The Fevered Ramblings...

When you become a "seasoned" citizen, as Rush used to say, you realize that there's more road in the rearview mirror than there is through the front windshield.  And that makes you look at stuff a bit differently.  

You can whistle at a cute girl/lady should you wish.  They will glace at you quickly, and then smile sweetly.  You can even tell them they're cute.  You've earned that privilege.  And I've never, ever gotten schooled by a woman to whom I'd offered a complement.  BTW, you can also get all pissy if getting pissy is called for.  By you.  Whereas someone much younger with a lot to lose, and who gives a s*it, would probably avoid any such issue like the plague. 

And not that I'm complaining, but I wake up every morning knowing at least it can't get any worse than that.  And then I wake up the next morning...

That was a joke.  My beloved daughters accuse me of having a weird sense of humor (Moi?).  So I have to provide the following Audience Warning:

     "The Chuckmeiter has a weird sense of humor.  But he knows it.  And now so do you.  Continue reading at own risk."

That's for those who's sense of humor has been sanded off over the past few years.  We used to have comedy shows on broadcast TV.  For decades.  With actual comedians.  Now we have comedians on broadcast TV without them even half trying.  That's what the last four years has given us.  Has saddled us with.

Yes, Fellow Patriots, I'm of the age where my major goal for each day is to not break anything.  On me or in my house or car.  Or to have anything break.  

I hope that the air conditioner and the coffee maker and the washing machine, and of course my enormous TV, all keep working for another day.  Not necessarily too many more days, but for just today.  Because today may be all I've got.  I luxuriate in "today."  "Right now."  "This instant!"  This cup of coffee.  This cleaning of the cat box.  This taking out of the trash.  This trip to the supermarket.  Short term planning, doncha' know.

And for the past 4 years I've had an ice cream sundae after each and every meal.  Ya' never know when this meal might be your last...

When I was a little kid I would pick up a penny off the sidewalk.  Now my sore back won't let me pick up anything smaller than a $20.00.  Pretty soon I'm thinking it might have to be a certified check...  

I just realized that nearly everything I have to do, I don't want to do.  I first tend to sit and think about the things I have to do for quite awhile before actually doing them.  So I can a.), decide whether those chores really need doing; and b.), if they do, is today necessarily that day?

And then I make a list of all those things I hate to do, but must do, and then do them all together.  As a clump.  Huffing and puffing and grunting and moaning and complaining and talking to myself under my breath while I toil away.  Wishing I'd waited a bit longer before embarking on this exercize.  Maybe cracking a beer and watching a game instead.  Or maybe taking a nap and finishing up later.

But I'm also elated because I'd been putting those chores off like the plague and they'll soon be done.  So that I can sit on my arse, ensconced in my 24-way, fully electric Barca Lounger, with a wry smile on my unwrinkled face, and prepare for a long stint doing absolutely nothing.  Before the next slate of chores I hate to do are past-due for the addressing.

I'm thinking of having myself catheterized so I don't have to get up as often.

And I chuckle to myself when I open the bill from the car insurance mafia.  Increased my rates, they did.  Again.  It seems the number of miles I allow myself to drive goes down now inversely with the amount I must pay to drive them.  To be insured against an ever-lessening chance of crashing and burning.*    

Since I'm often either too sick or too tired (I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!) to drive, or don't wish to dodge the crazies who pollute our highways and  byways these days, I tend to hide out at the haven I've created for myself here at Fort Chuckmeister.  The moat is dug and I'm almost ready to fill it.  So I just figured out that, not counting gas or maintenance, it costs me about $8.00 a mile to pull the old steed out of her stall and take her for a spin.  

So why don't I take an Uber?  Because I fought for Freedom.  And I'll not willingly give my Freedom away.  Nor may anyone take it.  Offered as a promise from a 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th Amendment-loving guy.  

And also I'm not yet willing to turn in my Mancard.  So there.

And I used to plan for all the neat stuff I'd do once I'd finally retired.  Like playing poker with the boys and doing some charity work and taking nice cruises to balmy climes.  Little did I know that my retirement would be filled with doctors appointments.  And visits to the lab and to the imaging center.  Why didn't they tell us about this?

And finally, I've discovered we're just about ready to depart this dimention when we don't recognize the names of any of the of the nominees from the Tony Awards.  Or the Grammy Awards.  Or even the Academy Awards!  Who are these people anyway?  You ever think that maybe going from 3 channels on Broadcast TV with maybe 50 great actors, to more than 500 on Cable with 10,000 actors, served to prove the old adage: "Nature abhors a vacuum?"

Thank you once again, fellow Patriots, for choosing to read these fevered ramblings of a troubled mind.  If you like it, I'm pleased.  If you don't, it's Trump's fault.

It seems that eveything else is...   

*    Remember, you insure yourself against something you expect to happen.  And your insurance company is betting it won't.  They spread the risk of each one they insure over a huge population.  And by getting their "risk to benefit ratio" correct, they're betting that their actuaries are smart enough to keep them in business.  In other words, they'll make a profit on the "vig."  The difference between their risk payouts and their premium income.  If you want to beat them at their own game, you might want to try and assume some more of your own risk.  Go from $500 deductible to $1,000.  And from $1,000 on your house to $2,500.  If it turns out you don't need the insurance, you've beaten the insurance companies at their own game...

Prescience...

I wish I could foretell the future.

Were I able to see what's just around the corner, I would have shorted Gillette stock back when the Chinese decided to unleash their "Chinese Wuhan Killer Coronavirus Pandemic."  

I would have also bought some shares in "Uber."

Because when the Pandemic happened the Gubmint decided to shut itself down.  To send everyone home to immediately lock their doors, pull down the shades, get in their 'jammies and prepare for a long, long, LONG vacay.  From work.  Not from life...

Because in life you have to breathe, and eat, and sleep.  And shave, lest you look like a slob.  And being freed from that requirement can completely change one's life.

When the Pandemic hit we could all stop shaving.  And stop showering.  And stop dressing.  All of those who were theretofore dressing up every day for the office were finally freed from their miserable automaton lives!  They could now do anything they wanted.  They could walk the dog.  They could go shopping.  They could learn how to play the guitar.  Or learn fly fishing.  Or take up knitting.  Anything but work...

And you could also grow your beard.  Long.  Which could, and did, have a biiiig impact on the fortunes of those in the shaving industry.  The Gillettes.  And the Harry's.  And the Shicks.  And the $1 Shave Clubs.  As in, nobody was buying any of that crap anymore.  They were languishing in their underwear, eating bon-bons, watching Jerry Springer reruns while drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Anything but working.

And once that dreaded Pandemic was over, guess what?  They didn't shave those beards!  They kept on growing them!  As if they made the wearer somehow attractive.  Which they DIDN'T!  And DON'T!

Not one man in ten knows how to wear a beard in a way that adds to his attractiveness.  Or his sex appeal.  Most bearded gents look like they just don't want to shave.  And they don't care if it makes them look like a slob.  Apparently unaware that if they don't care, no one else will.  I'm guessing about half of them have been married so long they don't think it matters anymore (it does).  And the other half have given up any hope of attracting a mate so it no longer matters (it does).  

And then there's Uber.  That was a company, you'll recall, that was fighting with Yellow Cab to pick up passengers at the airport.  And then the Chinese unleashed their Pandemic.  All of a sudden we couldn't go out to eat anymore.  But we could order our favorite food delivered.  Voila!  Uber spun off "Uber-Eats!" 

And overnight "Uber-Eats" became a multi-$Billion Dollar corporation. 

Now you can order what used to be a $10.00 hamburger from XYZ restaurant, which now costs $18.00, and wind up paying $35.00 for it via Uber-Eats.  You can't even keep up with the many levels of charges you have to pay to get them to honor you with a visit.  But be sure to tip well - in advance - or they may not come at all.  

The good news is that you won't take a beard-wearer for a woman when you go to the local bar next Friday night (California's 57 genders complicates things, doncha' know).  That's one of the major benefits to wearing a beard.  You won't look tranny.  You might BE tranny, but you won't look it.

And the good news also is that you can order an Uber to take you home from the bar, and they can bring you a pizza to snack on while you go... 

Our Hidden Army.

The police in our Country conduct more than 50,000 traffic stops a day.

Each and every day.

That's more than 20,000,000 a year.  For traffic violations, to be sure, but for all manner of suspected illegal activity also.  Especially in the bad part of town.  After midnight.  When people may be bored.  

We have 708,004 sworn law enforcement officers in the United States.  That mean they hold up their hands and swear to abide by the Constitution.  Of these here United States.  And then give them a few weeks training on how to arrest DUI's and folks who beat their wives.  And nearly nothing about their employers' civil Rights and how to avoid abusing them.

And there are another 1,200,000 unsworn.  Giving you about a 1% chance of getting pulled over each year.  Costing you $187.00 on average.  With California's $671.00 per ticket is a noted aberration.  Because everything costs more in Taxifornia, doncha' know.  Gotta' pay for those free abortions for everyone from anywhere somehow...

Now then, just for grins, multiply 20,000,000 times $187.00.  You'll find out why there's so many traffic stops.  And why so many police chiefs and mayors in towns of 2,500 or less drive fancy cars and live in the Big House on the Hill.

The point of this screed is that we may well have created a monster in our paramilitary policing forces.  It's well known that "when you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail."  It's true also that a tiny minority of our population breaks the law.  Continuously.  And it must be tough to go out and look for them.  

But busting some poor schlub nearly a week's pay for 10 mph over, if he wasn't hindering traffic or posing a danger, is obscene.  But like with transgender males beating the crap out of girls in girls' sports, the ruling class tends to look the other way.  "Not my problem."  "Don't take down my name."  "Please leave me alone."

There are nearly 30,000 cops in New York City.  And from their increasing crime rate, they probably should have more.  Especially because they've willingly imported nearly 1,400,000 illegal aliens.  All of them unvetted!  And then, because they decided years ago to symbolically declare themselves a "Sanctuary City," never expecting to have to suffer because of it, they're now suffering because of it.  

They've been forced to learn that every action carries with it the equal and opposite reaction.  And sometimes an over-reaction, like if you increase a "Sanctuary City's" population by 15% virtually overnight.  

Who don't pay taxes.

But back to the subject, there are 8,832 cops in crime-ridden Lost Angeles.  And they certainly could use more.  Especially since L.A. has a bigger population than most states.  It can take hours to just drive across it!  Which is possibly one of the reasons there's so much crime.  

But Liberals run the city, like every Big City, so that'll never happen.  Because they hate to incarcerate anybody.  Ever.  And will never, every build a new jail.  So they're bursting at the seams.  So they just kick them out the back door on a "No Cash" bail.  While the cops are still completing the booking report.  Must be depressing.  Making the poor cops wonder why they bother to arrest anybody, I'm certain.  I'd guess the excitement of a new job and a new uniform and getting to pack heat must wear off pretty dayummm quick, when you're working for idiots.  

But lastly, I wonder if the day a new officer starts his law enforcement career, if he/she/it isn't forced to become one of "them."  And be forced to succumb to that "Us vs. Them" mind-set.  The 3% of "Them" against the 97% of "Us."  We see it every day on the news.  Officers knowingly or unknowingly (worse)_ violating citizens' Rights.  And if called on it, their city is forced to pay.  Big $Bucks.  And they seldom, if ever, get reprimanded, because their underpoliced cities cannot do without them.  

We Created All That! 

As I've opined before, cops are those folks we love to love when we don't need them, and love to hate when we do.  Go ahead, you can confide in me.  Aren't you near crap-your-pants afraid when you see the blue lights in your rearview mirror?  And aren't you afraid of the cops and what they can do to you, on purpose or by accident?

If the answer is "Yes" to either question, then we ought to do something about it...

Right vs. Left...

Have you ever wondered about that whole "Right - Left" thing?  

Politicians telling you that those on the "Left" will bring socialism to our doorstep, and those on the "Right" will bring on fascist doom?  

Well, I, The Chuckmeister, am here to bring enlightenment to those in need.  Since we know by now that our schools no longer teach civics, and that nobody anywhere can tell you the five Rights we all enjoy under the 1st Amendment,* it might prove helpful if we take a short review of what constitutes our two major voting blocs.  That would be the Democrats and the Republicans.  The "Left vs. the Right."  Condensed from Wikipedia.  Here we go:

     -  Liberals (includes Democrats, "Progressives," socialists and communists.  And "Furries," also.).  Willing to accept and/or respect behavior or opinions different from one's own; open to new ideas; believing in wealth redistribution where appropriate; generally believe that climate change will doom us all; often intense dislike of oil and gas, due to a lifetime of indoctrination by those selling solar panels and windmills.  

     -  Conservatives (most often Republicans, some Southern Democrats who've seen the Light.).  Averse to change for the sake of change; or innovation where none is needed; favors capitalism and free trade over any other form of government; believes also in entrepreneurism; believes in the private ownership of land; favors socially traditional ideas and values. 

So before we get started, the "Left" v. "Right" comes from the view taken by our Speaker of the House of Representatives as he conducts our business in the Capitol Building.  The "Left," the Democrats, are to his left as he sees them, and the "Right," or Republicans, are to his right as he sees them.

Simple, eh? 

Now then, it's just my opinion (what else?), but seems to me the 49% of our citzens who pay no Federal taxes are getting a free ride.  And they're the ones who are most often "Liberals."  Or even "Progressives."  Which is another word for, Gimme' some of what it is you got!  Or all of it!  Or even, in some cases, they'll just outright steal it.

Which is why we all need firearms.  Which is the 2nd Amendment, if you've forgotten.  That's the one that permits you to protect yourself if some bozo doesn't like what you just said.  Under the 1st Amendment, covered above.  Which gives you the absolute Right to do the pis*ing off.  If you're walking around in the mistaken belief that the cops will protect you if you pi*s somebody off with your mouth, check with the obituary section of your local newspaper.

Then head on off to your local gun dealer... 

*     1st Amendment:  Freedom of speech, freedom of the Press, freedom of Religion, freedom of Assembly, and freedom to petition our Gubmint for a redress of grievances (protests).

Civil Disobedience.

Did you ever wonder what would happen if we all just stopped "voluntarily" complying?  

The Federal Gubmint tells us that paying income taxes is "voluntary."

              Rigggghhhhhtttt!

Try "volunteering" not to comply!  To just brush it off.  Sort of, not today.  Maybe tomorrow...

We're learned just how "voluntary" it was when O'Biden's little boy Hunter, almost went to trial because he decided to "voluntarily" spend $1,300,000 of his ill-gotten income, the part he didn't share with his father, on hookers, porno sites, coke, meth, Zanax, MDMA and booze.  Instead of writing a check to Uncle Sam.  

Like us, the "little people." 

So our Uncle Sam could endorse it on the back and send it off to Ukraine.  Or Lebanon, which just got another $157 Million yesterday.  From you and me.  

And he also bought that now infamous .45 Colt Cobra revolver.  Which he purchased in the midst of a coke haze.  And lied on Federal Form 4453 about not being a coke freak.  Which is a Class "WOW" felony.  

And then he got a heavy case of the paranoids and had one of his "girlfriends" throw it away.  In a trash bin behind the local Albertson's.  

Now then, Fellow Patriots, the foregoing few paragraphs should prove forevermore than one can be smart enought to pass the bar exam, and still be dumb enough to get kicked out of the Navy with a Bad Conduct Discharge.  And then screw his dead brother's wife.  Yeah, dumb.  As a bag of hammers.  

He blew that $1.3 Mil on everything but the income taxes he owed.  Which got him in some very hot water.

But I'm here to tell you that the Gubmint could be all bark and no bite.  Especially if we citizens were to all band together and decide not to play by their arbitrary rules.  We could just take our toys and go home.  Forcing the Gubmint to reconsider some of its more outrageous and ridiculous laws, policies, procedures, rules and regulations.

And that would include city, state, and Federal policies.  Lemme' tell you how.

If you're a regular reader of this humble blog, you know that you have to try really hard to get sent to prison.  Like killing someone.  Or a group of someones.  With an AR-15.  The average number of arrests before prison as we know is now up to 37.  It's as if we don't want to punish people for breaking our laws.  Perhaps, as I've opined before, because we don't have anywhere to store them.  So I say put them in a gigantic interment camp in South Dakota.  Nobody lives there anyway!  Just carve out a few hundred acres, put a reeeely tall fence around it, and fill it with Bad Guys.  Because...  

...We should have already learned that failing to punish for bad behavior...gets us more bad behavior.

But they haven't learned that, have they?  And I think I know the reason why.  Ready?

We, you and me, American citizens, have a Grand Total of 1,998,588 jail cells in our Great Nation.  That includes township, city, county, Indian Nations, military lockups and brigs, and the Federal Goverment.

Yet, we have a total of 4,566,986 out on bail or parole.  And get this:  there are some 259,000 felons in California who have skipped bail.  Just decided all by their lonesome not to participate in our court system anymore.  Not to show up for court.  Just blew it off... 

Feeling safe? 

And that 259,000 felons include more than 7,899 charged with attempted murder, 8,544 carjackers and 5,488 armed robbers.  Thousands and thousands accused of serious felonies refusing to show up for trial.

Maybe they shouldn't have been turned loose in the first place?

Ahhhh, but the reason they were turned loose, I believe, is there's no place to put them.  Nearly every single Federal prison has cell architecture designed for one prisoner.  Yet, nearly every one has two or even more prisoners living together.  In very tight spaces.  Which cannot improve their general mood.  Making it ever tougher to keep them subdued while incarcerated.  So when they're released they're extra specially pissed.

So I'd say we all just decide to stop paying.  Just stop sending in that tax return.  Or send it in but without a check.  Maybe just write across it with a felt pen, "I no longer choose to participate."  If only a few of us were to do that they'd crucify us.  If all of us did that they could'nt do a dayummm thing... 

Wyatt Earp...

I just binge-watched "Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War" on Netflix.

It was very well done.  Well acted, characters well fleshed out, storyline tight, especially when it was done on the cheap.  And as a semi-expert on the Old West, it gets my seal of approval.

This multi-part series told the complex story of Earp's arrival in Tombstone.  He brought in his brothers and proceeded to assume duties as the sheriff.  But the "Cowboys" were the local gang.  And they weren't going to play by Earp's rules.  The whole thing resulted in the famous shootout at the O. K. Corral.  A 30-second period which is rooted in infamy.

But if you've seen this series, you know two things: Life in the Old West was challenging, and gunfights were incredibly rare.  Murders weren't rare, but facing one another at High Noon on Main Street for a "Who's quicker on the draw?" contest almost never happened.  Most often people were just shot in the back.  I can only find 12 instances of High Noon style gunfights in the entire period 1850 - 1895.  And the last, as many may know, was between Wild Bill Hickcok and a gambler named Davis Tutt in Springfield, Missouri in the Spring of 1895.

Seems Tutt took Wild Bill's prized pocketwatch in a poker game one night and refused to let Bill buy it back the next morning.  The arguing back and forth culminated in a famous gunfight.  On the Town Square.  Tutt was on one side of the Square, Hickcok on the other.  75 yards away.  An unheard of distance for a face-to-face gunfight. 

Now, it should be known that Wild Bill was real handy with a firearm.  In fact, he packed a pair of 1836 Navy Model Colt .36 caliber revolvers.  And he went through an elaborate process every morning upon wakening.  In fact, it was so famous it drew crowds.  And since the powder in these "cap and ball" revolvers could get damp, and possibly misfire, Bill would whip out both pistols and empty them into targets.  And then carefully load them again just in case.  With the crowd watching every step of the way.  And this particular morning was just such a case... 

Tutt walked out of the Mercantile Building at about 11:00.  Wild Bill stepped out from the Standard Bar.  They faced each other down.  Wild Bill yelled to Tutt to give him back his watch.  Tutt's response was to draw and fire first.  The bullet whizzed by Bill's head.  Wild Bill then drew and steadied his Colt Navy over his other arm, aimed, and fired.  He put a ball right between Tutt's 4th and 5th ribs.  Blew up his heart.  From 75 yards.  

Tutt dropped in the spot where he stood.

I doubt I could make that shot, using today's best weapons and ammunition, and I'm a professional.  Wild Bill earned his reputation.  And Tutt earned an early grave.  As did so many of both Earp's and Hickok's enemies throughout their storied lives.  They earned their reputations fairly.  

I've said this before but it's worth recalling.  Do you know what a cowboy would say if he happened to bump into a dusty cowpoke while stepping up to the bar in the Long Branch Saloon?  He'd say, "Excuse me, Sir!"  Because that other cowboy was armed.  And so was everyone else in the bar.  

Because an armed society is a polite society...  

Minority Report...

I've just started the "National Association For the Advancement of White People," and I'm inviting you to join.  

Black and Brown and Yellow and Red people can also join, 'cause I'm just that kind of guy.  But I'm really looking for Whites to come join as we need all the members we can get.  Because we're now in the minority, just like Browns used to be.  In fact, I'm feeling kind of like the Black folks feel, being a minority and all.  And we've seen what the Brown folks have done while in the majority.  And it's time we fight back!

And I'm also recommending our Representatives in Congress create the "Congressional White Caucus."  To join alongside the Congressional Black Caucus.  And our reporters should create the "White Journalists Association."  Just like they have the "Black Journalists Association."  Exactly like them...

As I wrote recently, there are more than 1,000 501(c)3 Public Benefit Corporations in America with the word "Black," or in one case "Colored," in their titles.  And only twelve I could find that have the word "White."  And they're likely under investigation by the FBI.  Or the CIA, NSA, AAA, or the NFL.  

Up to now us White folks have been in the majority around here.  It was certainly that way when I moved to California back in the '70's.  The population of White people in in 1980 was 80.1%!  But while I wasn't looking, a whole bunch of folks of different colors came to visit.  Through the "back door."  And decided to stay.  The camel got his nose under the tent!  Yet we White folks are still getting blamed for everything!  

It's just awful.  Black people giving me the side eye as I drive by.  Brown people are looking at me with disdain.  Yellow folks are not even bothering to look at all.  I'm a "Stranger in a Strange Land."  Lemme' tell you about it...

According to the Bureau of the Census, us White folks now constitute only 34.69% of California's population.  Here's the rest of the breakdown:  

     -  Latinos/Hispanics represent 39.40%.  

     -  Asians come in third at 15.12%.  

     -  Blacks are a measily 05.36%.  

     -  Indigeneous Personages ('Murican Indians) are 0.39%.  

     -  Pacific Islanders are 0.35%.  Including the "Rock."

     -  "Others" are 0.57%.

     -  And finally, a Mixture of Some or All of the Above comes in at 04.12%. 

We po' White Folks, who have been blamed for everything including The Flood, are finally, and seriously, in the minority.  As in, there's way more of them than there are of us!  We're no longer responsible for anything!  So now we're in the minority, and I want to be treated like it!

I mean, look at all those "LGBTQABC123+++" folks!  They all represent minorities.  Tiny little minorities!  And we give them the Key to the City.  

And because our BoyGuv ("Hairgod") Newsom just signed a new law giving reparations to Black folks, including an apology of sorts, and since I had a Great, Great, Great (not sure how many "Greats") Uncle who died in the Civil War, I want me some of those reparations, too!

Just think:  More than 620,000 White Folks died fighting the Civil War in an effort to win freedom for Black slaves!  Including my Great (+++) Uncle.  So let's get our priorities straight! 

I recall vividly when we gave Black Folks an extra 5 points on their civil service exams in order to sort of "make up" for slavery.  Thank God for LBJ and Lady Bird and their Great Society Programs.  And an extra .05 points on their State College GPA's to make up for their inherent lack of intellect, I guess.  And created all sorts of Federal agencies to sue the crap out of anyone and everyone if Blacks were the least bit mistreated in hiring or promotions.   

We've spent (invested?) more than $6 Trillion Dollars on these programs.  And what we have to show for it is more racial animus than at any time in my life.  

So now I'm ready for some of them there reparations.  I'll take cash, or pre-paid credit cards, or the digital currency of your choice.  And don't expect me to thank you.  I expect it.  I deserve it!  Just like the Blacks say they deserve it.  Because Uncle Floyd died while serving in the Virginia 5th Reserve Regiment, trying to do away with slavery.  So just like the Black folks, I am owed.  Big Time!

Which way to the pay window?