Glibertarians.com 2018 Archive

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  • Is Saturday Morning Links- Goot!

    Not much to say by way of introduction other than noting that this past week may have featured some of the finest articles (and of course, comments) we’ve ever run on this website. You people are great.

    There’s a few auspicious birthdays today. Of course, there’s Jeremy Brett (who was the definitive Sherlock Holmes, and anyone who did it after him is a talentless asshole), noted tank driver Michael Dukakis, brilliant musician and Pentangle principal Bert Jansch, the delightfully unhinged Mazie Hirono (D-Pakalolo), the used-to-be-funny Dennis Miller, and arguably the greatest pitcher of the modern era, Bob Feller.

    On to the news.

    Obviously, I’m not a fan of the Green Party, but on the other hand, anything to shake up the Team Red-Team Blue axis is cool by me. And they’re doing it in Arizona.

    The wild card: Angela Green, a Green Party candidate who could win votes that might have gone to Democrat Krysten Sinema, clearing a path to victory for Republican Martha McSally.

    Of course, Green has suddenly turned yellow.

    But on Thursday, Green suddenly announced she would drop out of the race and endorsed Sinema.

    “After watching the debates and seeing everything, Sinema’s stance on a lot of things are very close to mine,” Green said in an interview with Channel 12 news in Phoenix.

    Unfortunately, Team L (in its usual incompetent way) does no better.

    In Georgia, a Libertarian candidate could force one of the nation’s most closely watched governor’s races into a December runoff.

    And in Montana, Sen. Jon Tester has repeatedly won campaigns with less than 50 percent of the vote with a Libertarian candidate on the ballot. This week, an anonymous mailer circulated attacking Tester’s Republican challenger, Matt Rosendale, and urging a vote for Libertarian Rick Breckenridge.

    In response, on Wednesday, Breckenridge said he was endorsing Rosendale. “Matt has the character to combat this, not Jon Tester,” Breckenridge said in an interview.

    And people wonder why so many libertarians won’t become Libertarians. Fuck you, Rick, if I wanted to elect Republicans, I’d be a Republican. Christ, what an asshole.

    Indiana gives me a little hope.

    In Indiana, similar mailers have circulated attacking Republican Mike Braun and promoting the candidacy of Libertarian Lucy Brenton, who openly says she wants to play the role of spoiler. She garnered 5 percent of the vote in a 2016 race and has been onstage in debates that also include Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly and Braun. It’s unclear which of the two major party candidates is threatened more by her pro-gay rights, pro-marijuana legalization, anti-tax platform.

    “Do I intend to spoil the election for them? Absolutely. And here’s why: something doesn’t spoil unless it’s rotten,” Brenton said Tuesday after a debate in Indianapolis. “And the two-party system that has had a stranglehold on our country is absolutely rotten.”

    Mike Braun is a reprehensible piece of ultra-authoritarian shit. Donnelly is a hack. I love Lucy.

    This won’t be abused. No sirree. Because we all have 4th Amendment rights protecting us, and courts loyal to the constitution to enforce that. HAHAHAHA, I didn’t think I could say that with a straight face.

    The Transportation Security Administration has given the go-ahead to test technology that is designed to screen multiple airport passengers at the same time from a distance of up to 25 feet away.

    Thruvision boasts that its technology can screen up to 2,000 people an hour and detect a concealed device at a distance of up to 25 feet… This summer, the [Los Angeles] Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced that it planned to use Thruvision’s scanners to help prevent terrorist attacks in the system’s 93 subway and light-rail stations.

    See, Citizen, it’s for your own protection! That silly constitution isn’t a death warrant! And besides, all civil liberties are subject to reasonable regulation, right? That’s just common sense.

    This is the kind of thing that gives me hope for the future of America.

    Two female students who attended Adair County High School in Columbia, Ky., went to class Wednesday dressed as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two teenagers who opened fire at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., on April 20, 1999, killing 12 students and a teacher. The shooters also wounded 26 others before they turned the guns on themselves.
    The two female students wore the similar outfits Harris and Klebold wore on the day of the mass shooting, WHAS-TV reported. The students were not named.

    Inevitably:

    Adair County Schools Superintendent Pamela Stephens said in a statement that the two students were suspended pending an investigation. “We take the situation very seriously and our personnel are continuing to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding this matter,” Stephens said in a statement. “The students are currently suspended.”

    Amy Tarter, a parent of a student who attends the school, told WHAS-TV that more should have been done. “It’s ridiculous. I think any child that does that should be expelled and any parents who [support] their child [doing that] should have charges brought against them,” Tarter said.

    I’ll bet Amy is an absolute animal in the sack. But the good news is that there are two more female libertarians being created. If we were wealthy, I’d donate a big chunk of lucre to their college funds. And I’d be willing to bear all their children.

    Make no mistake, there ARE downsides to weed legalization.

    A 24-year-old woman is in jail after being accused of breaking into one of Aurora’s newest fire stations, flooding it, ransacking the building and even decapitating a bird.

    …the firefighters found an alarm going off, the doors open and the lights on and a fire hose spewing large amounts of water inside the 13,000 square foot building. In the laundry room, firefighter gear had been strewn around throughout the area. It appeared someone had activated a fire extinguisher and sprayed the area. A TV remote was broken and the station’s riding lawnmower had been ridden out of the station. They also found someone had smashed the windshields of firefighters’ vehicles parked at the station. Damage to the vehicles is estimated at $10,000.

    And a bird that had been at the fire station was found decapitated in the parking lot.

    According to an arrest affidavit in the case, officers tried to talk to Griego but “all she would do was make incoherent statements.. Griego also stated she does bath salts and marijuana.”

    Griego sounds like fun.

    The Supreme Court is apparently not immune to enabling publicity stunts and grifting.

    The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s request to halt a lawsuit from young Americans seeking to force the government to address climate change. In 2015, 21 young people, with the assistance of climate activist and scientist James Hansen, filed a lawsuit in which they argued that the federal government is violating their rights to a clean environment by not combating climate change.

    In a just world (“loser pays, and if loser can’t pay, loser’s lawyer pays”), mendacious money-grubbing publicity hounds like Hansen would be nailed with attorney and court costs. Unfortunately, this is not a just world.

    Fuck this shit, my blood pressure is already too high. Let’s relax with Old Guy Music. Indirectly, you can thank Sloopy for this one- he misspelled Ric Grech’s name in a post earlier this week and that got me reminiscing. Grech is, of course, best known for Blind Faith. But the first time I heard him, it was with a band that was insanely influential on more famous groups like King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Genesis, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Family never achieved success in the US and has faded into total obscurity. But my little group of teenage friends (with whom I played in several bands) were all fanatics, and we were all horribly disappointed that their US tour presence was nearly nonexistent and certainly didn’t include Baltimore. Well, at least we were able to wear out their records. These guys deserve to be known better and honored for their work. This particular song has a distinct Captain Beefheart vibe, so I’ll bet the influence extended there as well.

     

  • ZARDOZ’S FRIDAY NIGHT LINKS

    ZARDOZ HAS THIS PAINTING HANGING IN HIS LIVING ROOM.

     

    ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN ONES. THE BRUTAL HOLIDAY KNOWN AS “HALLOWEEN” HAS COME AND GONE. IT APPEARS THAT THE ETERNALS OFFERED INSUFFICIENT “TREATS” TO THE YOUNG, DISGUISED…WHAT? OH, “COSTUMED”, BRUTALS WHO BANGED ON THE FORCE SHIELD AND DEMANDED SUCH. APPARENTLY GREEN BREAD DID NOT WORK AS A “TREAT”.

    NOT A “TREAT” IN THE EYES OF YOUNG BRUTALS

    THE VORTEX WAS ATTACKED BY MANY OVA BEING HURLED AGAINST IT. APPARENTLY THIS “EGGING” IS COMMONPLACE RETALIATION FOR SUCH A CIRCUMSTANCE. WELL, ZARDOZ WILL NOT STAND FOR IT! THE SECURITY CAMERAS OF THE VORTEX WILL IDENTIFY THE OFFENDERS. THEY WILL BE ENSLAVED AND THEIR FAMILIES CLEANSED.

    ZARDOZ IS CERTAIN, HOWEVER, THAT THE CHOSEN ONES WILL BACK HIM IN THIS POLICY – THEREFOR, ZARDOZ HAS BROUGHT YOU THE GIFT OF THE LINK! GO FORTH AND COMMENT!

    • THE BRUTAL LEADER THAT BEARS THE HAT AND HAIR IS DOING CLEANSING WRONG! ZARDOZ WAS ASSURED THAT THE ORANGE ONE WAS A BLOODTHIRSTY AND RUTHLESS DICTATOR…UNCONSTRAINED BY LAW OR CUSTOM.
    WHYCOME NO CLEANSING?
    • THE BRUTALS HERE KNOW HOW TO CLEANSE!
    • IF THIS DOES NOT INVOLVE ANOTHER FAMINE, ZARDOZ IS NOT INTERESTED.
    • ZARDOZ WILL OFFER THESE BRUTALS ASYLUM….AND JOBS.
    ZARDOZ’S FULL EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM.

    ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.

  • Friday Afternoon Links

    What’s up everyone? Happy Friday. My wife and I are going to see Robert Earl Keen and his slightly more famous college roommate at a nice venue tonight. Grandma and Grandpa are showing up early enough we can sit down at a for-real restaurant and have dinner. I don’t really know what to do with myself, but I shaved my neckbeard in hopes of getting lucky. And it must be my lucky day because for a rarity I managed to leave all the blood on the inside while scraping my neck. Who else is doing something fun tonight?

    I was reliably informed that Jeff Bezos has no heart, so I’m guessing Amazon HQ2 is going nowhere?

    Woman kills 13 people because she was mad bus driver missed her stop. She sure showed him.

    Considering how unsuccessfully pandas breed, maybe they should STOP singing to each other before sex.

    These crazy people want to host? have? a live birth in space. I’m not sure anyone who worked up the timeline has kids. “Oh, we’ll just have 48 hour mission to launch an expectant mother into space. I guess you could do a scheduled c-section before contractions start, but it seems like the stress of current launch vehicles is probably the sort of thing that would tell a woman’s body to drop that kid because she might not have a chance to later.

    The other guy playing tonight is Julia Roberts’ ex-husband. Here’s one from him.

  • Animal’s 2018 Hunt Report

    Planning

    Loyal sidekick Rat and I pretty much plan our year around our primary hunting season.

    This year, while we put in for and drew tags for deer, cow elk, and bear, the primary draw for us both were buck deer tags for the 30,000-acre Bosque del Oso State Wildlife Area in Colorado Game Management Unit (GMU) 851, west of Trinidad and very close to the New Mexico border. My project work in New Jersey this year forced me to pick one particular hunt, so the difficult-to-draw Bosque received out attention.

    So, we did our map recons, cleaned, serviced and checked zero on rifles, prepared sidearms, sharpened knives, packed camping gear and everything else into the inestimable Rojito and headed for the Bosque the Friday before the season opened.  We got down to the area early enough on Friday to have a quick vehicular scout around, seeing two big gangs of wild turkeys and a few does, but no bucks.  That mattered little to us at that time, though, with a full five-day season ahead.  A day-by-day recap of that season follows.

    Day One

    Cherry Canyon.

    Opening Day dawned bright, clear and warm.  That makes for a great day camping and woods-bumming, but not a great day for hunting.  The woods were bone-dry, which made moving a lot like walking through dry corn flakes.

    The Bosque was obtained by the State of Colorado, assisted by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, from a natural gas extraction company.  Natural gas extraction is still going on there as part of the purchase agreement, so while access into the Bosque by hunters is limited to foot or horseback traffic from the few designated parking areas, there are good roads for into the unit and we used those on opening day to make a quiet, if not really stealthy, foray far into the right fork of Apache Canyon on the north side of the Bosque.  We took a good stand on a hillside overlooking a wide place in the canyon for a while but saw nothing other than scrub jays and chipmunks.  Later we walked almost off the end of the property, seeing signs of black bear and turkeys, but no deer.

    Mid-day usually doesn’t see much movement on warm, clear days, so we went up Bingham Canyon and proceeded to crawl Rojito up the ultimate portion of the access road, known to the local game wardens as the “Jeep Trail.”  It lived up to its name, about a three or four mile climb up a steep, narrow path littered with boulders.  It was a bad trail but nothing Rojito and I hadn’t done before, so when we conquered the trail, Rat and I admired the view for a bit, knowing that once any precipitation came in we wouldn’t be able to return.  There was no deer sign about, so we headed back down.

    In the late afternoon we went over to the eastern edge of the Bosque.  By this time, it was t-shirt weather, but we walked up into Cherry Canyon.  That location is much drier and more open than Apache, but while we saw some tracks, we saw no deer.  But we knew colder, wetter weather was to move in overnight, which normally gets deer moving, so after repasting on Rat’s patented Heart-Stopper Bacon Bacon Cheese Bacon Double Bacon Cheeseburgers with sides of bacon, we retired that night optimistic for the next day.

    Day Two

    Rat, glassing from a ridgeline.

    When we awoke on Sunday morning, the temperature had dropped noticeably, and the sky was low and gray, which boded well for seeing game.  We headed again over to the eastern part of the Bosque, this time up Alamosita Canyon, a big, open canyon with pines on the south-facing slope and junipers and sage on the north-facing slope.

    The wind was right in our faces as we left Rojito and headed on foot up the gas company road – ideal.   Stepping slowly, we moved quietly up the road and into the broad canyon.

    Not long after we entered the canyon and began ninja-ing our way up through the sage, over the top of a small spur poking out from the canyon wall to the left came two forkhorn mulies, maybe 60 yards away.

    “Nice meat bucks,” I whispered to Rat.  “Want one?”

    Rat’s deer.

    Rat replied by dropping to one knee and taking aim.  I watched through binoculars as he fired, sending a 165-grain .30-06 pill right into the bigger buck’s vitals.  Through the glass, I saw a big puff of hair explode from the buck’s far side and knew we had a dead deer; the buck hadn’t quite figured that out yet and ran in about a 150-yard semicircle up the hillside, crossing a gas wellhead clear-cut and dying on the far side.  When we found the buck, we could look about a hundred yards down the hill and see Rojito parked; as the Bosque allows using the gas company roads to retrieve game during midday hours, once Rat had the buck dressed we were able to pull Rojito up to within thirty feet or so to load the deer up.

    I have to say here, I’ve shot deer I had to drag for miles and miles to get out, which really makes one appreciate a convenient extraction for once.

    Then the snow moved in.

    By the time we had Rat’s deer loaded the sky was spitting wet pellets of snow, which were beginning to accumulate.  Since Trinidad was only about 20 miles distant, and since our featureless campsite had nary a tree from which to suspend a game pole, we decided to run the buck into town for processing.  On the drive out of Alamosita we saw on an adjacent sage flat another forkhorn meat buck, a near twin for Rat’s.  Rat asked me if I wanted to sneak in and get a shot at him, but I kind of wanted a bigger buck, so declined.  We ran Rat’s buck into town to the processor, grabbed a hot sandwich, and rode back out to the Bosque and ventured once more up the right fork of Apache Canyon.

    Not really suitable for cold weather.

    There we remained until night was coming on but found no fresh tracks other than those of a cow elk who had crossed the canyon on her way somewhere in the previous hour or so.  Even so, we went back to our cold dry camp that evening with one deer in the bag and confident of the prospects for a second.

    Day Three

    Cold.

    On the third day, my luck changed, and not just because I was still toting around a 10-pound .338 Win Mag whilst loyal sidekick Rat was happily hiking along encumbered only by his day pack and sidearm.

    The snow had stopped, but the day was still chilly (low 30s) and the sky still mostly cloudy.  We ascended Torres Canyon in the morning and saw a few tracks in the recent snow but no bucks.  Spotting a few does on the road over to Alamosita gave me a bit of hope, but despite a long afternoon tramp up the canyon that had been good to us the day before, we saw no shootable bucks.  By day’s end I gave up most of my hopes for a big buck and determined, with two days left, to take a meat buck if the opportunity presented itself.

    High point of the day, though, was watching several huge flocks of sandhill cranes as the afternoon sky cleared.  The big birds were flying high and heading south, and as always, we marveled at how their cries came down so clearly from their considerable altitude.  It’s a sound always associated with hunting in southern Colorado.

    Day Four

    Alamosita Canyon

    The penultimate day of our five-day hunt broke clear and cold.

    With Rat again happily unencumbered by his rifle, we decided to hike up the left fork of Apache Canyon, having previously only gone up the right fork.  That side of the canyon was a little narrower than the right fork, heavily wooded on both sides, steeper and rockier on the north-facing slopes.

    The warm afternoon before had melted snow and produced mud in open areas which had frozen overnight, preserving tracks.  We cut some interesting trails:  A trio of turkeys being trailed by a bobcat, a mountain lion track left in the snow, and tracks of fox, coyote, rabbits and pine marten.  But the big event of that hike was when the sound of a rock tapping down the canyon wall to our right led us to see two bull elk trying to pick their way along the slope to get out of our sight.  One was a middling five-by-five, but the other was a huge, magnificent six-by-six that any elk hunter would have been proud to have on the wall.  The bulls were a mere hundred and fifty yards away and could have been easily taken, but we had no elk tags for the Bosque, and so we watched them picking their way slowly along the steep, rocky slope until they were out of sight.

    Bobcat, tracking turkeys. Hope he scored.
    Lion track.

    Then, this being a Tuesday, misfortune struck.  A large drilling rig and its crew entered the left fork and proceeded to drive up the company road, making a fair amount of noise and pretty much scotching any idea of hunting that canyon any further.  Rat and I walked on out, picked up Rojito in the parking lot and decided to hit one place we had not yet explored, that being the nearby Cirueta Canyon.  As it happened, we didn’t get to explore that location.

    On the approach to the canyon’s parking area, we spotted a gang of mulies in a creek bottom not far from the road.  We determined that there was one forkhorn meat buck in the band of does.

    Now I’m no fan of road-hunting, but when the blood-wind blows you such an obvious prize, it’s folly not to accept.  As Rat was driving, I grabbed Thunder Speaker, bailed from the vehicle and creeped into the creek bottom, moving from juniper bush to juniper bush to within about sixty yards of the little buck.  Finding an opening in the juniper in front of me, I slid Thunder Speaker through the branches, rested the fore-end on one large branch and let fly.  The little buck was facing me with his head high; I put a .338 pill right between his front quarters.  He ran about sixty yards – towards the road, mind you – and collapsed.  Once again, the extraction was easy, which was something of a first, having that happen twice in one season; I don’t know about most of you, but I rarely have that kind of luck.

    Thus ended the 2018 mule deer hunt, with no trophies but plenty of high-quality, additive-free, free range venison in the freezer.  Any day hunting is better than the best day working, and a day when you bring home venison is just that much better.

    Other Notable Events

    About to tag my freezer-filler.

    An observation:  I’ve always maintained (and have done so here in previous articles) that you can shoot little stuff with a big gun, but you can’t shoot big stuff with a little gun.  While this is true, in the case of this year’s plump little meat buck I ran across the down side of that.  While my shot killed my buck quickly – and I will tell you, a .338 Win Mag will put down a 125-pound deer right now – there was a drawback, as the buck wasn’t facing me straight-on but quartering a little more than I had suspected, so that my 225-grain .338 bullet exited rather forcefully through the right front quarter, destroying most of that quarter’s edible meat.  So, I will have to bear that in mind in future deer-only expeditions.

    Sunday evening (Day Two) the weather precluded cooking in camp and the cold had us wanting a hot meal, so as evening set in we headed down the road to the village of Segundo.  The general store and deli at that location were already closed, but the bar across the highway (Sam’s, in case you’re ever in that area) was open, and while they didn’t have a menu they did have a free-lunch counter consisting of an open bag of chips, some cookies, and a big crock full of sausages alongside a supply of rolls and condiments.  We had out hot meal, but the real entertainment of that evening was meeting the man who was apparently the inspiration for the character Gabby Johnson in Blazing Saddles.  He was an older gent with an impressive beard and did speak authentic frontier gibberish, offering such gems as “Ash-a-stebba garage cat inna gorge thang” and “Mer dawg issa horsa bit off da kin beet.”

    And, finally, having tagged out a day early gave us an afternoon to explore Trinidad.  In case you aren’t familiar with that Colorado metropolis, Trinidad is an old mining town a few miles from Raton Pass and the New Mexico border.  While most of the mining in the area has faded away, it seems to have been replaced by recreational weed, as we counted over twenty rec-weed shops during the two or three hours we spent strolling around town seeking cold beers.  That close to the New Mexico border, I suppose that should come as a surprise to no one.

    What’s Next?

    A few more cold nights in the old summer-weight tent has us now shopping for a canvas wall tent with a stovepipe hole, to keep us warmer of an evening; that will make sleeping a whole lot more pleasant.  But plans for next season always seem to begin during an actual hunt, and sights seen in the Bosque have me determined to seek fall turkey and bear tags for the area in coming years.  Rat and I also have a wealth of preference points for elk but haven’t yet decided what to spend them on.

    Any day hunting is indeed better than any day working.  Work may beckon now, but there are a lot of grouse and other small game in Pennsylvania, not so far from my temporary New Jersey digs, so watch for some news from that quarter soon.

  • Friday Morning Links

    Aw shit, that’s the score?!?!

    I bet Chucky wishes he’d have stayed the booth.  After all, you get to do the second-guessing there rather than the other way around.  I never thought the 49ers could beat anybody by 31 points. Hell, they probably couldn’t beat Bama by that many.  And to make matters worse, his only win this year is most likely due to some dubious officiating in the Browns game.  And from what I see, they only have 2 (at most) really winnable games left on their schedule. I guess we’re about to see if Vegas is a town that will support a football team good or bad. Because a shitty one is about to move there.

    12th ranked UCF beat Temple 52-40 in a game that can’t give the CFB committee a lot of confidence in them. And your winners on the ice were: Winnepeg, Dallas, NY Islanders, Montreal, Ottawa, Detroit (who are riding a 3-game win streak!), Nashville, St Louis, Calgary, Edmonton, MY Rangers, Philadelphia and the Columbus Blue Jackets. In MSL news, Wayne Rooney, the toast of DC, missed a penalty as his team was knocked out of the playoffs. And RSL knocked LAFC out in surprising fashion.

    Aloha.

    Badass Daniel Boone was born on this day. He shares it with: Marie Antionette, president James Polk, mathematician George Boole, another president Warren G Harding, politician Aga Khan, actor Burt Lancaster, actor Ray Walston, wrestling legend Abdullah The Butcher, sociopath Pat Buchanan, rocker Keith Emerson, bassist Dave Pegg, malignant tumor David Brock, rocker Bobby Dall, annoying actor David Schwimmer, and Wisconsin governor Scott Walker.

    Its also the day on which the following occurred: George Washington says goodbye to the Army after curb-stomping the British in the War for Independence, abolitionist freedom fighter John Brown was found guilty of treason (against Virginia) and sentenced to hang, North and South Dakota became states, the Balfour Declaration was issued, Howard Hughes flew the Spruce Goose, Dewey Truman beats Truman Dewey, CBS bought an 80% stake in the New York Yankees, The Summit in Houston opened (its now Joel Osteen’s gaudy homage to God himself, Reagan signed a bill making MLK Day a national holiday, the final “Blackaddar” episode aired, and Roger Moore had his prostate removed.

    Thats it. Here come…the links!

    Please save us from the wretched country…whose flag we are waving proudly.

    People from Honduras traveling through Mexico after refusing asylum there sue President Trump for violating their constitutional rights before they’re violated. Yeah, I need a fucking flowchart on how they reached the point of having standing without reaching the border or a US consulate.

    I know I’m going way out on a limb here, but I’m gonna have to say I’m skeptical, at best, about these claims. Also, the head of “Flyers Rights” sounds like a fucking moron.

    As Democrats become more confident that they’ll take the House (although I am far from convinced), the media are shifting attention to the Senate tossup races. Internal polling seems to contradict the former claim at the moment, as does the reported voter turnout numbers in several key races. But the chosen narrative ain’t gonna write itself.

    Oh…my…God! WHO…FUCKING…CARES?!?!?!?!?!

    Pay up, proles!

    Yeah, this asshole doesn’t understand what an incentive is. Oh, he knows how to fuck people over, that’s for sure. But that’s not an incentive.

    Whats even scarier than a teenage American drinking a 12 pack and getting behind a wheel? A Japanese pilot blowing a .189 before boarding his plane. Damn, dude. “Banzai!”, I guess.

    Well, at least they took the claims seriously. Hopefully these assholes will get locked away for a long time…in cells adjacent to those of the people they sought to frame.

    Yeah, baby!!!!!  Rock-n-Roll!!!!

    That’s it for me for there week.  Have a great weekend, friends!

  • Poll: Nicknames

    A while ago in one of the comment sections, we had a discussion about names and nicknames. It was revealed that I hate, despise, loathe the most common nickname for my given name. In fact, I’m not all that crazy about my given name, but at least it’s tolerable and not stupid. Did I mention I detest the usual diminutive?

    When I graduated from high school in my tiny hometown, I was determined to be called “nickname” no longer. So I laid down the law to my family and friends, and started correcting local shopkeepers who had known me my entire life by “nickname,” and was generally a pain in the ass about it to everyone. But it worked.

    My Mom settled on just shortening my name by lopping off the very end. My Dad shortened it even further, just calling me by the first syllable; he’d done that most of my life anyway.

    Whenever I met someone new, I’d introduce myself by my entire name, and if they immediately used “nickname” I would gently correct them. That worked well for most of my life.

    Then I allowed OMWC to convince me to relocate to the Midwest.

    People who are from here, and that seems to be almost everyone I meet–either nobody ever leaves or they all come back–invariably immediately assign “nickname” to me in their minds, and that is what they call me forevermore. No matter how I protest. *sigh*

    In my non-GlibWorld interactions with Glibs, it seems many prefer their whole given name, too, which brings me to this week’s poll questions:

    1. Do you have any preference between your given name or a nickname? Or do you just not care?

    2. Are there people in your life who get a pass on what they call you?

    3. Do you have a nickname not related to any part of your name? Did you make it up yourself, T-Bone? (I suspect many Glibs are called unflattering things, even–or especially–by strangers.)

    In case you’re curious, my current intimates–OMWC, the Founders, and other very close friends–often just call me the initial of my first name. When my children want to be assholes, they call me the abhorrent nickname.

    Yes, they are already disinherited.

  • BakedPenguin’s NFL Pick-’em for Week 9

    I went 9-5 last week, for a nice change from mediocracy.

    If anyone wants to know, I got my odds here, on 10/31.

     

    Here are this week’s picks:

    Oakland (+120) at San Francisco (-3 / -140). Two teams with bad records who both have a few close losses. The 49ers injury situation looks worse than the Raiders, however. OAK – take the points.

    Detroit (+185) at Minnesota (-5 / -220). Two tricky teams to pick. Minnesota seems slightly better, and they’re at home (even if that’s meant jack & shit this year to either team). MIN – give the points.

    Kansas City (-9 / -450) at Cleveland (+350). An improved Browns team has the ability to hold the Chiefs under that point spread, but then I also thought that last week against the Steelers, who were able to take advantage of some holes in Cleveland’s defense. The Browns had 2 interceptions against Tampa Bay, and still lost. And I don’t think Mahomes is going to throw 2 interceptions.

    Pittsburgh (+130) at Baltimore (-3 / -150). This is a tough one. One key to the game will be how well the Ravens tough pass defense matches up against Roethlisberger and the Steelers pass offense & vice versa. Pittsburgh has shown themselves to be a good road team this year, but I think Baltimore has enough to pull out a 3-point win. BAL – give the points.

    Tampa Bay (+250) at Carolina (-6.5 / -300). With either Fitzpatrick (who has historic interception problems of his own) or Winston, the Buccaneers have a definite QB disadvantage to Newton and the Panthers. With the spread under a TD, I’d go with Carolina. CAR – give the points.

    NY Jets (+140) at Miami (-3 / -160). Another tough one. Miami has a record that their stats don’t seem to support. I’m guessing that a lot of that is due to turnovers, and they will be key if the Dolphins want to win. So at home, against a mediocre team. MIA – give the points.

    Atlanta (+105) at Washington (-1.5 / -125). The Redskins are the better team, and the spread is basically a pick ‘em game. I wouldn’t bet the house, but I also wouldn’t have a problem putting three figures down on this one. WAS – give the points.

    Chicago (-10 / -500) at Buffalo (+400). Chicago has shown a talent for throwing away games this year, but the Bills terrible offense and their resultantly overstretched defense gives the Bears a good chance to meet that large point spread. CHI – give the points.

    Houston (± 100) at Denver (-1 / -120). Houston has reeled off a string of 5 straight wins, but they are mostly against teams ranging from mediocre to bad. While the Broncos fit in the top end of that description, they are also a team with a definite home advantage. (Their two home losses this year were against KC & the LA Rams).  I think Denver has a decent chance of stopping the Texans’ streak. DEN – give the point.

    LA Chargers (+105) at Seattle (-1.5 / -125). Tough one. The Chargers have a good team this year, and Seattle has had some close calls against some weak teams. LAC – take the points.

    LA Rams (+105) at New Orleans (-1.5 / -125). Another hard to call game. I’d like to take the Saints at home, and they’re certainly capable of it, but their weaker defense makes me think the Rams do have an advantage. LAR – take the points.

    Green Bay (+200) at New England (-6 / -240). The Packers are not the Bills, so that point spread strikes me as a bit high. GB – take the points.

    Tennessee (+230) at Dallas (-6 / -270). If the Cowboys can get its’ offense going, I doubt the Titans will be able to keep up. (Tennessee is just above Buffalo in points scored). I think a 6-point spread is about right. DAL – give the points.

  • Thursday Afternoon Sugar (or SugarFree?) Hangover Links

    Happy National Candy Binge Day. If you need a purgative, you should really check out SF’s final Subaru Horror Theatre story. I think the level of earnest ultra-violence really took this one to a new level. For more really excellent work, Elspeth Flashman’s first article about why not to talk to cops is here. Excellent and informative. Okay, everyone have a great day.

    Oh, links to OTHER sites? I should do those too.

    Conor Friesdorf, so independent he is voting straight-party Democrat, because (this is my favorite part) its critical that the Mueller investigation find out the truth about Trump’s collaboration with the Russians. You might remember Conor as The Atlantic’s token non-Democrat after Andrew Sullivan got lost in Sarah Palin’s vagina.

    Well this is pretty damn cool. A quantum-magnetic compass that knows where it is based on documented anomalies. Get it on a chip and no more GPS satellites needed.

    Maxine Waters as Speaker of the House? It may be possible that the libertarian mission of putting the most ridiculous people in office to destroy government credibility is working. (TW: Autoplay)

    Finns raid “secret Russian military base”? I guess some people still remember who their enemies are.

     

    Here’s some Finnish metal polka.

  • Talk to the cops? Are you crazy? (part one of a multi-part series)

     
     

    I have the glory and honor of appearing on a few court-appointed lists in the area. This means I represent clients for misdemeanor, felony, and child protective/ delinquency cases. And I really don’t mind doing this kind of work. Strangely enough, going to law school really prepared me well for doing this kind of work. Go figure. Although it wasn’t taking the required criminal law classes that prepped me, it was the overall structure of the classes.

    One of the perks of my job is that I get to read a lot of police reports, and talk to police officers and detectives a lot. The reason why I say this is a “perk” is that it makes me look at the arguments law enforcement would use if the case goes to trial, and how police psychology works. It’s actually quite underhanded and manipulative once you break it down into its pieces.

    Sometimes, and it has happened more recently thanks to getting on those court-appointed lists, I have potential (retained!) clients call me with the following scenario: “I was at a party last weekend, with a lot of friends. My friends tell me that Tom says that I committed a crime against him, and that he called the cops. Should I talk to the cops?”

    My advice is always “No, you have no obligation to talk to the cops.” And then I tell the potential client, “if the cops call you, tell them you won’t be questioned without your lawyer present.”

    1. The format: Police reports are written in a good guy/ bad guy format. It’s like a play. Usually –and I can’t think of a time I have seen it any other way — the person who calls the cops is the “good” guy. Once the cops identify the rest of the players in the play, they will try to finger one person  (or possibly a group of people, who end up as co-defendants) as the “bad guy.”

    This is the beginning of how the mind set of law enforcement works. It’s easier to sell the story to a jury if the play is simple. Good guy / bad guy is a scenario we have all seen, and the jury will want vengeance, justice, or something, for the good guy. This is how a conviction is made.  Also, police and prosecutors know their audiences: it is the general public. What is the general public’s IQ? How does the general public feel about victims and justice?

    2. Corroboration: Talking to the victim, or alleged victim as I like to call him/her, gives the cops a list of other people to talk to, witnesses, before they talk to the person they’re trying to cast in the “bad guy” role.

    This is how under-handed the police mindset is, as talking to other witnesses first becomes a set-up for the defendant to put his own picture in the frame, or cast himself in the starring role. It also gives police an inside edge, as this leads to a cross-examining of the defendant from their first contact.

    This is part of the officer’s job. And it works in their favor — talking to other witnesses gives “corroboration” to the alleged victim’s story. If the witnesses back up the victim’s story, then the cops have some corroboration, and the victim’s story sounds more like it would stand up in court. Back to selling this story to a jury: if there’s a witness who says the same thing as the alleged victim, then the jury will have more sympathy toward the alleged victim, and it is easier to get a conviction.

    3. Contacting the defendant: The scene is now set, the cops have a victim, and some witnesses. Now all they need in the play is the bad guy.Once the cops call the potential defendant, they begin with what is called a “leading” question. Sometimes these are called open-ended questions. It’s the sort of question an interviewer uses on a job interview, such as, “where do you see yourself in five years?” it doesn’t lead to a “yes” or “no,” instead it leads to more of an explanatory answer.

    Or, in the potential scenario of being pulled over, it sounds more like this “How fast did you think you were going?” This leads to an answer that can be incriminating such as, “I’m not sure, but I think was going about 35.”

    Except in our “play,” as written by the police, it sounds a bit more like, “Hi, Jim. My name is officer Bishop with the County sheriff’s office. Tom talked to us, and said you committed a crime against him.”

    This open-ended statement might lead a person to possibly deny the assertion, or to try to correct the cops. The problem is that any other statement a potential defendant makes at this point can be used to cast him in the role of bad guy, no matter the answer.

    Usually by this time, again, cops have talked to other witnesses, and so once the defendant says something, an officer can counter with “Well, Mr. Johnson said you went after Tom with a carving knife.” Here’s the corroboration coming to assist the cops, and further explanations by defendants are only helping the police.

    Also, the next thing a defendant says – even if it is the truth — may lead to a credibility problem not too far down the road. The options are to either a) deny what has been said by Mr. Johnson, or possibly point the finger at someone else; or b) deny what was said totally. (Option (c) is also available, however).

    At the first contact by police, asserting an attorney’s assistance would be helpful. Instead, defendant should answer, “I’m sorry officer, but I can’t talk to you without my attorney present.” That’s option (c), which no one seems to take!

    Either way, the cops have an alleged victim, and a corroborating witness who already say nearly the same thing. But according to the defendant, those two are both liars now. That won’t seem likely to a potential jury, will it? This is just grist for the mill of the prosecution. Think again of the audience, which is the general public. Who should the jury believe: the defendant – or all of the possible ways to agree with the prosecution: instead the jury can believe the alleged victim, officer testimony, credible witness testimony . . .

    Police also know that facts are confusing – the victim and one or two witnesses usually get a few facts wrong, but this still can be OK to a jury. The victim is sympathetic; so it makes sense what with being attacked that the victim might get a few facts wrong.

    4. The defendant’s natural response works against him. This is where manipulation also comes into play, in case it wasn’t used already when contacting the defendant. Most people are raised to think that the cops are good people, and that working with the cops will help everyone (even when being questioned about something).

    A second natural response happens when police contact a suspect. The suspect wants to “set the record straight” about what really happened. This works against the suspect as well. The police aren’t interested in getting it straight, they are interested in the “good guy/bad guy” scenario.

    Back to my job: I can’t tell you how many times I have had clients tell me “I was respectful”– “I didn’t make a scene,”– or “I cooperated.” Even clients with fairly extensive criminal records tell me this, when their prior involvement with law enforcement should have them knowing better. Who cares whether you cooperate with the police? The police will do their job whether you cooperate or not. And that’s what they are paid to do, so why help them to do their job? I don’t see the cops coming along to help you do yours, now do I?

    5. The fact that cops wear uniforms works in their favor. It’s intimidating, for one. Second, it tends to lead to obedience on the part of defendants. Clients/defendants know that cops have uniforms, guns, and jails at their disposal. So it’s easier for cops to get compliance, and so defendants/clients to give in to authority: the alternative can be scary – even if you are innocent. People in that situation tend to want to get out the situation as quickly as possible, so it’s easier to tell the cops something. Third, the uniforms are de-humanizing. It’s not a guy who happens to be a cop, it’s a cop! People see the uniform, but not the individual in uniform.

    Well folks, that is all I have for now. Thanks for listening. Feel free to comment, leave suggestions, etc. My upcoming specials will be:

    Part two: The Big C: When do your Constitutional rights “attach” to the situation?

    Part three: Evidence problems. What the police report says, can it be “in” evidence?

     

    Lastly: this is totally worth the watch: a criminal law professor covers exactly the same topic I just did!

  • Thursday Morning Links

    Well I hope everyone had a happy Halloween last night. It rained here for the second year in a row, but at least we got some candy-begging in.  And the nice part was: without a ton of kids out there, the people handing candy out were extra-generous.  So we got a good haul in without having to walk much more than a mile or so. Speaking of tricks, there was one single game on the ice last night, as Chicago fell to Vancouver 4-2. That’s it…one single freaking game the whole day. Way to go Bettman. No real other games of note, so in to the birthdays.

    What has 9 arms and sucks?

    Novelist Stephen Crane was born on this day. So were: sportswriter Grantland Rice, golf great and ambassador of being a happy person Gary Player, alleged evildoer Charles Koch, smut-peddler Larry Flynt, musician Kinky Friedman, rocker Rick Greech, Hello Kitty creator Yuko Shimizu, rocker Dan Peek, singer Lyle Lovett, businessman Tim Cook, pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, rocker Anthony Kiedis, drummer Rick Allen, legendary goon Tie Domi, and baseball player Coco Crisp.

    Its also the day Michelangelo’s works on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were unveiled to the public, Shakespeare presented “Othello”, so was “The Tempest”, John Adams moved into the White House, Nicholas II became Tsar of Russia, Ataturk took Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire ended, Dupont introduced synthetic rubber to the world, the first issue of “EBony” hit newsstands, Fulgencio Batista was elected president of Cuba, Jacques Plante became the first NHL goaltender to wear a mask, “Cool Hand Luke” hit the big screen, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” hit the stage, “Titanic” opened, and the Houston Astros won the World Series last year.

    OK, on to…the links!

    Lemon and his intellectual equal…this is CNN.

    Don Lemon continues to insist that white men are “the biggest terror threat in this country”. And that terror threat, whether he’s right or wrong, is so minuscule as to be statistically irrelevant. Also, he’s a divisive asshole.

    Trump surprises everyone, including the Pentagon, when he announces that troop levels at the southern border could reach 15,000. This is certainly a debate with some merit: is this a good move, is it a legal move and will it do any good?

    Sorry, everyone. But the show’s dead.

    I guess all those smug douchebag progressives who were going to happily tune in to see “The Conners” after Roseanne was unceremoniously removed from her show decided they had something better to do when the second episode rolled around. ABC has ordered just one more episode…probably to put a bullet in the show’s head.

    A San Fran cop and paramedic were fired (well, one retired) for assaulting a patient that had been restrained in an ambulance.  And charges were actually filed, which is a miracle.

    What is it with businesses in big cities and their desire to be lorded over by the state? Oh yeah, this is about creating barriers to entry. Silly me for thinking there was any other motive.

    Reid raising the esteem of the Senate

    Trump channeled “Dingy Harry” in speech about ending birthright citizenship. And Reid fired back in his customary manner.

    Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. This all happened a couple miles from my house. Thankfully they didn’t lock down the entire area.

    Tough choice on music today. Since I played the Red Hot Chili Peppers so recently, I’m going in a different direction today with this song. And this one, which is part of a great debate. OK, I couldn’t completely resist.

    Go have a great day, friends.