12 B

 

 

Trading remarks with LL (Virtual Mirage  https://www.virtualmirage.org) stirred a 50+ year old memory.

“Son, you’ve done this before”, said the kindly SFC teaching us newby Combat Engineers starting our week of barbed wire training. “I’m making you my assistant instructor”.

“So, when someone tightens the wire tell it breaks, it will wrap around my legs instead of yours?” smartass WSF replied.

“I knew you were experienced”, he replied with a grin.

Old family joke, a favorite of my mother, was the two most glamour’s cowboy jobs was fixing fence and bucking bales. Of course, the Army decided to make me a Combat Engineer so I could build barbed wire barriers and stack sandbags.

So began a very long week. The one bright spot was the SFC remarking, as an NCO, he couldn’t knock sense into a trainee. On the other hand, as a Private, I could so long as he didn’t see it (hint, hint, hint).

Interesting time in that training cycle. We were mid cycle when President Kennedy was murdered. Prior to that, I was well on my way to not earning a Good Conduct Medal (drowning a civilian in edible garbage https://wellseasonedfool.blogspot.com/search?q=KP)

 among other misdeeds that weren’t in accord with good discipline, etc. insured that.

I think the real reason I graduated was to ship me off to be someone else’s problem (hello, 814^th Engineer Company).

Enroute, the unauthorized absence at Ft Dix waiting to board a troop ship wasn’t well received.

My partner in crime, Tom O’Connor, understood shipping schedules and thought three days in Boston seeing his girlfriend beat three to four days of shit details at Ft Dix. Can’t have your buddy facing danger alone, can you? Plus, his girlfriend had a cute sister. We managed to bluff our way out of that. Easier to throw us on the bus to the Brooklyn dock then do all that messy paperwork.

In a way, being in the engineers was a stroke of luck.  The engineers were a rowdy bunch, from the lowest private to the First Sergeant. If you were a worker, did your job and could be counted on, many things were overlooked. If you were a slacker, life got real hard real quick.

Just to be clear, choices were to volunteer for the First Sergeants extra hour’s projects, or see the Company Commander for an Article 15. There were no free rides.

The irony was both O”Connor and I made E-5, he a Sergeant and me a SP 5.

LL mentions landmines. Most had been cleared by the time I was there. One place, not so much, the Hurtgen Forest. Horrible WWII battle, 30,000+ Allied casualties. In 1965 there were still areas fenced off. We spent ten days there. We would take a section a meter wide and work our way through in a straight line stringing det cord behind. Move over, do the same, etc. After ten or so corridors, the det cord would be set off and the Munson effect would (in theory) set off anything explosive.  Nasty work. Hell of a way to make an extra $55 a month. Our equipment was all WWII vintage plus ice picks for probes. The place was littered with moldering military detritus. We left it alone and worked around it. That old helmet just might be booby trapped. I was glad I only went there once.

Old AF Sarge is writing stories about  WWII and one place nearby he uses as a scene is Kreuzau. We bivouacked nearby.

https://oldafsarge.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-assault.html

Worth reading his series, IMO.

Outrage

 

President Trump took action to bring the cost of insulin way, way down. Xiden Immediately reversed that.

A neighbor was paying around $25 for her basic supply. She has learned her basic supply will now cost $700!

She 78, is on social security, and has a small pension.

I asked her what she is going to do.  “Die”, she said.

Maybe this is part of the (P)regressive’s master plan. Milk all of us old people who no longer “contribute” for what little we have left then make us die off.

Life Goes On

 

Sometimes being aware and concerned about all that is happening in our country, we, or at least me, lose sight of day to day living.

The ladies on the South end 4^th floor of our building seem to have a decorating war going on. On my floor, not so much

.

My meager contribution.

That is to remind me to focus on the here and now.

Vietnam War Legacy

 

Have you noticed how many Leftist were college age during the Vietnam War? Wasn’t that when the Communist changed tactics and focused on colleges/universities and not labor unions?

Related subject. How many of you know “woke” women who are happy?

Sisty will say I’m over thinking, as usual.

Way Back - A Car Sales Rant

 

A younger man I mentor from time to time was talking to me about managing salespeople. A mutual friend from back in the day likes to say, “Tank was bad at walking customers”.

The rule on every lot is, nobody walks (customer) until at least two people have talked to them. If you are not getting anywhere, you “turn them through the desk (manager)”.  Was I a frequent violator of this rule? Yes I was!

As I explained to the young man, few people in the car business know who the customer is. Very few sales are cash deals. The customer is the lender and the lender will only “buy” the deal if the structure of the deal meets their requirements.

I was fairly good at qualifying and wouldn’t waste my time, or anyone else’s, on someone who couldn’t finance steam off a hot dog. Was I always right? Of course not, but had a high batting average.

A professional will track their performance as follows.

How many “ups”? How many “ups” went on a test drive? How many test drives resulted in a write up? How many write ups resulted in a sale? You should frequently be looking at these numbers and percentages to see where you may be weak and need to improve.

Historically, I made one sale per 4.2 “ups”. I’ve read the nation average is around one in eight.

The best salesman I ever knew was Dirty Al Imhoff who averaged one sale per three “ups”. He would spend hours with a customer. If the female was attractive…………..  At the end of any given month I would sell more cars than Al, and my “wash out” check would be bigger. So who was the better salesman?

As a manager I encouraged the “pro’s” not to waste time on losers. Of course, if you were on my crew you were a pro.

The lesson I offer to the young man? Work smarter and know where the money comes from.

As always, some who read this will be, “Yeah, but” brothers and sisters. That is ok, just keep doing what you are doing. Or, pull your head out of………… and start making money.

Send Bail Money

 

I’ve been reported to the local police for being a porch pirate! Seems a local resident has cameras everywhere on his nearby property and “caught me in the act”. Am I guilty? Yes, I am.

Overstock.com accepted my order for a folding hand cart (under $40).  In the ensuing emails, I noticed I had entered my address wrong, 1515 instead of 1512!

Have you ever tried to wade through the UPS website to report a problem? Maybe you succeeded, I didn’t.

Late in the evening Overstock sent me an email saying my order was delivered. Bundled up (-2°) and went to the “wrong” address. The house is vacant but my order was on the porch. Retrieved my package and returned to my apartment building. I was caught on camera.

Same neighbor took my picture this morning while I was out walking Banner and sent it to the building manager. I printed a copy of the Overstock email with the incorrect address and gave it to him. End of story as far as he is concerned.

Am I angry about the neighborhood snoop?  Not really, he is a concerned citizen. It does bring to mind we are becoming more and more a surveillance state, public and private.

Do you think I will need a lawyer?

Stirring S**t

 

Ms. Jessica Brown

President

Colorado Bar Association

1290 Broadway, Ste 1700

Denver, CO 80203

2/16/2021

 

SUBJECT: Professional Misconduct

 

Dear Ms. Brown

 

As a concerned citizen, I am drawing your attention to the actions of two of your members, Diana DeGette and Joseph Neguse.

 

They were part of the second impeachment of former President Trump and presented inaccurate, false, and incomplete information to the United States Senate. The following was taken from your association’s public information on the internet.

 

Colorado Court Rules
Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct

Maintaining the Integrity of the Profession

As amended through Rule Change 2018(6), effective April 12, 2018

(a)  A lawyer who knows that another lawyer has committed a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct that raises a substantial question as to that lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects, shall inform the appropriate professional authority.

 

Clearly, even to a layman, their conduct did not meet your association’s stated values.

When, or if, your association disbar or at least sanction their misconduct?

 

Sincerely yours,

 

 

Frank B. White

I will share any response I receive.

Easy Money

 

Had an assignment to deliver bad news (near foreclosure) to a place just about in Wyoming. The smaller sign is, "No Trespassing".

The last time I drove this road was to see the Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy at the Harriman, WY crossing. Summer then.

Having warned my Field Manager of the likely lack of access, I accepted the assignment. I get paid, win, lose, or draw when I accept an assignment out of my area.

Sisty was kind enough to lend me her SUV. My 2WD pickup would have made it but it might have been an “adventure”. Thanks, Sisty.

By Colorado standards, an easy winter drive.

Gaslighting

 

Received this in an email. The forwarding chain is too long to know who originated it and who is/are the author(s). Doubt this is news to most readers. I find reading things like this helps my “critical thinking” – the current buzzword of the (P)regressives.

This is a very good description of what we feel and what is going on.       

Some of us more mature folks are a little slow to keep up with the hip lingo that seems to pop up daily.  Most of you have probably heard the term, "GASLIGHTING" but aren't sure exactly what it means.  Here is a short explanation...

 

 

WHAT IS GASLIGHTING? 

  The term originates in the systematic psychological manipulation of a victim by her husband in Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 stage play Gas Light, and the film adaptations released in 1940 and 1944.

  In the story the husband attempts to convince his wife and others that she is insane by manipulating small elements of their environment and insisting that she is mistaken, remembering things incorrectly, or delusional when she points out these changes.

  The play's title alludes to how the abusive husband slowly dims the gas lights in their home, while pretending nothing has changed, in an effort to make his wife doubt her own perceptions. The wife repeatedly asks her husband to confirm her perceptions about the dimming lights, but in defiance of reality, he keeps insisting that the lights are the same and instead it is she who is going insane. 

  Today we are living in a perpetual state of gaslighting. The reality that we are being told by the media is at complete odds with what we are seeing with our own two eyes.  And when we question the false reality that we are being presented, or we claim that what we see is that actual reality, we are vilified as racist or bigots or just plain crazy. You’re not racist. You’re not crazy. You’re being gaslighted.

  New York State has twice as many deaths from Covid-19 than any other state, and New York has accounted for one fifth of all Covid-19 deaths, but we are told that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has handled the pandemic better than any other governor.  But if we support policies of Governors whose states had only a fraction of the infections and deaths as New York, we’re called anti-science and want people to die.  So, we ask ourselves, am I crazy? No, you’re being gaslighted.

  We see mobs of people looting stores, smashing windows, setting cars on fire and burning down buildings, but we are told that these demonstrations are peaceful protests And when we call this destruction of our cities, riots, we are called racists. So, we ask ourselves, am I crazy?  No, you’re being gaslighted.

  We see the major problem destroying many inner-cities is crime; murder, gang violence, drug dealing, drive-by shootings, armed robbery, but we are told that it is not crime, but the police that are the problem in the inner-cities.We are told we must defund the police and remove law enforcement from crime-riddled cities to make them safer But if we advocate for more policing in cities overrun by crime, we are accused of being white supremacists and racists. So, we ask ourselves, am I crazy? No, you’re being gaslighted.

  The United States of America accepts more immigrants than any other country in the world. The vast majority of the immigrants are “people of color”, and these immigrants are enjoying freedom and economic opportunity not available to them in their country of origin, but we are told that the United States is the most racist and oppressive country on the planet, and if we disagree, we are called racist and xenophobic. So, we ask ourselves, am I crazy? No, you’re being gaslighted.

  Capitalist countries are the most prosperous countries in the world The standard of living is the highest in capitalist countries. We see more poor people move up the economic ladder to the middle and even the wealthy class through their effort and ability in capitalist countries than any other economic system in the world, but we are told capitalism is an oppressive system designed to keep people down. So, we ask ourselves, am I crazy? No, you’re being gaslighted. 

  Communist countries killed over 100 million people in the 20th century. Communist countries strip their citizens of basic human rights, dictate every aspect of their lives, treat their citizens as slaves, and drive their economies into the ground, but we are told that Communism is the fairest, most equitable, freest, and most prosperous economic system in the world. So, we ask ourselves, am I crazy? No, you’re being gaslighted.

  The most egregious example of gaslighting is the concept of “white fragility”. You spend your life trying to be a good person, trying to treat people fairly and with respect. You disavow racism and bigotry in all its forms. You judge people solely on the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. You don’t discriminate based on race or ethnicity. But you are told you are a racist, not because of something you did or said, but solely because of the color of your skin. You know instinctively that charging someone with racism because of their skin color is itself racist. You know that you are not racist, so you defend yourself and your character, but you are told that your defense of yourself is proof of your racism. So, we ask ourselves, am I crazy? No, you’re being gaslighted.

  Gaslighting has become one of the most pervasive and destructive tactics in American politics. It is the exact opposite of what our political system was meant to be. It deals in lies and psychological coercion, and not the truth and intellectual discourse. If you ever ask yourself if you’re crazy, you are not. Crazy people aren’t sane enough to ask themselves if they’re crazy. So, trust yourself, believe what’s in your heart. Trust your eyes over what you are told. Never listen to the people who tell you that you are crazy, because you are not, you’re being gaslighted.

  Sophocles said: "What people believe prevails over the truth." And that's what the media are trying to exploit.

  If you have read this far let me say one thing. I did not write the above and I am not sure who the author is.

  I sent this to you because you are hopefully smart enough to understand what is being done to you on a daily basis from many directions.  I do not care about your political party affiliation.  Just think through what you are being told.  Don't listen with a deaf ear, or see with a blind eye.  Question everything  --  even things from people who you think you can trust.  Question why you are being told whatever, by whomever.  Question their motives. Question who benefits. Question if there is a hidden agenda behind the propaganda.  Question, Question, Question.  Then do your own research, and use some of your own critical thinking skills to get to the truth.  Listen with your heart and with your mind.  

 

Sadly, 95% of the masses don't even know that they are being gaslighted.  At least now you do. If this makes sense to you, then forward to your friends who you think might ‘get it’.”

aka "Fact Checkers"

Clearing My Thoughts

 

This was sent to me by a conservative friend. She copied it from AMAC and the author is Robert C. Charles.

 

https://amac.us/daily-news/

 

Long read. I find it helps me clarify my thoughts.

 

 

The US Constitution protects Americans against government suppression of free speech, especially “matters of public concern.” In a self-governing republic, election integrity, processes, outcomes, and public corruption must be discussed – trust depends on it.  Four scary facts define where America is right now.  Here they are.

First, the 2020 presidential election sits uneasily with Americans. Those who voted Biden-Harris do not feel the outcome is honored; those who voted Trump-Pence question 2020 novelties and anomalies, including overdependence on mail-in ballots.  If done, they worry about the future.

Easy to see where hard feelings come from. Ideological stakes were – and are – high.  One side pushes more centralized control over states, small businesses, and individual liberties (e.g., limits on speech, worship, assembly, travel, self-defense, and privacy), rolled back border security, police, and military, high spending on COVID, redistribution of wealth (e.g., higher taxes), race relations, fossil fuels, abortion (including late term), and reconnection with Iran and China.

The other side is a mirror image – less government, more deference to states, small businesses, individual liberties, border protection, police funding, military readiness, concern over federal debt, spending, and higher taxes, reopening the economy, getting kids back to school, turning off riots, opposing abortion, and holding international bad actors accountable via sanctions.

Clear is the ideological rift.  In 2020, it created a hyper-partisan contest, “all or nothing.”  Rather than a national conversation, America fractured along ideological lines.  The depth of this fissure, a chasm on ideas, is dangerous.  Free speech – if allowed – helps us get beyond it.

Second, preoccupation with personality.  Danger two is how one personality – Donald Trump – dominated the cycle.  From Washington and Lincoln to FDR and Reagan, Americans view politics through their leader; we hear a message but see a candidate.  Donald Trump is an outsized personality, whether you like or hate him.  That, by itself, is fine.

The problem is that this cycle – going back four years – was all about him.  Those who thrill to less government, reduced regulation and taxes, strong borders, police, military, moral compass, and patriotism saw in Trump a moral leader.  His style was different, voice authentic. Those who oppose such things made him the moral villain.  Therein lies the problem.  When we demonize – or lionize – we start to slip.  Our Republic rests on laws, objectivity, reason, history, rights, and national security – not emotions, devotion to personalities, or preoccupation with venality.

What happened was demonization of an American leader, producing an equal and opposite, predictable defense of that leader.  The mistake goes on today, as wild-eyed Democrats now push unconstitutional use of a removal penalty – impeachment – against a leader they detest.  When politics gets this crazy, we are putting our judgment – and our nation – at risk.

Third, foreign adversaries are limbering up.  China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Islamic terrorists see these divisions, self-doubt, and impeachment as weakness. They are leaning forward, historically hostile, dangerous, and opportunistic.  They are not stupid.  They lean for a reason.  China sees America distracted, eyes Hong Kong and Taiwan.  Russia eyes Eastern Europe.  Iran wants nuclear weapons, no more sanctions.  North Korea aims to push us.

The fourth threat is biggest, comes from within – social media.  Leading social media platforms – fed by government contracts, protected from civil liability, operational monopolists, unabashedly Democrat-affiliated, are claiming a right to blunt free speech.

Forget 2020.  Look ahead.  Using Saul Alinsky-like “corporate jujitsu,” they assert a right to shut down conservative voices based on “corporate” free speech.  It is brilliant, bamboozling, and dangerous to any self-governing republic. Why?  If government can suppress speech under corporate cover, something Orwell did not think of, they end corrective, rights-defending opposition, and our two-party government. It happens all over the world, just not in America.

Finally, those who doubt this is happening should examine January 2021 social media policies.  They are shocking.  Lofted as “civic integrity,” public forums block talk of “elections” – that ultimate “matter of public concern” for a free-thinking, trust-centered republic.

They pledge to block talk of “elections” and “civic processes” if content “may mislead people,” present “false information,” mention voter “identification or citizenship requirements,” “cause confusion about … laws, regulations, procedures, and methods of a civic process, or … actions of officials,” relate to “votes not being counted,” “claims about police or law enforcement,” “long lines, equipment problems, or other disruptions,” offer comments that “undermine public confidence,” mention “faith in the process,” “election rigging, ballot tampering, vote tallying, or certification of election results… outcome of a civic process.”  So, going forward, discussing election integrity, processes, outcomes, public corruption is now blacked out.

Two cappers from Marxist Repression 101 – users are invited to inform on neighbors, and repression is justified on “ethical” grounds, saying “any attempts to undermine the integrity of our service is antithetical to …freedom of expression.”  In other words, government-protected social media can suppress speech – to protect it.  Sound scary?  That is where we are at.

If you have come this far, I hope you find the time invested worthwhile.

Low Humor, Got You Division

 

Banner is always hungry and loves to eat grass. I want to break him of that habit and to have better control of him in a few situations. Overall, he is well behaved. To that end I bought this dog training caller.

The receiver has two channels you can record commands. Seems the channels come pre-recorded in a woman’s voice. Channel one is in a language I don’t understand. Channel two?

Very clearly, “Piss Off!”

No, I haven’t used it yet as that require reading instructions.

Another COVID-19 Casualty

 

Great American Horse Drive, 2^nd year in a row cancelled.

https://www.sombrerohorses.com/horse-drive/

Our extended family, father’s side, goes back four to five generations in Moffat County and the town of Maybell, CO.

It has become a tradition to gather for the drive, visit the private family cemetery 12 miles West, and often bury cremains. Cancelled once again.

Damn, damn, damn!

My father’s grave. Hanging from the juniper tree over his headstone is a strip of velvet from a deer scraping his horns. Nothing would have pleased my father more than a deer standing on his grave. He would have laughed and laughed.

What Must I Do?

 

I’m such a slacker, or of no consequence, that I can’t even get into Facebook jail. At best, I get “Fact Checked”. This was my submission today accompanied by a picture of the flag flying inverted.

 Stirring the pot.

The US capitol fenced off, I.D.'s required to enter portions of D.C. 20,000 armed troops with more scheduled, the military to be purged, elected representative, of certain political views sanctioned and executive orders taking the place of legislation are not the hallmarks of a legally, lawful, legitimately elected President.

 

Why am I on Facebook? Between 1^st, 2^nd, and perhaps 3^rd cousins, I have close to eighty. Also friends, some high school friends and some car business friends that I liked to keep in contact with. Add sons, great aunts, sister, niece, grandchildren, daughter-in-law,  my late son’s in-laws, and others and Facebook keeps us in touch, or not, should they choose.

 

Last but not least, the sheer fun of pissing off (P)regressives.

Chink Flu Damage

 

A Flight for Life chopper went overhead about an hour before I took my sister to the hospital for knee replacement surgery.

Pulling up to the entry, a large number of people were milling about, some hugging others, and others meeting and greeting. All were wearing masks. My assumption, which I believe valid, was a loved one was on that flight this morning.

Been there, done that one Sunday when it was my brother-in-law (who didn’t make it). At least we family could gather and be in physical touch with each other; that was comforting.

Because of this manufactured “crisis” and the mandated social control, those people this morning didn’t have even that possibility for help in facing their grief.

May the lowest levels of hell, or the highest if hotter, be waiting the cynical politicians and their fellow travelers who have inflicted this misery on millions solely to advance their agenda.

Side note. With the schools closed, Colorado has seen a drop of some 28,000 reports of child abuse and endangerment since the Chink flu scare started.

Normally I wouldn’t use “Chink Flu”. I rather like most Chinese people I’ve met. However, with Slo Joe issuing an Executive Order outlawing the term, I feel the need to verbally wave with just one finger.

A Small Observation

 

The elite/oligarchs/China bought their man, Biden, so as to return to the ways that keep them in power and riches. How many readers doubt this?

The country is in an uproar and their plan has many detractors and outright enemies. Still, the plan is working. Perhaps they are channeling their inner Sergey Gorshkov, “Better is the enemy of good enough”. Let all of us “little people” howl so long as the plan keeps working.

Am I wrong?