public without resorting to wholesale violence.

So far.

"Down mit Kapitalism!"

Ooh, great selfie, bro...

Self-absorbed fascists in Hamburg

And here we thought the Occupy Wall Street cry bullies were pathetic...

Dear NRA: WTF is wrong with you?!

Got wind of this, so I had to look for myself:
NRA Carry Guard | Register

*NOTE: NRA Carry Guard Level One is designed for training with a semi-automatic handgun (Glock 19/17, Sig P226/P228 or equivalent). We will not allow revolvers or 1911s as your primary firearm in this class.

Emphasis in original.

You idiots. You dolts. You elitists. This course already costs far more than the vast majority of gun-owning and -carrying Americans is willing to spend on anything, and you want to limit it that bad?

And just what is the person who only owns one gun to do, if that one gun happens to be a 1911 or a revolver?

And just WTF is wrong with a 1911 or a revolver for self-defense?

You already shot yourselves in the foot by  giving every appearance of having ripped off the US Concealed Carry Associations business model, and now this?

I can't help think the planning meeting went something like "Hey, let's give our grass roots a new reason to wish we weren't on their side!"

Clearly...

"Socialist Worker Peasant's Paradise" ≠ "Paradise".

This is why American tourists don’t want to travel to Cuba - MarketWatch

Indeed, the initial excitement about the formerly closed off country gave way to moral dilemmas over food shortages and other problems caused by tourism, as well as disappointment over limited working internet, lower hotel standards, and lack of running water there. The Allianz study found lack of travel infrastructure was a major cause of anxiety about traveling to Cuba for 13% of Americans.

The slide in demand has led a number of airlines to reduce or completely eliminate flights to the country...

Sumers suggested confusion over the approved reasons to go to Cuba is keeping the average American visitor away still. As of May 2017, visitors to the country have to select one of 12 categories for their visit, which include religious activities, humanitarian projects, “support for the Cuban people,” and journalistic activities. “You can’t go to Cuba to sit on the beach and have fun and that’s what Americans like to do on vacation,” he said. “Cuba is a bit of an outlier still — it is not easy to visit and for a lot of people it’s still a pain. You have to really want to go there.”

...

Cuba has a long way to go before it’s suitable for many high-maintenance American tourists. “This will come with certain expectations: Americans expect that cell phones will work, credit cards will work, and that access to internet won’t be limited,” ...

(Emphasis added.)

So, let me get this straight, you want my money, in exchange for not letting me do what I like to do on vacation? And you can't (or won't) let me stay in touch with the folks back home?

I talked the other day with a co-worker about a recent (Trans-Panama Canal) cruise she went on, and she's already excited about the Cuba cruise she is planning to sign on for: "Just waiting for a bargain rate." A cruise may be the way to do that, since you are not reliant on the "tourism infrastructure",  although it sounds like the Cubans are very insistent about the excursions allowed. (I.e., you have to go on their excursions. But then, it's a Socialist Worker Peasant's paradise, what other excursions are there...?)

I had heard that Cuba was a popular destination for Canadians and Europeans who wanted fun in the sun sans Yankees. Now I'm wondering if that was exaggerated.

I must be slowing down

Today an employee -- not one of mine, but a Salt Mines employee -- told me his hours in military time.

He then apologized for using military time.

And explained what military time is.

And translated "1300 hours" for me.

I managed not to reach through the phone and choke him.

Or direct him to address me as "First Sergeant."

Or tell him I was using military time when his father was trying to figure out what number Mickey's Big Hand was pointing at.

Told one of my colleagues about this and she said "It's like I don't even know you anymore."

I suppose I can cite this the next time someone tells me I need to ease up on the staff...

Earworm, 04/01/2017 -- Fed Up Edition

So, I haven't discussed my new job... and I'm not going to.

But I keep running into situations where my training was rushed, partly because they needed me to take over a shift, and partly because (in all modesty) they figured I was good enough to hit the ground running and do the job.

And, (again, in all modesty) mostly they've been right, except I keep finding things they never told me.

So last night a semi-annual report needs to be run, and I do. I've used this report before, and it was a pain in the fourth point of contact, because it's always been sorted on the wrong parameter. Maybe the choice didn't exist before, but now it does, so I sort it in numerical order by account number instead of alphabetical order by division or department, because there are too many divisions within each department, and many of the divisions across different departments have similar names, so, in the words of a colleague, you'd tell a customer to go for coffee while you find their account.

She added "You're the first person to make this report usable!"

Naturally, I got bitched at for doing it wrong.

So...

Oh, Internet, you so crazy!

President Cheetoh has been in office for 2 and a half days and already I am seeing "Rate President Trump!" links on various and sundry web sites.

#TrendingOnTwitter

#trudeaueulogy - Twitter Search

So, Canada had to elect their own SCOAMF, and now he's a world-wide laughing stock because he failed to realize that nil nisi bonum doesn't mean you should praise the evil dead.

We mourn the death of Vlad the Impaler, who spearheaded initiatives which touched the hearts of millions. #TrudeauEulogies #trudeaueulogy pic.twitter.com/z1pznoHj7P

— Conservosaurus (@conservosaurus) November 26, 2016

Odds & Ends

• New rule: No gun stores the weekend before a Presidential Election.
• Addendum to new rule: Especially if a Shooting Legend is going to be there.
• So I guess I'll pass on meeting Jerry Miculek  for this year.
•  WA went to 100% mail-in ballots. King County sets up drop-off boxes around the county; I dropped mine off on the way to not meet Jerry Miculek.
• The only debate, for me, is whether this is more or less subject to fraud than electronic ballots.
• {Rant about voter fraud/posthumous voting/no ID required deleted}
• Among items on the ballot is an initiative for "extreme protective orders" which would lead to anonymous callers having one's guns confiscated "temporarily".
• This thing is written so poorly that the ACLU has taken a stand on a gun control
• Always fun  to see the political parties claimed by th denizens of Seattle.
• The "Revolution and Liberation Party" is a new one on me.
• Sad the see the Karmic Flying party has disappeared.
• Sort of. 
• Started a new position in The Salt Mines this week, my first desk job in ages.
• When they brought me on, passing mention was made to emergency planning, mostly in the context of amateur radio...
• One week in, and yesterday they dropped all emergency planning in the state in my lap.
• I have a week to revise everything.
• I can barely remember how to get to the new office; IT still hasn't granted me access to all the web sites I'm supposed to use.
• Go home, State of Washington, you're drunk:
• DOC: Convicted criminals should no longer be called 'offenders' | KIRO-TV
• Washington state elector says he won't vote for Clinton | KIRO-TV
• Good for him, but he'd better watch his back, lest he commit suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head. Twice. 
• Just sayin'.

It'll totally work this time, now the right people are in charge!

Obama administration pushes banks to make home loans to people with weaker credit - The Washington Post


h/t Tam 

Stop the derp!

So, elsewhere on the Internet, in a discussion of defense training for folks in the education business, someone trotted out the hoary chestnut "Just keep a can of wasp spray on your desk!"

I didn't like that advice the first time I heard it, on the basis that spraying folks with nerve agent seemed like a bad idea. If you need a less than lethal option, OC spray or Mace, or even one of those crappy stun guns they sell everywhere, would seem like a better idea.

Why? Because the label tells you not to use in an enclosed space, or to evacuate an enclosed space before use. Because these products generally have a warning that says something like "Illegal to use in a manner inconsistent with this labeling" as part of the safety precautions.  Because of the possibility of some lawyer standing up in a courtroom and reading the label of the can, and challenging any suggestion that it was "less than lethal". Since you gave and/or took advice that this was useful as a self-defense tool, the issue of liability is greater than I was comfortable with.

Mind you, if you're attacked by a gang while spraying that wasp nest in the back year, it's what you have and they have it coming, but deliberately arming yourself with a bug bomb seems questionable.

I suppose the reason that wasp spray specifically gets recommended is that it shoots what seems to be a powerful stream for a relatively long range, and the target will curl up and drop when hit. It's a (relatively) little bitty bug, hit by a stream that is powerful relative to it's size, and formulated to it's biology.

So when someone said "Wasp Spray", I mentioned that I thought it was a bad idea, and sat back with a metaphorical bowl of popcorn and waited for the experts.

They did not disappoint:
Wasp spray for self defense? This myth just won’t die! – www.GrantCunningham.com

You should read the whole thing, but:

The concentration of pyrethrins in a typical wasp spray isn’t all that high, but the amount of material in the stream which hits the insect may weigh as much as it does; even in a small concentration, the insect will get a huge dose of the poison relative to its weight. The distillates which serve as the carrier are selected to get past the bug’s exoskeleton and deliver the poison very rapidly. The result is the effect described above: the insect loses its ability to control its muscular functions in mid-air and drops to the ground, where it rapidly dies.

When directed at a human, I can tell you from experience this doesn’t happen. As I said at the top, several years ago I managed to spray myself in the face with some wasp spray as I attempted to snuff out a large nest. I wasn’t looking at the can as I shifted my grip to get the spray into an difficult place, and I was wearing gloves so that I couldn’t tell where the button was pointed. Instead of hitting the nest the spray hit my face!

I was in no way incapacitated and had no problem walking into the house, cleaning myself off, and checking the manufacturer’s website for first aid procedures. I did notice some tingling and my vision was a little blurry in one eye for a bit, but that was about the extent of it.

Mr. Cunningham also links to an American Preppers Network article with a detailed discussion of the chemical make-up of wasp spray, and of the differences between OC for humans and for bears, as well as a link to a news item about a couple who tried unsuccessfully to use wasp spray to "repel boarders" during a home invasion.

Plus, this video:

So, spraying wasp spray on a news crew filming the news in a public area put them in such distress they thought it was... windshield washer fluid.

Can we please stop the derp?

This has to be The Onion, right? Right?

Obama's gun control executive order directs Pentagon to make firearms safer, not more lethal - Washington Times

{I}n President Obama’s first foray into small-arms procurement for the armed forces, his Jan. 4 executive order on gun control directs the Pentagon to find ways to make not so much more lethal firearms, but safer ones.

Noting that Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy all expressed personal interest in the Army's issue rifles, Retired Major General Robert Scales told the Washington Times that

“Presidential involvement in small arms has been strategic and game-changing in our history,” said Mr. Scales, a former commandant of the U.S. Army War College. “Obama comes along and tells the Army that, in this administration, money is going into small arms to build — not a deadly weapon, not an effective weapon, not a dominant weapon, not a lifesaving weapon, not a technological cutting-edge weapon — but a weapon that prevents accidental discharge. Give me a break.”

Mr. Obama, who has made reducing gun violence and increasing gun control a top priority, signed a Jan. 4 order that directs the Defense Department, as well as the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, to “Increase research and development efforts.”

A White House fact sheet states: “The Presidential Memorandum directs the departments to conduct or sponsor research into gun safety technology that would reduce the frequency of accidental discharge or unauthorized use of firearms, and improve the tracing of lost or stolen guns. Within 90 days, these agencies must prepare a report outlining a research-and-development strategy designed to expedite the real-world deployment of such technology for use in practice.”

 Because "smart gun" technology is obviously of primary interest to the war fighters. 

Actually, a smart gun would be great for a solider -- as long as it was used to automatically calculate range, hold-over, cross-winds, maybe selection of proper ammunition...

I am shocked, SHOCKED!!!

Gov. Inslee halts Bertha work after sinkhole forms near project - Puget Sound Business Journal

After moving less than 200 feet in the past 10 months, the Bertha tunnel boring machine will stop drilling again.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday ordered tunneling work to halt temporarily after a sinkhole formed near the waterfront earlier in the week – the same day digging stopped after a barge carrying dirt tipped over and spilled into Elliott Bay.

Seattle Tunnel Partners will have to find the cause of the sinkhole and prove the contractor can prevent similar incidents in the future before resuming work, Inslee said. Bertha is scheduled to start drilling under the viaduct in March.

“STP will not be allowed to resume tunneling until their analysis and work plans meet the satisfaction of our experts,” Secretary of Transportation Lynn Peterson said in a statement. “I want to remind everyone that replacing the viaduct is critical to public safety.”

 I predicted at the time this was going to make Boston's Big Dig look like a marvel of efficiency.  (a co-worker from Bahston shrugs and says "Hey, it was only 8 times over budget.")

Looks like I underestimated Seattle's ability to add an element of low farce to municipal incompetence.

UPDATE: Wikipedia is several months behind the news: Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fer Pete's Sake

So, Tamara has this song she wrote, a pastiche on "A Few Of My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music. Tamara's is commonly referred to as "The Fun Show Song", and it's about the joys of going to gun shows.

Ambulance Driver and Squeaky made a music video of it as a Christmas Present for Tamara, which she posted here.

The notorious plagiarists at a certain site noteworthy for their unintentionally ironic use of the word "truth" in the title posted it without attribution; Bobbi has some details at Stop, Thief!. Be it noted that I have no idea about the whole Dead Hooker magazine thing, but since Tamara makes a living as a writer, and a writer owns copyright on the words she puts into certain order, and Dan Zimmerman and that website have infringed copyright before, I think we can certainly state that Dan Zimmerman is an intellectual property thief.

Look, it's all too easy to embed an image or video without attribution. When the copyright holder says "Hey, I own that" you should either replace the embedded code with a link, or (at least) add the proper attribution.

Linoge has a history of the infringements at the truth about the truth about guns and robert farago | walls of the city.

You had one job...

So, I was checking the weather report on Weather Underground, as is my wont, and looking to get an update on how much snow may have fallen in the Cascades, as critical as Cascade snowfall is to municipal water supplies around here, and saw this weather report:

West Already Feeling Impacts of Ajax, First Named Winter Storm of the Season| Weather Underground

Now, personally, I think naming winter storms is pretty dumb, but whatever it takes to draw viewer eyeballs to your TV "meteorologists."

Anyway.

The "news" item includes this:

Washington

The National Weather Service has issued various flood watches, winter storm warnings and high wind watches for the northern half of Washington.
KCPQ out of Seattle-Tacoma is warning drivers to prepare for snowy roads and and possible delays on the Cascade mountain passes on Monday. More than a foot of new snow is expected above 4,000 feet, and 6 to 10″ at Snoqualmie Pass.

When you click the link that purports to go to the "northern half of Washington"?

It takes you to a weather forecast for Washington DC.

So.
Much.
Fail.

Time to reconsider...

In the past I have said that about the only natural disaster we here in Washington State are not subject to is hurricanes.

Yeah.

In rare event, remnants of Pacific hurricane hit Alaska | The Seattle Times

Now, that was yesterday, and today we're getting rained on. A lot. Like, I saw a neighbor lining up animals two by two lot.

Maybe it's unrelated to Hurricane Oho.

But salmon swimming upstream across a road are usually seen on the coast, not here in the megalopolis.

Western Wash. braces for a stormy Saturday

Meantime, most of the forecasts posted online for the day still call for "occasional rain."

Brilliant!

On the drive home from work today I counted at least 3 people standing at the side of the road holding cardboard signs of the "Anything helps" variety within about a quarter mile.

So this does not strike me as a Good Idea:
Kerry: US to accept 85,000 refugees in 2016, 100,000 in 2017 - The Washington Post

This oughta be good...

I've never had any interest in watching this show, but:

Obama to test wilderness skills on Bear Grylls TV show | Reuters

Considering that the man's concept of "wilderness" is slicing into the rough...