Don't Let The Door HIt You

 Lyin' Joe is giving his farewell speech tonight, and I can't wait until this national nightmare is over.

Everything that Joe has done has been despicable, misguided, or felonious.  The simple fact is that our elected president is a demented old fool who can't tell the difference between fact and fantasy.  If he were a simple old curmudgeon, it might be understandable, but he lies about everything.  

A week or so ago, President Trump took a page from Ronald Reegan's playbook and told Hamas to release the hostages before he takes office.  Or else. Today, Hamas wisely announced the release of the hostages.

As sure as God made little green apples, Joe is going to try and take credit for that tonight. The fact is that Hamas knew that Joe is an empty vessel, and they didn't want to find out what manner of hell Trump was about to rain on them. Joe had nothing to do with this.

The next few days will be about waiting for the calendar to run out, and Joe to leave the national stage.  He's over, done, kaput. And not a moment too soon.

Hey, Joe!  Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Surgery

 After not going to the eye doc for about five years, I decided in December that I needed new glasses and made an appointment. He told me that I had cataracts and scheduled surgery.  We did the right eye two weeks ago and the left eye yesterday..  I have a follow-up today.

For the surgery I was mildly sedated, drifting in and out.  I talked to the doc during the surgery, but I was woozy.  In recovery, they told me not to drive for 24 hours, and Belle heard them say that.  She was a registered nurse for well over 40 years and won't let me drive until tomorrow.  So, she'll take me to the doc today.

I'm getting really good at putting eye drops in my eye, and skill I never wanted to acquire.  It's all part of getting older, which heats the alternative. In another week, I'll get a new glasses script and can go buy a new set.  I am amazed at how much better I'm seeing things now, but I'll still need lenses. Something about astigmatism that I have had since childhood.

From talking with friends and family, this is pretty common at my age.  Lots of folks have these problems, and the eye docs are pretty good at this kind of thing.  The reason I'm telling you about this is to boost the signal.  If any of you old farts have been putting it off, talk to your friends and go get an eye appointment.  It's not that big of a deal.  Just another pain in the ass and we know how to deal with those.

Oh, Why Not?

I've been busy today with doctors appointments, so why not listen to a little C.W. McCall?

Water Management

 Talking with my sons today about the California fires.  One son runs the water for a city of 50K, the other runs a small rural water district.

Both of them told me that in the event of a catastrophe, they had about three hours of water in the tanks available for use.  A large fire, for example, with multiple trucks pumping from hydrants, about three hours before supplies became critical.  If the electric power was lost that runs the well pumps or the booster pumps, that would cut into the supply because they couldn't refill the storage tanks that feed the pressure to the hydrants.

Elder son says that what scares him the most is a "freeze event", where a big freeze hits the area and many small 1/2" lines burst.  He said that if he had a couple of hundred small lines burst, the effect would be like losing a large line.  He told me that the water folks in Los Angeles have a particular problem because all those structures that have burned, all had water going into them.  As the turn the systems back on, someone is going to have to go around and close the valves at the individual meters.

It was interesting listening to the boys talk across the table today at lunch.  Today was meatloaf, potato salad and yeast rolls.  I learned a lot about water management and what the worker bees in California are going through right now.

But, just so you know, your water system, the one you use to wash dishes and take a shower, is always three hours from catastrophe

DEI Picks

 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.  The spawn of Affirmative Action from the '70s is the latest effort of the Democrat party to promote lesser people into positions of influence.  It had nothing to do with merit or ability, simply a checklist of grievance or mediocrity.  The clearest example I can think of is when Joe Biden promised to pick a black woman as his VP.  Not a capable person with a resume of excellence, just a black woman.  We got Kamala Harris, a failure at everything except self-promotion.

This may be unfair to hundreds or thousands of good people who were hired or promoted in the past four years, but when the stated objective of any organization is to promote DEI, then we can fairly assume that anyone hired or promoted filled the boxes of DEI.

It's not just government or private companies, it is the voters too.  The example of the people of Los Angeles voted for Karen Bass, probably the most inept mayor in office today. The very fact that the people of Los Angeles have not risen up and forcibly overthrown her is simply an example of good people being kind to the retarded.

The people that Bass hired are also shaded by the pall of DEI.  Fairly or not, her stated hiring practices were aligned with DEI.  We cannot assume that they were competent, only that competent people were passed over for the golden idol of diversity.

Don't blame us if we call it out when we see it.  For better or worse, DEI was a stated policy and we can only assume that the hiring practices were in line with it.

Thinking Out Loud

 Thinking about the fires in L.A., and I'm guessing that there are a whole lot more homeless people today than there was last Saturday.  With all those houses burned, lots of folks are sleeping in unfamiliar situations.

Many of these folks will recover.  They are not the kind of people who will remains homeless for long.  No sleeping in tents on the sidewalk or under a bridge. They have networks, family, friends, assets that they can use to start to recover.

Los Angeles still has the homeless that they had last week, but those folks are not so much homeless as helpless. No place to live, no place to go, they are simply a drain on the taxpayer.  When we subsidize something, we get more of it, and I'm not sure that Los Angeles can afford to subsidize them anymore.  Let then either move or starve, it's an easy choice.  

The fires are still raging, and L.A. simply will not have the revenue to solve everyone's problem.  Better that the available money be spent on taxpayers instead of those who bring nothing to the community.

Trump Sentenced

The kangaroos were bouncing all over the courthouse today as the derelict judge sentenced president-elect Donald Trump for a series of misdemeanors that were somehow elevated to felony status.  The judge sentenced Trump to "unconditional discharge" which seems to mean that there are no penalties, but the conviction stands.

The president is sure to appeal this travesty.  Surely, during the appeal process this thing will be tossed, both the trial, the verdict, and the sentence. In a world with accountability, both DA Bragg and the judge would be forced to forfeit their legal licenses and be charged with malfeasance.

I'm not an attorney, but I sat through a lot of court proceedings during my career, and some of the crap I saw in this case would not stand in any decent court with a principled judge.

But, the sentencing phase is done and the case can move forward to the appellate levels where certainly, more reasonable analysis will prevail.

Winter Storm

 We have a winter storm coming.  It looks like our friends in north Texas are catching it right now.

The weather-weenies are telling us that we will stay just south of the freeze line.  We will be okay.  SOme rain, but no ice predicted. The red beans are in the crock pot, and Belle will make corn bread closer to the noon meal.

California Burning

 Like many of you, I have been watching the fires in California move across the landscape.  Many of those people are left with nothing.  It's heart-rending, and our sympathy goes out to them. Some have no fire insurance because the insurance companies have been canalling coverage in fire-prone locations.

The fire departments are catching hell because budget cuts and political decisions have left them unable to respond to widespread catastrophe. Political decisions from years ago have culminated in dry fire hydrants.

The Santa-Anna winds are entirely predictable. The result of poor forest management policies and low humidity are entirely predictable. Political decisions that result in dry fire hydrants are entirely predictable.  It's no wonder that the insurance companies are loath to write fire insurance policies in some areas.

Louisiana has the same type of problem, but rather than fire, our problem is hurricane.  Many companies refuse to write policies south of I-10.  The risk is too high.  Or, they write a policy that covers everyting except hurricane.

The one saving grace for some of those Angelos is that if they have evacuated and have nothing left but the clothes on their backs and the vehicle they evacuated in, they have nothing to go back to. They can go anywhere.  Tuscon or Tennessee, Austin or Asheville. They are free to go and start over.

Starting over is the story of America.  It's part of our shared experience. I've done it twice, coming out of a bad experience with little more than the clothes on my back. It's do-able..  And, it makes us stronger.

This And That

 I went to see the eye doc this morning. I had cataract surgery in late December, and they've scheduled the other eye for early next week.  Everything is great, nothing to worry about, but there is this thing called the Medicare deductible.  I got whacked with that this morning.

The weather weenies are predicting another winter storm for tomorrow, and they are cautioning us that we might get some ice.  Oh, Joy!  I stopped at the grocers on the way back from the eye doc, and picked up some sausage and dried red beans.  Those will go into the crock pot before bedtime.

I'm not worried so much about the ice.  Hopefully it will be less than I use to ice the beer in the summertime.  It looks like it's going north of us, but it never hurts to be prepared, and it has been a couple of weeks since we did red beans and rice.

Boudin Shop

 BobF asked in comments about shipping boudin.  Something I had never thought about. But, with shipping these days, it's worth a try.

My local shop is Guillory's Specialty Meats.  I know they ship some things, but I don't know about boudin.

My younger son and son-in-law swear that Kartchner's in Scott has the best boudin. I've eaten it, and it's great.

Other maintain that The Best Stop has better boudin.  I don't know about that but sell a lot of it.  

Some folks say that Billy's has the best flavor.  Let's not argue about it.  It's all good.

My late father-in-law always maintained that Wilson and Campbells, near Turkey Creek had the world's best boudin.  He bought a lot of it, and I helped him eat it. They closed up a year or so before he died, and that might have been one of the causes.  Without good boudin, life loses some of its allure.

Laissez les bon temps rouler.

Carnival

 Mardi Gras season is officially here.  It started today, January 6th and concludes on March 4th, 2025.

Louisiana has a lot to celebrate, if for no other reason that we can't let the terrorists win. If we keep celebrating, they lose.

King Cake is a Mardi Gras tradition, and lots of bakers put their own twist on it.  Some are stuffing the cake with things you might not expect, like boudin.

Check out Gerald Gruening, who ordered a boudin King Cake topped with jalapenos, Steen's syrup, bacon bits, and spicy Blue Plate mayonnaise.  It's a thing, I tell you.

I've been jonesing for some boudin, lately, and a real good boudin ship is just down the road, so I have no one to blame but myself.

Laissez les bon temps rouler.

Winter Storm

 I'm watching the weather and I see that from Kansas to Virginia they are under a winter storm.  I feel sorry for those folks. We in the Deep South understand storm disaster, but at least in a hurricane we don't worry about freezing to death.

I recall my time at Fort Knox, the only time I really had to worry about thigs like blizzards.  The storm that hit in late January 1978 was a doozy.  I was a young Company Commander running a training company.  I had roughly 300 troops and a dozen cadre.  We lost heat and the water was freezing in the toilets. I was never so miserable, trying to keep the troops warm and fed.

AsI thik back, the blizzard that hit in Feb 79 was a problem too.

For all my friends in the Frozen North, I'm thinking about you.  Keep a fire lit, and stay warm. This too will pass, but you have to keep breathing until Spring.

Beef Stew

 The weather weenies told us that it is going to be cool and rainy today, so last night, I put some good beef chunks and some carrots into a crockpot, along with some brown gravy mix.  Put on on LOW and let it go all night. After church this morning, I peeled and chopped some nice potatoes and added them to the mix, the adjusted the spices.

While I was doing that, Belle started proofing some yeast rolls.

In another hour, those potatoes will be fork-tender and we'll make a pot of rice.

I know that my friends up north are suffering under a load of ice, snow, and other wintry conditions. Y'all stay warm and we'll be worrying about you.

Planning and Preparation

New Orleans has a lot going on in the next 60 days, with the Super Bowl on Feb 9th and Mardi Gras on March 4th.   The parades for Fat Tuesday will kick off shortly after Super Bowl, and the New Orleans Police Department has a huge role to play in each of those events.

The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) has a troubled past, with was highlighted during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.  Those problems led to multiple suits and court actions that resulted in a consent decree with DOJ that has cast an organizational pall on the department.

Those of us in law enforcement here in Louisiana used to quip that NOPD stood for Not Our Problem, Dude.  The current leadership of that department engenders no confidence that much has changed. When called out about obvious flaws in her execution and planning, she gets testy. She didn't know that New Orleans had barricades.  Why would she know these things?  Not Her Problem, Dude.

Don't get me started on that dimwitted Assistant Special Agent in Charge who flatly proclaimed that a ramming incident by a guy carrying an ISIS flag was not a terrorist event.  We'll let Kash Patel short her out in early February. She should be an object lesson for all the DEI folks in the FBI.

I am pleased at the street cops who ran towards gunfire.  Shamdude didn't make two steps from his wrecked truck before he was well and truly ventilated.

I will be neither at the Super Bowl, nor at Mardi Gras in NOLA.  I used to love going the Big Easy to take in the cuisine and the architecture, but since Katrina, the city has lost all allure for me.

Vegas Incident

 So, I'm wondering.  This Vegas incident.

This guy is reported to be an active-duty veteran with eighteen years, a senior enlisted soldier who is Special Forces qualified.  He wore the Green Beret.  And he shows up outside the Trump resort in a rented pickup truck filled with fireworks?

I'm not a demolitions guy, but I can build a better bomb than that.  Anyone can buy Tannerite at Academy Sports.  I've watched the videos several times and it doesn't look like an explosion. It looks more like a rapid conflagration.  If his intent was really to blow up the Trump building, he really did a poor job.

It looks like he lit the fuse, committed suicide, and what...?  Made a helluva mess in the valet parking?

I admit, I'm baffled.  If this was a terror attack, it was poorly executed.  If it was a common suicide, it was poorly executed. I feel like this may have been a mental health issue and this guy didn't get the help he needed.  And that's a damned shame.

Lagniappe

 The Cajuns have a word, lagniappe, (lan-yap) that means "a little something extra".  I found some lagniappe this week.

On Tuesday, Belle wanted a pizza, so I called our local pizza joint and made our usual order, large sweep, no anchovies. We enjoyed the pie and the next morning, breaking down the box, I found some lagniappe printed on the back of the box.  A target.

That is knowing your customers.  BJs Pizza serves Pineville and Ball, LA.  Most of their patrons are fond of the shooting sports, or simply need to sight-in a rifle occasionally. Putting a target o the back of the pizza box is a nice way to say thanks to their customers.

New Attack

 It seems that a CyberTrucl exploded in Las Vegas this afternoon, outside a property owned by Donald Trump.  From the New York Times:

At least seven people were injured, the authorities said. The authorities said they believed it to be “an isolated incident” but have not ruled out a connection to the attack in New Orleans.

Elon Musk says that there were explosives or a bomb in the bed of the truck.  The truck was a rental vehicle.

Is this related to New Orleans?  Lots of questions.

Bollards

 If you don't know what a bollard is, you have walked past them many ties.  Bollards are those pipes sticking up out of the ground to prevent vehicle traffic.  They can be fixed, or portable, or mechanical.  You might see them in front of a grocers or a bank.

The asshole in New Orleans who started all this bullshit, Shamedude from Jabar (not his real name), drove past the bollards on Bourbon Street by driving on the sidewalk. I was last on that corner ten years ago, and I don't remember bollards specifically on that corner.  But, I may not have noticed them because we were walking.

What we do know about Shamedude is that he is a US citizen, living in Texas.  He may have had accomplices and they may have been scattering pipe bombs around the area.

New Orleans was supposed to host the Sugar Bowl today, but that has been postponed.

NOLA

 What the hell is going o in New Orleans? Ten dead, thirty+ hurt, some are saying terrorist.

The FBI is taking the lead in the investigation, and reports are contradictory right now.