Government Intrusion

 I just spent the past several hours filling out something called the American Community Survey, a product of the US Census bureau. Our address got picked for some un-Godly reason, and I decided "what the hell" and started taking the survey.  Oh, it was supposed to be quick and easy, and would help the Government with vital data about changes in population and demographics.

About an hour into the survey, I started making shit up... using rough estimates. At one point, they asked about my primary duties as a cop, and had a little block for my answer:

Putting assholes like you in jail.

 I hope they got the vital information they needed in the first few pages, because the last hour was an exercise in frustration.  Hell, I don't know how many hours in the past 52 weeks my grandson has worked.  So, I gave them some very rough estimates.

But, that is done now, and if everyone who was asked to take the survey put as much time, effort and accuracy into it as I did, the Census bureau has no idea what is happening across the country.

RAIN

Dallas/Ft. Worth is catching hell.  It's raining here too, but our acre sits atop a big ridge line.

Four Years

 Four years ago today, August 22, 2018 was a hot August day in central Louisiana.  I was still working as a sheriff's deputy.  I had already planned to retire on April 1, 2019, but hadn't told anyone except for Belle.

That afternoon, a snow cone truck pulled in to the parking lot, and I could not resist.

Has it only been four years?  Yeah, but it seems like I lived a lifetime since that day. Since then, I've run an ill-fated political race, lived through Covid, and increased my volunteer work.

That may be the last snow cone I ever ate.  The flavor? Blue bubblegum.

West Los Angeles Area OIS 7/7/22 (NRF034-22)

Joe sent me this video of an officer involved shooting in West Los Angeles.  

Fairly standard scenario.  Someone calls in a perp who is waving a knife and scaring passers-by.  Officers respond.  Perp charges cop with knife in hand.  Cop shoots perp. Other officers respond, take perp into custody, take perp to hospital.  Perp declared dead.  Too bad, so sad.

Thanks, Joe.

Sunday Morning Dawg

 

Gaslighting America

 The White House is trying to take credit for way too much.  They have done a lot to destroy America since taking over in January 2021.  Now that gas prices are falling a bit, they want to take credit for that too.  However, some of us have memories.

This photo is a compilation of two photos I took in January 2021 and March 2022. From the same station and the same gas pump.

On Trump's last day in office, unleaded gasoline was $197.9.  Any cent over that represents absolute failure for the Biden administration as far as I am concerned.

Friday Night Music

Oh, why not.

The Buddy Heater

 I learned to like these things when I was deer hunting from a box stand.  On a cold, frosty morning I'd get in the stand before daylight, turn the heater on, and in a few minutes I was comfortable.  I had two of them, but they were given away when I quit deer hunting.  In the winter time, I heat the shop with propane and there are cool spots, especially around Belle's feet.

I checked Amazon for no particular reason this week, and these little heaters are on sale.  It came in today, so I loaded a one-pound bottle on it and gave it a test run.  We're good now, till the winter and Belle's feet get cold.

I may order an adapter hose so that I can hook it directly to a 20 lb propane bottle.

Gloom and Doom

 I'm seeing a bunch of the usual suspects saying that the GOP may not regain the majority in Congress in the coming midterms.  Gloom and Doom.  Even Mitch McConnell is saying that the GOP may not take tie Senate in November.

I am reminded of several things.  First, the ability of the GOP to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  Second, I seem to recall times when the pollsters had it all wrong and we awoke to a solid victory when everyone was predicting defeat.  The election is still two months away and lots can change between this morning and the election in November.

Besides, Brian Stelter found out yesterday that he is out of work.  Who saw that coming?

For some reason (and that reason is always politics) they have trotted out James Carville, who claims that the entire GOP base is evil.  The attacks are smacking of desperation.

The only poll I'll put my faith in is the one that we are going to take in November.  The rest of them is simply political spin.

Morning Thunder

 It's August in Louisiana.  Hot, with unstable air.  The afternoon thunderstorm is part of our culture.  It's ubiquitous.  But, when I awoke this morning, pouring my first cup of coffee, and heard thunder off to the north, I thought, "What the hell?"

Sure enough, a quick look at the weather map showed a line of thunderstorms approaching from the north, looking for all the world like a cold front that we normally get in October and November.  It's over my acre now, dumping copious amounts of water making the dog seek shelter.  I'm glad I mowed grass yesterday.

The church has scheduled a roping clinic for tonight, and I was scheduled to cook hamburgers for the assembled twine-twirlers.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say that they will cancel that event.  If my backyard is any indication, the arena is a mud pit right now, and will probably not dry out by this afternoon.

Belle was looking at the extended forecast on her phone, and it looks like the rest of August will be considerably cooler and wetter than average.  God works in mysterious ways, but if He wants us to have a cool, wet August, I'll take it.

The Rosary Question

 So, the Atlantic publishes a piece entitled "How The Extremist Gun Culture is Trying To Co-opt The Rosary".  It's behind a paywall, so there you go, but you get the idea.

So, the question becomes; Is the rosary a weapon?

Damn right it is.  It's a weapon against evil.  Which is to say, most Democrats and a few RINOs. The rosary is a valuable, effective spiritual weapon against every form of evil.

I'm a recovering Catholic, and I worship with a bunch of recovering Baptists.  We were talking about angels the other night, at services.  If you have a little cherub in your front flowerbed, you really don't understand angels.  Angels are bad to the bone.  They handle God's light work, like the time Michael threw Satan our of heaven.

As a soldier, I learned St. Micheel's prayer.

Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle.

Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;

and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God

cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits

who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

I will wield whatever weapon is necessary to defeat evil.  The fact that I have an AR slung across my back doesn't make the prayer any less valid.

See Ya Later, Liz

 It looks like Liz Cheney lost her Wyoming Rep gig.  She was primaried and lost big.

She claims to have further political ambitions, but I don't think that she could get voted as dog-catcher in Wyoming, which means that she will have to take her show elsewhere.  Who knows what might happen in 19, 12, 14 years?

What might really be interesting is to see how she acts in the near term.  She still has a seat in Congress until January 3rd. We'll see if her Trump Derangement Syndrome gets any worse.

Two Weeks?

 Two weeks?  Are you serious?  It will take the FBI two weeks to copy all the documents they siezed in the raid on Trumps house?

Now, according to Just the News, we’ve learned that the FBI will give back President Trump’s passports and documents containing privileged information between the former president and his attorneys. No doubt the Justice Department will be reading and copying the documents as they prepare to return them. It may be why the DOJ estimates it will take two weeks to get Trump back his property.

Everyone involved in this debacle, from Garland him self to the cute little Feebie holding the AR near the gate, should be disbarred, fired, and prosecuted  Which little Feebie, you ask?

That one, on the right side of the photo.  From Merrick Garland, all the way down to her.  As an object lesson.  If any of them are lawyers, disbar them.  For the pure cops, pull their certifications.

Accidental

 That's what the medical examiner ruled in the case of the shooting on the set of the movie "Rust", where actor Alec Baldwin shot his director.

This, after the FBI released a report that said that Baldwin "must have" inadvertently pulled the trigger.

I don't know what took the FBI so long, most of us came to that conclusion within hours of hearing of the incident.  Of course, Baldwin pulled the trigger.  That's the way those guns work.  But then, I don't know why the FBI was involved in the first place.  It was a local incident.  Maybe the Sheriff asked them for lab assistance.

But, we all know that Baldwin pulled the trigger.  That is the way those guns work.

Who Should We Believe?

 President Trump says that the FBI took his passport in the raid on Mar-A-Lago last week.

It's not on the FBI's property receipt.

Should we believe an agency who lies to FISA courts to obtain warrants?  Should we believe an agency who ignores obvious criminality of a President's son?  Should we believe an agency who is noted for dirty political tricks such as wiretapping a noted American figure?

Frankly, I don't believe anything the FBI tells me.  If they told me that the sky was blue, I'd break out a color chart.

Did they take his passport?  You see, that is the problem with breaking into someone else's house.  Burglary is burglary, and thieves do what thieves do.

Another Armed Citizen

 Another armed citizen stopped a shooter, this time in Montenegro.  As reported by TTAG.

The prosecutor coordinating the investigation, Andrijana Nastic, told journalists Friday that the gunman was killed by a passerby and that a police officer was among the wounded. She said nine of those killed died at the scene and two died at a hospital.

It's not widely reported, but hi happens more than you think. 

Reckoning

Wyoming is on of those states with two US Senators and one Representative in Congress.  Currently that seat is held by Liz Cheney, the daughter of former VP Dick Cheney.

Liz ran on claims to be a conservative, but her distain for Donald Trump have bled over to the point where she is the lone Republican on the Jan 6 witch hunt committee.  Whatever else one might say about Dick Cheney, it is almost certain that he is a founding member of the Deep State.  Be that as it may, but tomorrow, Liz is facing a reckoning from the people of Wyoming over her obvious distaste for Donald Trump.  All reputable polls show Liz polling behind her opponent in the Republican primary.

Tomorrow is the only poll that matters and we will see if she continues to represent Wyoming, or has an opportunity to further her political ambitions on a larger stage.  Most political observers say that a reckoning is coming.

Back in '85

 Back in '85 I was a five-year veteran of a local police agency.  Several of my brother officers became convinced that the elected Sheriff was crooked.  SO, we began quietly putting together a file that might be useful in the future.  As our investigation gained traction, we knew that if we were found out, we would certainly be fired, so we were very careful in our inquiries.

Towrd the culmination of our inquiries, it became apparent that one particular person would be instrumental to our investigation.  That person happened to be a parolee, supervised by the local office.  As things heated up, he skipped town.  The parole officer obtained an absconder's warrant.  The investigation stopped dead cold.

In '86 we located the parolee in a neighboring state, and extradited him.  On the trip home, he told his story in an attempt to gain favor from the Parole Board.

We had what we needed and passed our information along to state authorities. The Sheriff was arrested, stripped of his office, and was eventually convicted in federal court.

Some have wondered how a law enforcement agency can be reformed from the bottom up.  It takes good people, willing to risk their career to make a good case.  I've seen it happen in more than one case.  Corruption has to be rooted out, and if the rank-and-file ain't willing to do it, it won't get done.

I'm convinced that the FBI is a corrupt organization that targets the political enemies of its political masters.  We see the senior officials of the Trump organization targeted, whale the blatant criminality of the Biden family is ignored. Our Attorney General, Merrick Garland has said many times that no one is above the law, and that he intends to enforce the law without "fear of favor".

I believe that Garland is trying to arrest and prosecute President Trump.  One does not seek a search warrant without probable cause that a crime has been committed.  Many senior officials from the previous administration have been arrested.  The culminating trophy will be President Trump.

Yet, the crimes of Hunter Biden continue without abatement.  If Garland and FBI Director Wray are truly interested in maintaining the integrity of the federal law enforcement effort, they really should start arresting Democrats who scoff at the law.

Tracking The Tropics

 We're tracking the tropics as we are wont to do this time of year.

The disturbance map for NOAA shows one little rain-makers in the Gulf but it won't amount to much.  We will thank God for the continued calm in the tropics.  With all the other bad news from across the country, this respite is certainly well received.

Spinning Crossfire Hurricane

 You remember Crossfire Hurricane?  We on the rights side of the argument called it the Russia, Russia collusion hoax.  It was an operation of the Obama cabal to smear then candidate Donald Trump with something, anything that would hurt his campaign.

Well, those documents might be at the center of the newest outrage on the political scene.  Because if it makes Saint Barack Obama look bad, it has to be classified forever.  Townhall breaks it all down for us.

One thing that our Brilliant, Responsible, Ethical Merrick Garland may have forgotten is that the President of the United States is the ultimate authority on classified documents.  The President can declassify anything.  At his whim.  There is no higher authority.  When Donald Trump took those documents out of the White House, they were declassified by default.

This whole investigation is complete and utter bullshit, and Garland should know that.  The magistrate who signed the warrant should have known that, and the agents who conducted the ransacking should have known that.