Month: April 2021

More Blind Followers

Griz4 Comments

There have been a few times when I have posted about blind followership. I see some with the Dems, but mostly with the GQP. Yes, GQP, since they seems to have adopted conspiracy theories as a way of life. Now we see it with the Chauvin verdict. He they come, crawling out of the woodwork to cry out how terrible that JUSTICE WAS FUCKIN SERVED.

What damned trial were they watching?!?

Oh! Wait… the trial consisted of facts, not alt-facts as the former Turd-In-Chief used to dole out and all of his toe lickers would applaud him for. Sorry Tucker Carlson, your three quarter stupid, deer in the headlights look will not help you. You were seen being just as much of a fool as the flock of brainless twits that listen oh so intently to you.

Yes, former officer Chauvin was entitled to an attorney… he damned well needed one. He really didn’t have a defense to be put forward, but his attorneys did the best that they could with the utter shit hand that they were dealt.

I saw many people online boo hooing about how this was such a travesty and the case was being decided by public opinion. We ALLLLL saw what former officer puss-wad did. In the end, will he sound like the end of every Scooby Doo show at the unmasking? I would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn’t have been for you meddling kids. Those meddling kids were the minors who witnessed and recorded the incident. Their courage to stand for what was right needs to be lauded.

Had the murder of George Floyd not been captured so well on mobile devices, Chauvin would have likely gotten swept under the rug like all too many that we have seen in my lifetime and the lifetimes of those before me.

Today, the world wonders if this is the turning of a new leaf or just a lucky stroke in the favor of the oppressed. I would like to think that it is a new trend in holding the police accountable for their actions.

Do I hate the police? No! I respect the hell out of most cops. I have interacted with so many great, caring, and compassionate officers, that it helps overpower the interactions that I have had with some scuzz balls. The trend that we need to see, is the falling on the blue wall. Officer need to out the blue sludge from their ranks. Stand tall and help make their badges shine brightly. People don’t go into policing for the piles of cash, because they do not exist. They put their lives on the line having to make life and death decisions all too often. They have to stand holding back protesters that they may even share the views of just because it is their job, just as much as it was for the defense attorney in the Chauvin case. When you interact with a cop, I suggest that you start with SOME level of respect. If not for the badge, then the human being that is wearing it. Let their actions in your presence determine where that respect level goes. You know know, with an open mind, it could be a good experience. I have had cops cite me for things that I fully earned. It wasn’t a hey you pig, fuck off and take that ticket with you… I have debated positions, but with respect even if they could not see it at the moment. When that ticket book, or cuffs come out, the debate/fight is over. Since I am white, the advice given by the ALCU will probably work. Keep your mouth shut and comply and file complaints after. Life to fight another day. I used to believe that if people of color just complied with the cops’ instructions that they would enjoy the same rights. I had THOUGHT that we had come farther than that over the 50+ years of my life. The last five years or more have taught me that my brothers and sisters with different skin tones do not have the same experience. I am deeply sorry that it is the case.

I utterly reject and despise the concept of ACAB. No not all cops are bad… not even close, but the pain that those that are bad… make it hard to forget the good.

In the end, do not blindly follow that thin blue line, it will take you to an ugly place. Watch the events with open eyes and hopefully an open heart so that you may see things for how they really are. If you see wrongs being done, have the courage to stand up and call it out.

Switching back to IntenseDebate

Griz3 Comments

I am moving our commenting system back to IntenseDebate. It seems to be more effective than the previous system. Yes, it was nice to have more login options and I hope that IntenseDebate will work on that.

When I brought IntenseDebate back up, I was reminded of the loss of our dear BadCat. It will be sad to see her name drop from the list of top commenters over time. She was such an integral part of this group.

What am I working on?

Griz

It occured to me the other day that part of why my mind is so busy, is that on top of all of the day to day stuff going on… I have five websites that I am working on.

This one of course

https://www.smishues.com/ A crafts store along with my silk-screening when I get the press ready to run again. The shopping cart is in and I have a merchant account for it. Now to get the content in place and it will be ready for sales.

https://cyber.pissedoffpirate.com/ My cyber education page

https://www.myconfession.online/ This is a theological confessional in progress.

https://afterdark.myconfession.online/ An adult themed confessional for whatever a person may need to get off of their chests including fantasies.

Police Debate

Griz

We have a ton of debate to defund the police, or disband the police, some support the police…

Me, I support the police until the individual officers do something that proves that they are not worthy of the badge. Qualified immunity needs to go. We are held accountable for what we do, they should be held accountable too.

Now, we are starting to get a push to get the police to not perform traffic stops because a nit wit got confused and shot a guy who was trying to escape.

Sorry dude, but you are dead because you were stupid. Do not fight with the cops. Do not try to run from that fight either. Fatal stupidity. Yes, he was barely an adult and he will not learn from the mistake. Should he have been shot? No, the intended tasing should have been sufficient. Does it rise to the level of the charges that the cop got? hard to say, I will leave that one to the jury to decide.

Our police departments are partially to blame for what is happening to society. The people out running around are acting as though there are no consequences for their actions. When I first got my license, I got popped for speeding on my way to work. Yes I was in a hurry. Yes, I was going too fast. You know what? It made my more mindful of my speeds. I have only had a few speeding tickets in my life and one of them I very MUCH earned.

Watch the drivers around you. Look at all of the stupid shit that they do. They do not care about anyone but themselves. They are not planning their trip to make sure that they get a decent lane in time to avoid an ugly merge issue. This zipper bullshit is a great way to meet me as I plow into the side of your car when you FAIL TO FUCKING YIELD. I really hope that my dash cam is able to pick up the look of sheer terror and disbelief on impacts as well. The cab of your nice little sports car will look like a damn marshmallow factory exploded with all those air bogs going off. Yes, I would post it all over social media for the world to enjoy as well. Try me.

Should a minor object such as an air freshener be a primary offense to allow for a cop to pull you over? Nope! It certainly can be a secondary offense. In my state, you must have and use a litter bag in your car. Will they pull you over for it? Nope, but they will site you. If your car is clean, they will probably just mention it. If you have all kinds of crap that would likely fall out when opening a door, you may well get cited.

Odd Windows Update

Griz

I am not sure why, but on two machines in my network (both the same hardware and OS) just got this weeks update and could not connect to the wifi.

We bounced the connection, rebooted the machines, ran the troubleshooter (like that is ever helpful) and nothing brought the machines back.

We then rebooted the wireless which has other devices working just fine.

Boom, back online. No logic is coming to our minds.

The Clocktower

Griz

For anyone looking at the moment, you will see a new menu item at the top of the screen.

I have the pleasure of bringing Gatt to the site as an author. His writing stylings are one that I have respected for many years. I may not be in alignment with aspects, but he makes me think, openly and respectfully.

His content will be appearing as he has time. He may add to the Clocktower section or here in the blog posts.

Transgender Athletes

Griz

Let me start this one off as I am in full support for LGBTQ individuals and equality. We need to follow our heart on who we are. I am not judging at all. If I slip in some terminology along the way, feel free to correct me in comments or direct contact. I am trying to be the best me that I can be, but I am an old school human. With that being said, I do not have an answer for how to have an equal playing field when it comes to athletic competitions with respect to those undergoing changes. Those who were born with a male physique tend to have more brute strength than those with a feminine physique.

Let’s go back a lifetime or two, my youth (while I speak stereotypically from that time). Guys did not try out for girls teams, it would have been an unfair advantage on a physical level. Girls now and then would go for sports that did not have a female equivalent team. I remember in my high school wrestling days when there were a few girls that wanted to wrestle. it put the guys in a lose/lose situation. If they won the match, then they had only beaten a girl… and thus didn’t really win. If they lost, then they lost to a girl… That was after they already had to grapple with being in close physical contact with a girl to begin with. Then add in their hormones and being all out awkward. Now in football, there were some really good girls playing football as quarterback. They were very rare, but there were a few that did it.

Coming back to current day we have a different situation. As we strive for equality in all realms, we see sports being targeted. There is a big flap over transgendered athletes who may be gaming the system. Individuals that were male at birth that may be pharmaceutically changing gender to gain an advantage in ladies sports. Is this a rising problem? How many people are doing this? I have no idea what so ever. I suspect that it is very rare, but it is enough to get the ret hats riled and that is really what brought my attention to it beyond a level of “huh, that doesn’t seem fair” level of thought.

All kids should have the opportunity to participate in sports if they are physically able to do so. Obviously if you were not born with all of your limbs, some sports may be a bit rough if not impractical to perform. I am not saying that they can’t, just that it will be very hard to complete.

How do you make it fair for all parties involved? Most of these kids (into their young adulthood) just want to enjoy the sport, and the competitive factor. Others really hope that it will buy them a scholarship to school and it may be their best chance to get a full education.

I do not want to exclude people by saying that one must compete in their birth assigned gender, but outside of that I do not have any ideas on keeping this fair for all. I would love to hear ideas on it, provided that they can remain respectful.

What Pissed Me Off Today?

Griz

Anyone who has been with or around me for any period of time knows that I enjoy debate. To be more specific I engage in respectful debate.

This morning a lifelong friend had a meme with a cartoon image of a protester bearing a picket stating “Cops aren’t supposed to kill guilty people either.”

Okay cool, the sentiment is clearly well intended.

My response was “sometimes we just chalk it up as a cost cutting measure as well as preventing recidivism. It is a case by case basis.”

It started going sideways when I stood by it not being sarcasm.

The consensus of the group was that I was arrogant, wrong, privileged, unamerican, and a few other things. In the end I was silenced so I stepped away from their [what is the non-sexist version of a hen-fest? oh. I got it…] self congratulating clusterfuck.

I am on the whole quite liberal, but I do have some conservative marbling. Those issues where I am not fully to the left. I am also pretty unapologetic about it. Don’t go pearl clutching if I am not so far to the left that I set the new standard for how radical one can be.

I do not appreciate being vilified while engaging in a civil discourse. If a person B disagrees with the position of person A, they can discuss it, find common ground, learn, or back away with the understanding that they are not going to meet eye to eye on a subject.

I was infantry and my major when I got out was criminal justice administration. One would think that it would cause a bias toward the cops. Well let’s take a moment to realize that the reason that I started studying law was the night that my biker mother was illegally frisked [groped?] by a Vancouver cop while I was in junior high. Yes it was a long time ago, but it was a watershed moment in my life.

Circling back to the impetus of this post, do I think that cops should be randomly executing people? Hell no! Should we have a judicial system handle case to ensure that the rights of the people are protected while they face the allegations against them? hell yes!

If suspect A has barricaded himself in a mall corridor after killing seven people in the food court and is killed during an exchange of gunfire with the police… while I shed a tear. Fuck no! There are plenty of instances where I will not shed a tear while a body bag is being zipped up.

Harm my family and see how torn up I get when the M.E. carts your stupid ass away. Show up in my bedroom in the middle of the night without my knowledge… When you enter my home without my consent or harm me or my loved ones, you forfeit your rights to maintain a pulse. Yes, I have been arrested, no it does not scare me. Get over it, I know that I will.

No, our cops are not judges. That is not their part of separation of duties. That have largely been reduced to a glorified taxi driver. Many hate them, many love them, and me… I afford respect to all officers until they give be reason to start reducing my levels of respect.

AdSense

Griz

Looks like I need to do some tweaking to the AdSense settings.

The banner at the top is too big… the footer is not a big deal, but I would like it to be more discrete like the header ad SHOULD be.

Fauci Ouchie

Griz

Tomorrow, my wife and I get to receive our first Fauci Ouchie.

I know that many are deniers, others, just skeptical.

We… are optimistic. It sure as hell beats waiting around for this crap to go away. It just isn’t doing as T-Rump said. It is far bigger, and more complex that he was willing to either understand, or believe.

We will have to wait to see how the mutations do and the boosters to this shot come along. It is clearly too complex to be a one time shot and call it good.

It is even more evident that this cannot be the case with so many that are too stupid to wear a fuckin mask or stay out of public if they cannot manage that simple courtesy towards others.

So let’s all be smart, do the right things, and have friends, family, and hugs for the 4th of July.