Thinking all over the place

I made the mistake of buying a newspaper Sunday and after
perusing said paper felt like the $4 would have been better
spent elsewhere. After the wife got up and read the paper later
she said the same thing.

We just heard former First Lady Barbara Bush has passed away,
she was 92. Our condolences to the family. Perhaps TV coverage
of that will slow the Trump lawyer bull the media has been
pushing.

There was a black squirrel bouncing around the back yard that
must have been looking for goodies he buried in the yard. As I
get older I appreciate the enthusiasm. When we see him again we
might get a picture.

Since I found a Rural Farming channel on the TV I have watched
the tractor auction about 6 more times. Don’t know if that means
I’m hooked or just like tractors.

Dad was in good spirits today and on the mend. Turns out he has
pneumonia and his medicine is doing a good job of getting rid of
it. Tractors came up during the visit but in my defense he
brought the subject up.

Finally, by the sound of it we are going to get a few inches of
snow tomorrow along with some rain and freezing rain. We are
hoping for the best while preparing for the worst as we had a
high of 50 today.

Enjoy our Wednesday as the working folks are halfway to the
weekend and we retired folk are observing just another day. Now
I need more coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

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Really?

I just finished looking over H.R.5087, the Assault Weapons Ban
of 2018, which has been referred to the House Committee of the
Judiciary on February 26 of this year.

Said purpose of this bill is to regulate the importation,
manufacture, possession, sale or transfer of assault weapons,
and for other purposes. Huh? If this is indeed in response to
the uproar to keep our kids safe from school shootings, we have
some questions.

First, for no other reason that it makes no sense in stopping
the school shootings, is why the ban on semi-automatic assault
weapons with missile launchers and grenade launchers? And if
these are popular with those who shoot up schools why haven’t
we heard of it before now?

The ban on assault weapons is painted with a pretty big brush.
By definition this is an attempted ban on much more than
assault rifles. The bill states a semiautomatic assault weapon
means any of the following:

A semiautomic rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable
magazine and any of the following; pistol grip, forward grip,
folding, telescoping or detachable stock, a grenade launcher or
a rocket launcher, a barrel shroud, a threaded barrel.

A semiautomatic pistol that has the capacity to accept a
detachable magazine and any of the following: threaded barrel,
second pistol grip, barrel shroud, the capacity to accept a
detachable magazine at some location outside of pistol grip, a
semiautomic version of an automatic firearm, a semiautomatic
pistol with fixed magazine that has the capacity to accept more
than 10 rounds.

A semiautomatic shotgun that has any of the following: a
folding, telescoping or detachable stock, a pistol grip, a fixed
magazine with a capacity to accept more than 5 rounds, the
ability to accept a detachable magazine, a forward grip, a
grenade launcher or missile launcher.

I did see the Marlin 22 rifle with tubular magazine was
exempted as an assault weapon though. The link at the top of
this post will take you to the official text of the bill if
you wish to learn more.

We may be wrong but we’re calling this attempted gun grab that
will do nothing to stop any shooting while costing law-obiding
citizens more.

Enjoy our Sunday as the work week is only a dream away.
Comments are always welcome.

And I’m the crazy one?

If I understand correctly the FBI failed to enter data into the
system and allowed the school shooter to purchase an AR-15
‘assault rifle’ yet the fault lies with not enough gun control
laws, the NRA, legal gun owners, and the fact that his mother
didn’t have an abortion.

As for the rifle, it was never clarified if said weapon was a
Colt AR-15, an Armalite AR-15, or an AR-15 style rifle. The
Colt was a semi-automatic version of the M16, which was used by
our military. The current version is marketed to civilian and
law enforcement customers. The Armalite is similar to the Colt
and the AR-15 style rifles came about after Colts’ patents
expired in 1977. They are for sale because people buy them.

And if the FBI doesn’t keep the data updated we’ve had more
luck than sense lately. Anyone who could explain how more gun
laws, restricting the 200 million other gun owners who didn’t
shoot anyone, would help the FBI ensure their list is current
please inform us. How about the government enforcing the laws
we have?

The NRA was founded in 1871 by Civil War veterans Col. William
C. Church and Gen. George Wingate to promote and encourage
shooting on a scientific basis because of the poor marksmanship
of their troops during the war. It in no way supports school
shootings. Yes, they have lobbyists in Washington. So does
everybody else.

Finally, we’re not sure why his mother didn’t have an abortion
nor do we care. It was her choice. We do know we’d like the
Country we grew up in to make a comeback.

Enjoy our Wednesday. Now I need more coffee and some leftover
pizza.
Comments are always welcome.

The real tragedy

First we would like to give our condolences to the families and
friends of the victims of the recent school shootings in
Florida. Yet as happens when shootings like this occur somee go
out of their way to vent their outrage.

This would not be a problem if we had an unbiased media. Fact
checking has gone the way of common sense and proof positive
that certain ranters should not be allowed to play with sharp
objects.

Usually the first things we hear, after the number of victims,
is we need stricter gun control. It has been proven time and
time again that this approach doesn’t work. The main reason is
because it is run by government. And even though our lawmakers
take an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution that is
not always the case.

Of course these same people blame the 2nd Amendment as part of
the problem. The short answer is no. The Constitution states we,
as citizens, have the right to keep and bear arms. Yet we are at
a point in our history when one needs a permit to purchase AND
a permit to carry. And it’s all run by the government. Laws only
affect those who choose to obey them.

The needy, greedy, seedy in our society don’t follow the laws
anyway, the government doesn’t enforce the laws we have, yet
somehow after every shooting the blame and rage is directed at
legal gun owners.

News flash! This is not a gun problem. it is a mental health
issue. The vast majority who commit these shootings have mental
health problems and many are on medication for it, or have quit
taking them. And again, our government regulates this.

Here in Iowa mental health facilities have closed while help
is next to impossible to get. Isn’t it time to stop shipping the
bull and take a serious look at why these shootings happen and
quit blaming the gun?

Enjoy our Thursday as that means the start of the weekend is
just a dream away. Now I need more coffee and perhaps a pizza.
Comments are always welcome.

Think people

After witnessing the beauty of last nights sunset my calm was
shattered with the news that our juvenile car theft epidemic
is still going strong. And according to the talking heads, most
can be prevented.

Seems people still leave their cars running with the car
unlocked or leave a key hidden in the vehicle. While this may
make things easier for the owner it is an opportunity for the
thieves among us.

Take all the keys out of your vehicle and lock it. Don’t
unlock it unless you are ready to use it. For the kids running
around trying door handles, and open one is an invitation to
jump in and see what they can find.

As someone who always locks the car and takes the key I cannot
understand those who don’t. One has to remember that the vast
majority of the kids who steal the cars aren’t even old enough
to drive. They’ll probably wreck it and you will be the one to
pay the bill.

I feel the laws giving more loopholes in favor of the
juveniles is going in the wrong direction. The politically
correct bull we’ve been hearing has to stop. Yes, there are
bad kids out there. And no, more love and compassion won’t
fix the problem.

It is time for some tough love. Put the fear of God into them
and let them know they won’t be getting a free ride for their
crimes. What’s the attitude going to be when these thrill
seeking idiots kill a pedestrian? Or an innocent driver is
severely injured due to the inability of these kids to drive
responsibly?

We need to take the cuffs off the police and put them on
the judges who won’t follow the rule of law but instead
listen to the politically correct interpretation of the law.

Perhaps a few days in jail now would work better than a safe
space. Why aren’t these juveniles financially responsible when
they wreck someone else s car? It’s time for the adults in the
room to say ENOUGH! 600 vehicles since the start of the year
have been stolen which makes me wonder how high the number
has to be for people to be demanding answers.

Enjoy our Monday, it’s looking to be a good one. Now I need
more coffee and a leftover pizza is calling to me.
Comments are always welcome.

Good start to the day

Had another visit with Dad, got the wife off to work, and
finally have a minute to sit down. At Dads we talked of the
snow storms of 1936, the heat wave of 1937, and the blizzard of
1940 among other things.

He seemed confused over the city council talk of turning two
downtown one-way streets into two-way streets. If I understand
correctly, their thinking is that if they make it more of a
hassle to drive through downtown it will open things up for
pedestrians and bicyclists.

There are more people downtown than ever before, but if these
residents aren’t visiting the businesses now I don’t see how
changing the street to a two-way solves anything. If you don’t
want cars downtown, block it off and make it a pedestrian town
square.

Some forget that these streets used to be two-way and decades
ago were changed to one-ways for many of the same reasons the
city wants to change it back. We were for removing the parking
meters, but have to say that this idea just doesn’t make any
sense to us.

It will probably come to pass as surely as the mini golf
course at the ball park will, and nothing we say will alter
that. We’ll leave it there and get busy with things that should
have been done yesterday.

Enjoy our Wednesday. After all, it’s the only day of the week
that is spelled so goofy. And now I need more coffee, I hear
it’s good for you now.
Comments are always welcome.

It’s official

The circus is here is to stay and the politicians are still
running the big top. After seeing an article by Barbara
Rodriguez of the Associated Press (AP) about the internal
investigation of sexual harassment in the Senate Republican
caucus of Iowa, I thought perhaps I was wrong about the drive
by media and perhaps they do hard hitting, fact filled news.

But I was wrong. No offense against the author of the article,
it is well written. But when the first paragraph is “An
investigation into alleged sexual harassment within the Senate
Republican caucus of the Iowa Legislature is complete,
according to a top official within the office, but there will
be no report about it and no information will be shared with
the public.”, I admit to being skeptical.

The senior aide to the Senate Majority Leader said “additional
information cannot be shared because it’s a personnel issue”.
Well, that’s comforting. The article later states that a woman
complained of sexual harassment in 2013, was fired hours later,
and went on to win a lawsuit against the state and a $1.75
million settlement.

So a state with 3.1 million residents pays almost $2 million
to a victim and it’s none of said residents business? I will
admit to being confused. The article has more to say, but this
was what got my goat. It looks like this transparent government
is working well, for the politicians.

If you wish to read the entire article, this one in US News,
go here.

Yeah, the old we’ve got nothing to hide but we can’t tell you
what happened. It’s just the same old bull being shipped on a
different day.

Enjoy our Tuesday, it means we survived Monday the 13th. Now
I need to get more coffee and count my pizzas in the freezer.
Comments are always welcome.