When, that is, it works.

Trying to get to anyone with a clue to fix the broken system, however, is well nigh impossible.

They don’t even post a contact number on their website.

When you finally do get to talk to a human (it takes greater than 40 minutes to speak to the FIRST level person) they are only slightly better at trying to fix things than my cats….

When (if) you can convince them to connect you to someone who has any actual abilities besides reading from a troubleshooting script tree and have waited the requisite amount of time, you may or may not get a technician dispatched to your home in 3 or more days.

Then, he or she may not actually know what to do….if they show up at the time chosen by the company to actually fix things.
All of which does NOT make for much in the way of customer satisfaction.

It does seem, however, that the neighbor was having issues….and in fixing their issue, the technician decided that the issue was MY modem in MY home (which, apparently was correct) ….rather than choose to knock on my door and fix the issue, he disconnected me at the pole. No notice….couldn’t even bother to tell me.

and it took 3 days for them to dispatch a tech to replace the modem (their equipment) and reconnect me to their network. The tech who was at the neighbors house could have fixed the issue and solved the problem simply by knocking on my door.

Instead it took me 40 minutes on hold, then another 30 to get transferred to someone with more than the IQ of an overripe tomato who could actually troubleshoot the issue…and dispatch someone (in 3 days) to fix things.

And the actual fix took less than 20 minutes. 

so in the approximately 80 hours from Friday night to Monday evening, we should place bets as to how many folks are shot in the greater South side of the Chicago area.

I’ll place my dime on 48 shot, 3 killed and at least 3 drive-by incidents.

Place your bets in the comments below. 

I was asked why I always carry….even in areas where the likelihood of “needing” a firearm is low (I try NOT to go places where I will “NEED” a firearm, but that is besides the point)…… Anywhere I can legally carry a firearm, I do. 

“Legally” is defined as anywhere where possessing a firearm will not get me tossed in jail.
Here in Indiana, outside of Federal or State or County or town government offices, Police Stations and Post Offices and schools, in nearly any other public place, if I carry a firearm where it is posted “no weapons” or “No Firearms” or “no Guns”, at worst I can be asked to leave. Failure to leave if asked is Trespassing and (generally) Disturbing the Peace, but are not Felonies. So I carry wherever my possessing a firearm won’t get me jailed.

Anyway, Here is the real reason I carry:

The average response time, nationwide, to an “active shooter” (remember, this is AVERAGE, Some will be MUCH longer, and “response time” means the time it takes from dispatch over the radio, not from the time someone calls 9-11, so add at least two minutes to that time…. until the cop reports “at the scene”… not the time it takes the cop (or cops) to actually DO something…decide what to do, enter the building, figure out what is going on, who is doing some shooting, make a decision as to what their response should be and actually react……) is 3 minutes…add in all the rest of the time and we are talking more than 5 minutes from the time someone responds….If they do actually, you know, respond, and not hunker down outside like the Parkland “First Responders” did in Florida…(Can anyone say “Coward of Broward”)

Start the timer. Count how many shots, or how many people could be slashed or stabbed in these 3 minutes. Or how many punches and kicks can be thrown in those same three minutes…. then figure another 3 to actually make the threat stop.

What if it were you…Or your loved one. Your kid, your parents, your friend? How about just plain bystanders….

3 minutes. Run this video twice to make sure you understand how long that is.

That is a LONG time, innit?

Gotta figure it is gonna take at LEAST those 3 minutes for the threat to be stopped. Probably at least twice that…maybe as much as 4 times. IF the cops react well, and quickly.
That’s why I carry. To stop a threat that I won’t know is there unless (and until) it happens. So I won’t have to wait that terribly long time…watch someone bleed or moan or even begin to die during that time. Someone to be beaten to death (or nearly so) by a group of young toughs.

I hope I never need my firearm. I hope I can use it effectively if chance should bring me to a place and time where I need to.
But I hope that I can stop a threat so that I don’t have to wait 3, or 6 or even 12 minutes before I can help those who are damaged or injured by a crazy homicidal person either.

Stopping threats earlier is the best way to prevent people from being killed or injured.

That’s why I carry.

Run the video again, just so you understand how long that time really is. Realize that that is the MINIMUM time for someone else to stop the threat. Likely 3 or more times that three minutes.

Found HERE:

Pretty much the truth. Especially the “Bad Personality” bit. But those kinds of girls always need an excuse as to why they fail in life, never have the introspectiveness to examine themselves for causality.

(BTW, didja notice how I gave credit as to where I got the image and meme from? That’s how you do it, not just steal it a day later and call it your own. It’s called courtesy and honor. You should try it. You know who you are). 

I mean, the fires are actually mostly farmers burning off their fields after harvesting….as tey ahve for many generations.  

Yes, there is some small part of the forest being burned, but that practice has been greatly curtailed over the past few years. In fact, it has nearly been cut by 2/3….

Even the NY Times has pointed this out: “Much of the land that is burning was not old-growth rain forest, but land that had already been cleared of trees and set for agricultural use.” 

Odd how that isn’t the message that most of the media is putting out. Why aren’t they telling the truth?

Why the lies….And what is the purpose of the media campaign?

And I have a simple solution: if they don’t want the rain forest burned, then people should buy it….Yep, buy an acre. Make it into a park, or a preserve, or whatever. BUT don’t tell other people what to do with land that is not yours. Pay them for the land, then You, as the owner, can determine what happens to the land.

Until then, shut the hell up

So Barry and Michelle Obama are buying a mansion on Martha’s Vineyard.

Good for them. I’m happy for them.

But one wonders, where did they get the cash to do so? I mean, 15 MILLION dollars is a lot of scratch….like a whole lot. And the utilities alone are gonna be a whole lot of money each month. Plus upkeep, maintenance, taxes, staff, etc.

Where did they get the money for the purchase and where is the income stream coming from for the residual cost per month? It’s gotta be another half million dollars a year just to keep the thing going.

Where is that coming from, much less the 15 MILLION clams it took to make the purchase?
(According to the experts, Barry and Michelle are worth over $130 Million….all from “Book Deals and Speaking Engagements”. In 3 years they have earned 130 MILLION bucks. Good work when you can get it, I guess.) 




ETA: One wonders why Barry would be buying beachfront land ON AN ISLAND….since he told us if we didn’t spend all that government (taxpayer) money on Solar Cells and other Green Initiatives pout forth by his cronies the icecaps were gonna melt in a few years and flood all the seafronts and Raise the Sea Level by tens of feet or more……Wouldn’t that put his mansion underwater?

Or was that where he got some of his money? From grateful beneficiaries of his policies? Perhaps they are the ones paying him the Big Bucks for the “Speaking Engagements” ?

I would think that if he believed his story about melting the icecaps he would have bought land in the mountains….

Or, perhaps, he was just lying when he said all that about Global Warming Climate Change….

27 years ago, the siege that became known as “Ruby Ridge” began.

Federal Marshals, out of control and acting on flawed information from the ATF (go figure), killed Sammy Weaver and laid siege to the home of Randy Weaver and his family until the FBI became involved.

During the resulting siege, a sniper from the Hostage Rescue Team “accidentally” killed Vicki Weaver while she was holding their infant son. The son was not harmed. The shot was against the Rules of Engagement, but Lon Horiuchi, the sniper, was acquitted in Federal court….He should have been convicted of Murder.
No one, not a single agent, was fired for the debacle. No one was convicted of murder either. No one lost their pension, and several were promoted.
The Agents of the State were held blameless for their actions. Repeat: No one was in any way censured for the whole debacle,

Armed citizens are the only barrier to the State and it’s minions choosing to do the same thing to the rest of us should we become the target of their choice.

Never give up your defense. Ever.

And despite the Taxpayers paying a large settlement to the Weaver family members for the actions of their employees, the fact is that a family lost a mother and a son. I once met Randy Weaver. He was, then, a broken man. No one can fix the damage done to him. And yet the Agents of the FBI, the US Marshals Service, and the F-Troop ATF agents all skated on their crimes. No one was called to account for this debacle.

I sincerely hope this never happens again. But without the means to see that it doesn’t, to defend against out-of-control Law Enforcement, it will happen, sooner or later.
Never give up your means of defense, your means to at least fight back.

Armed men are Citizens, unarmed men are Serfs. Choose which you will be.

Seems that Wayne needs more money.

He told me so in a Email that he sent me from the NRA.

It had a “Personal” video from him telling me all about how, with my help, the NRA can “continue the Fight”  and without me (and my money) they might fail.

Fuck That.

Not a DIME until Wayne La Pierre is gone from the NRA.

I do love it when an urban apartment dweller tells me that because I don’t sort my trash for recycling  I am a terrible person who is destroying the environment and causing global warming climate change.

This from a person who drives (when there are public transportation options available…IE trains) over 50 miles every day (each way) to get to work, who lives in an apartment and cares for zero greenspace.

He seems to feel that sorting trash for (energy wasting) recycling efforts somehow offsets several acres of greenspace (which I own and maintain as habitat) with significant tree and other vegetation growth, that is close to where I need to be…my average daily (or less) round trip is less than 25 miles.

But hey, Greenie “Holier than thou” or something.

I offered to bring him my (average) 5 cubic foot of sortable trash each week in order that he could sort it….. I mean, “If you really think it is that big of a deal, and will make all that much difference, I can toss a bag or two into the back of my pickup and deliver it to you every couple of days…. it isn’t out of my way or anything”… He declined.

I LOVE exposing liberal hypocrisy.

And, as has been pointed out, even though it often makes no sense energy wise or monetarily (which equates to energy, really) recycling is (often) a religious expiation.