Category Archives: Uncategorized

06.02.20
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I CAN’T BREATHE

This situation is just so messed up I don’t even know where to start. My very essence weeps at what I have witnessed. No fellow human being on this planet deserves such an indignity. Such a callous disregard for another human,  a police officer showing a downright hateful and sickening comfort during the act of the murder of a black man. The murderer a white man, along with his three accomplices.

Make no mistake, those other 3 men are just as guilty as the man who held his knee on another mans neck till he would breathe no more. If I and another three men robbed a bank and a person was killed, we would all face the charge of murder for that person. Just because these men are police, that gives them no shelter. They are all guilty, as none of them dared to intervene to stop the murder happening in front of them.

I believe the charge of 3rd degree murder as well as manslaughter was the right call. I do not really believe the intent here was murder (which is what 1st degree charge requires.) It is my feeling it was a case of inflated ego of a cop, who thinks because of his position of power, he feels free to abuse suspects. The kind of guy who gets off on roughing people up, because he carries a badge and a gun.

Warning! This narrative sounds like a B movie plot, but here we go…

Back in my youth (age 16 or 17, I don’t remember now) I was a victim of police brutality. I was set up by a damn narc. He gave me about a gram of weed supposedly a gift. He was curious about the route I would take home. Sensing no animosity or evil nature, I told him the way I’d go home. Well, lo and behold, way out in the country on a lonely road, there was a county cop. The two s.o.b’s pulled me over for no good reason at all really, except they knew I had a recent gift in my pocket. They searched my truck, then they came for me. I had the wee bit of weed in my pocket. I tossed in the woods as far as I could sling it. I knew this was some bullshit.

That’s when they attacked me. They gave me a good roughing up, beating me with their fists and batons. They handcuffed and put me in the back seat of the car. My glasses were knocked off of my face, and I asked one of them would they please pick them up. The reply I got was “what glasses?” Fucking bastard.

Well, they looked and looked for that wee little bit of weed, to no avail, and to my great satisfaction. They finally gave it up and started the drive to take me in. As we were under way they were up front talking shit about me, my family, just whatever, trying to get a rise out of me. I remained silent. It continued. One of them said something nasty about my mother, then said “ain’t that right boy?” (this is the south after all) I remained silent. Again, and louder this time he said, “I said ain’t that right…boy?” I remained silent. Remember we are way out on a country road well after dark…

The cop that was driving, and the main instigator, stopped the car. I was seated on the drivers side in the back seat with my hands cuffed behind me. They both got out, opened up the back doors, and the driver of the car went to town beating on my head and face, while the other prick whacked my feet and legs with his baton at the other end. I took a good licking there, lost a lot of hair, it was longer then. After they had had enough they took me in to the police station. Where they set about charging me with resisting arrest! EDIT: Oh yeah, I just remembered they charged me with resisting and Assault on on officer!

I was like, you have got to be kidding me! Neither of them had a hair out of place and I just had the shit kicked out of me, and they were charging me with resisting arrest. (and assault on an officer) Did I ever tell y’all how I really don’t like cops much?

So I know a little bit about the superman complex. It’s the “I’m a cop with a badge and a gun and you ain’t shit!” thing. I believe solely from my experience this is the case with George Floyd. An asshole of a cop with the superman complex, excercising his self appointed powers of brutality. Except this time it resulted in death. And except this time there were cameras rolling to document the scene.

I don’t know if race was an issue here. I don’t know the cop that did this to Mr. Floyd. He could be a racist as well an an asshole cop. All I know is I have seen first hand what cops can do when race isn’t a factor. With that said, I certainly understand that race is an issue, it has been probably soon after man left the savannah. And it is still an ugly side of humanity today. I get it. I condone peaceful protest wherever it may wish to do so. I wish I was close enough to a protest so I could join them. Even if this killer cop has no racial biases, it is still an issue of race. Because it just is, and has been for far too long. It can, and has to be both. Race, and an asshole cop with a superman complex.

Every bit of my being feels for George Floyd right now. The hell of it is this sort of injustice happens every day, to many people from all walks of life. Thankfully they don’t all end in the death of someone. There is something about cop culture that promotes this sort of behavior from our police. That something needs to be rooted out and gotten rid of. We need a police force that can protect and serve. Not a police force we need to live in fear of. A police force for all of us.

Dredging up this part of my past right now has brough forth some bad vibes. I think I’m going to put on some gloves and go hit the heavy bag for a while. I wasn’t ready to deal with this today, I don’t much care for cops. And less so killer cops.

This all better end in some convictions. It had also better start some serious reform in our police.

Ya’ll stay safe, stay healthy. And whatever you do, don’t piss off the cops.

One more thing, just in case anyone was wondering how a knee to the neck can kill. We all have carotid arteries on both sides of our necks. The knee on the neck is what’s known as a blood choke. You cut the flow of blood to the brain and the victim passes out, soon followed by death, if the choke isn’t released very soon after losing consciousness. I’m pretty sure a cop would know that…

 

EDIT: I was driving this morning and as I don’t care much for radio anymore I put over 300 songs on my phone, with bluetooth I have my own radio station. This song came up and I thought wow. It’s appropriate.

 

05.21.20
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PUT A LITTLE RA IN YOUR LIFE

I don’t know if you guys know who Aron Ra is, In my humble opinion he is an atheist rock star. He has been on the front lines of religious stupidity for decades. He has a huge video library, and a ton of experience battling the stoopid we see every day.

Now he might look like a biker from hell, but he is a no nonsense atheist that has been doing this for a long time.

I gave his site a visit a couple days back, I don’t go there much lately out of pure laziness, or otherwise just too much to do and not enough time to get to it all. I dropped in and caught this wonderful post. I’d like to share.

This line really jumped off the page for me, “Thoughts and prayers are worthless. Two hands working accomplish more than a thousand clasped in prayer.”

…and that “Fourth” paragraph is exactly how I see it. Enjoy.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/reasonadvocates/2020/04/13/atheist-vs-religious-accountability/

05.15.20
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SOME LIKE IT HOT

Some like it cold. Some might not live long enough, to get good and old.

https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2020/05/08/fatal-heat-humidity-emerging/

I can remember way back when I was a younger lad, Me and my pet dinosaur had a great time! 😉

Actually I was a deckhand for a time, working towboats for a couple of years, and while it was always hot out on the tow, with the sun beating down on all of that solid steel, it was often like walking through an oven, the heat at times was stifling. We went through New Orleans, on our way darn near to the gulf one time, and while I was there the heat was incredible. I mean stepping foot out on the deck from an air conditioned boat, you immediately felt the sweat pores open up and the water started flowing. A miserable, beat you down to the ground sort of heat. But we persevered. It’s what tougher than sensible, types do.

Then in my shell digging days, I’d come up from a dive on a day with 110 heat index, and all the water wetting the floor of the boat would be dry in like 10 minutes, the sweat pouring off my nose as I graded shell, the only thing that made it tolerable was knowing I’d be jumping back in the water soon. We persevere.

This was way before the global warming thing was a thing. I have to wonder now, with all of the threats facing humanity, what with Covid 19, and global warming with its intensifying weather extremes, hurricanes, tornados and such, and with those in charge looking the other way, greed and profit being the main motivators, just how much time does humanity actually have left?

There is only so much that we can persevere, after that we are just dead. And we will be taking an entire planet of life forms with us.

Hug the wife and kids, or significant other, every day. Enjoy what we have for what time we have left to enjoy it. Maybe we can turn this thing around, but it isn’t looking too good.

Y’all stay safe. Stay healthy.

SD

P.S. There is one lonely comment at the bottom of the link worth looking at.

05.13.20
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MUSINGS…

This Covid 19 virus sucks! The numbers might be flattening a bit, but not really going down much except in a few places. I can’t for the life of me understand why people want to rush things back to they way they were, when the way they were, we may never see again. It might be a few years if we make it that far. This could be a paradigm change for society. I suppose we will see, those of us who live long enough. I only hope this wave of death and misery finds its way to our rear view. Sooner the better.

It occurred to me a few days back, as tens of thousands of elderly people on SSI  (Social Security Income) are dying, and it ain’t over yet… The response from our (R) gov’t is lethargic at best, and criminal at worst. And I had a moment where I realized this is a (R) wet dream come true. All of those old people dying off, and as a result losing their SSI benefits. Sure they can’t utter a word to confirm that notion publicly, but do I think they are a bit giddy about the prospect? Yes. Yes I do. Cutting or killing SSI is a priority for many R’s. Would they stoop so low as to just let people die to help achieve that outcome? I don’t know, you tell me. The (R) party is already lower than whale shit at the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Does no one believe they can’t dig a little deeper?

The (R) party is the party of “kill the ACA”  “cut Social Security”  “loosen environmental protections”  “global warming is a hoax”  “cut food stamps and SNAP benefits”  “let the post office die if there is any chance of getting mail in ballots” and  “give give give to corporations and fuck the little people.” Oh yeah, and if you work at a meat processing plant the R’s are the party of  “Go the fuck to work! And don’t come crying to us if you get sick!” Nice people, Republicans… (sarcasm folks)

They sure as hell have convinced NO ONE (except those who think Faux News and Alex Jones types are legitimate news outlets,) that they are doing anything and everything in their power to stop, or even slow down this wave of death. In fact, as I write this they are doing EVERYTHING they can to jump start the economy, and an obvious result (to most of us,) it will undoubtedly wind up in more old people (as well a others) falling off of the SSI rosters due to premature death caused by Covid 19. Enhanced by the”golly gee willakers what can we do?” (R)  response to the outbreak. Oh happy day for Republicans across the land!

Maybe I need my tin foil hat adjusted. Or maybe I’m angling for the left leaning antithetical position of the aforementioned Faux News and Alex Jones. Trust me I don’t want the job. Maybe I’m just up to here with the antics and endless scandals of the (R) party today. Maybe as an observer of things in this world, I’m just calling it how I see it.

I can’t stress enough get out and vote come Nov. There is no other way out of this mess.

Y’all stay safe and stay healthy.

05.02.20
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UGH, WHY CAN’T I JUST LEAVE IT ALONE?

I get on here to browse my reader and almost every time there is a post like this mixed in among my followed blogs, that inevitably grabs my attention.

https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/8544970/posts/252747

This was my reply:

“That is the biggest pile of bovine excretement I have seen in a long time.

I see a lot of x + y = z, but nothing to back it up whatsoever. (an atheist) {x} (is content to say “evolution did it”) {+ y} {=} (and cease exploratory research) {z}

Just because you imagine something to be true, does not make it so. The entire post is an excercise in make believe. “I believe this is how it is so it must be true.” Unfortunately that doesn’t cut it with an atheist. We prefer to actually have facts and data in our hands to form an opinion.

Stick to religion pal. Atheism requires more work than just making shit up and claiming it to be so. You want to play with an atheist? Show your damn work.

Religion is the playground of “I believe.” So maybe you ought to stay in your sandbox and let the atheist ponder the facts… Unless of course you actually have some facts to show that your speculative strawmen are real? I’ll wait.” (end quote)

I kind of doubt my response will see the light of day. I can’t be sure but I think I have run into this guy before…

I’m off to the river. There be adventure out thar and I aim to find it. Y’all have a good day too. 🙂

 

03.22.20
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OCULUS QUEST VR, OWWW! COVID 19

My youngest son, I envy him. He has a sweet girlfriend, a job, and is about to graduate high school. Assuming there is a graduation this year. Well, he picked up a 3D virtual reality rig used a few weeks back…

And it’s AMAZING!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/solrogers/2019/05/03/oculus-quest-the-best-standalone-vr-headset/#382cba338ed8

I have only played a few of games on it, one is Arizona Sunshine, a zombie shoot em up, which is a lot of fun. Another I just started playing is Superhot. Superhot is like being Bruce Willis in the movies. You are dropped into all sorts of scenarios you have to fight your way out of, using guns/knives and fists. Also an absolute ball to play, and it requires some quick thinking. The problem is, Superhot requires a lot of up/down dodging bullets and hiding behind obstacles to shoot around, it is very physical. And my back can’t take too much physical.

Im sitting here in a lot of pain right now. But it will (mostly) pass. There might be some who would say I need the exercise, but they don’t say it too loudly. 😉 I can’t wait to go back in to VR. Even if that might be tomorrow. If I have to be locked down at home for a while I think I’ll be ok with that, with this thing in the house.

The one thing I do not like is, this technology is somehow through Facebook, which I utterly despise. For that matter #deletefacebook !! I know this link is a little outdated but still relavent IMO. FB is the ebil. (Waterboy reference, yes the movie)

https://www.businessinsider.com/deletefacebook-facebook-movement-2018-3

On a side note just got back from Wal Mart. Went in to grab some bratwurst for supper. It’s like living in a war zone these days with bare shelves up and down the aisles, almost surreal. That boy of mine I mentioned earlier, just came in with some toilet paper and a bag of sugar. He informed me the toilet paper was again cleaned out at the Wal Mart. (For us Wal Mart is the closest store unfortunately, and second on my list of hated corporations right behind FB)

If there is any good news out there, I bought gas this morning for $1.25 a gallon in a neighboring town. Taking my big ole 3/4 ton truck there to fill it up too.

I know a lot of people are losing their jobs right now, which is terrible. My sister in law just got laid off, a friend of mine says where he works there has been a lot of activity in the office, he is expecting a shutdown soon. My wife works in healthcare so she will have a job until either she or anyone in the house gets the virus, at that point we lock the doors and no one goes in or out for 2 weeks, maybe more. Or If anyone at the house she works at gets ill, obviously she won’t be able to go back until is safe to do so.  We live in an extraordinay time among extraordinary circumstances. I do hope we all get through this relatively unscathed. But the reality is even if we do not get ill with the virus, the impact on the economy is going to be long lasting and I fear will cause enormous suffering. Goodbye 401K, we will miss you.

Stay safe, and hang in there.

03.13.20
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Call Me A Boy Scout

We went out last night and stocked up on enough dry/canned goods to hopefully last us a couple of weeks, just in case any one of us comes down with a corona virus. Also snagged toiletries and food for the dog/cat. We want to be self sustained if it comes to that. There will be five adults here by this evening, my youngest sons girlfriend goes to UT Martin, they have cancelled classes till April 1. Im on my way out the door to go get her as soon as I hit the post button.

Apparently we weren’t the only ones thinking that way. Wal Mart shelves were wiped out in bags of rice and toilet paper in 2 towns we went to (no pun intended but I’ll take it.) We had to stop at 3 different Dollar General stores to even find any toilet paper.

Peanut butter and soups were also in short supply.

I hope it doesn’t come to having to having to deal with this. I’d like to think we are just well stocked for a while. May this post find you all healthy and well prepared.

SD