Who is really more dangerous?

 Which is more dangerous: Allowing people to vote OR allowing people to own a gun?

I am confused (normal) and I am asking for help.

Below I list some points. Accept them as fact for right now. I’ll get to my questions afterward

Posit 1 - In countries with properly elected leaders, voters decide who runs the government.

No proof or source offered for this.

Post 2 — Asking for ID to be able to vote is wrong. The right to vote is fundamental and a reason we fought the War of Independence. Example - “He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.”

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript 

Posit 3 - Demanding ID, background checks and restrictions on gun ownership is lawful and necessary.  Example - “Background checks for firearms have been conducted through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) since November 1998.”

https://www.nraila.org/get-the-facts/background-checks-nics/

Posit 4 - Background checks make the nation safer and prevent mass shootings, children’s deaths and so forth. Example - “In states where elected officials have taken action to pass gun safety laws, fewer people die by gun violence.“

https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/

Posit 5 - Government is the leading killer of people through gun violence. Just in war, a rough estimate is 570 million since 500 BC. And that is low. “This list broadly defines war as an extended conflict between two or more armed political groups. Consequently, it excludes mass death events, such as human sacrifices, ethnic cleansing operations, and acts of state terrorism or political repression during peacetime or in contexts unrelated to war.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll

Posit 6 - It is hard to get a firm number, but most estimates say the US has more than 20 hunters. I find no evidence of mass shootings of humans in the billions of hunts in the US. “In 2021, the number of people who participated in hunting in the United States (aged six years and older) amounted to approximately 25.87 million. “

https://www.statista.com/statistics/191244/participants-in-hunting-in-the-us-since-2006/

Posit 7 - 43% of US homes have a firearm. More than 80 million people own at least 1 gun.  “Based on NICS background data and manufacturing records, it is estimated that there are 500 million civilian-owned firearms in the U.S.”

https://ammo.com/articles/how-many-gun-owners-in-america

Posit 8 - In the past Presidential Election, 154,308,000 voted.  Voter “turnout may reflect the health of popular democracy.  Well-functioning democracies are more inclusive and will have higher turnout.“

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/voter-turnout-in-presidential-elections

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/06/26/voter-turnout-2020-2024/

I explain my confusion.

We elect people to office. 

Those elected are supposed to serve us, do what we demand and in general, handle business subject to our approval. 

These elected officials start wars, sending us and our children to die and to kill other people and their children. 

I Samuel 8:11-12 is a good example. “And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.”

R and D administrations have launched wars and continued wars.

Lemme make this clearer.

People vote -> Government is created to work for the people -> Government has a war -> People die from the war’s gun violence.

Who is at fault? Who is the real danger? Who is the killer we should be most concerned about? If government works for us, where does the buck stop? 

This may be illogical or flawed. If it is, please point out where the chain of thought collapsed. This may be why I am confused.

If I am correct, please explain to me why we should not have an ID to vote when the US government, the people voters put in place, killed and continue to kill untold numbers of people in mass attacks and individual attacks.

Please explain why an ID and background check are needed to buy a gun when millions of gun owners, about half of the people who actually voted, have never shot anyone and hope they never have to shoot anyone.

Guns and voting are both are rights enshrined in the Constitution

Who really is the most dangerous here? What am I missing?

Based strictly on ALLLLLL the evidence I can gather, voting is way more dangerous than owning a gun.

You want IDs and background checks to buy a gun. I want the same exact rules, whatever they are, applied to voting.

Another rambling rant

 

Accepting reality whether I want to or not

This week (week of 2 March 2026), I have dropped my face into my hands and dang near wept.

I may yet do so before the day (6 March 2026) is over.

This is not a column on religion, but I must make one reference to get my point across. I understand more and more why “Jesus wept.” John 11:35. He was utterly heartbroken at how incredibly dense people could be. He was simply flattened because people refused to accept the reality standing before them.

Ok then. To explain in secular terms:

HOW STUPID

Never underestimate how deliberately stupid a person can be.

Before you get excited about that, that statement includes you and it includes me. Over the years, I’ve become better at not being deliberately stupid. Sometimes I slip.

Also, never underestimate how much hypocrisy one person can spew with full righteous fury.

Today, I refer you to politicians at every level and leaders of various countries around the world.

I tellya, it is enough to make a preacher cuss.

Yep. I have resorted to profanities more’n once where the current state of affairs rests. This situation reaches from my small community in Southwest Georgia all the way up to the international stage.

GETTIN’ LOCAL

Gettin’ local on you, I also say the sheer ______ _______ __________ stupidity evidenced by some of the folks here in Turner County, Ga., is not unique. It is not rare. It is not unusual. It is entirely commonplace.

I have lived in Georgia, Alabama, Nevada and Florida. I tell you this: Change the names and the geographic location and the negative IQ among the leaders is exactly the same.

To the north of us, Crisp County has imploded over and over and over.

To the west, Dougherty County actually got bad enough to merit a letter from the Georgia Attorney General. The AG basically said, “Stop being naughty.” I have addressed the Attorney General's deliberate impotence elsewhere. Won’t rehash here.

To the east, Irwin County has suffered through meltdown after meltdown.

I am surprised the newspapers covering these mass self-done and intentional lobotomies did not spontaneously explode into flames in the sales racks.

This does not apply to all leaders. Some are actually good, worthwhile and are doing what is right regardless of the consequences. They do not last long. They are hounded until they retreat to a cave or are killed.

FERTILIZER

Why do people put up with this high-grade organic bovine fertilizer? Because people are generally weak, want to be led and hate the idea of thinking for themselves so much, they happily farm the task out to whomever yells “I AM THE GREAEST” the loudest, the longest and the mostest.

Yes huhn.

Only a very few are willing to say “Nah. I think I can do a better job of running my life than anyone else can. If I cannot do a better job, it is still life to run as I see fit.”

These people do not last long. They are hounded until they retreat to a cave or are killed

Monks walk for peace

This is here for a reason, but I can’t remember why right now. Something to do with politics whether the monks wanna admit to it or not

THE POINT I REALLY WANTED TO MAKE

If you have read this far, here is the point I really wanted to make.

We have some ______ _________ ______ ___ ___________ _____ _______ idiots in office and in positions of leadership here in Turner County. Again, change names and geography and I’ll say the same thing.

It is like these leaders have farmed out their thinking to AI, Artificial Idiocy. Apparently, their own idiocy was not sufficient. Reinforcement and all that.

If someone else came at these leaders with that same line of _____ ____________ ______ _______ _______, these leaders would be offended, irked, irritated, mad, angrily amused, annoyed and so on.

But when THEY do it, noooooo. They are the Supreme Galactic Overlord handing down a pronouncement.

One of these “leaders” is raising hell over what this “leader” sees as nepotism.

Apparently, someone has a daughter (shocking) with a boyfriend (EGAD! How dare she) and this boyfriend got a job (horrendibilus) and the daughter’s parental unit (imagine a child having a parent!) is one of the boyfriend’s superiors in the hierarchy (an organized leadership chain of command, unfathomable!).

This “leader” had the power to hire or fire - get this! - the leader’s own progeny. Never any question but that the offspring had to be hired.

But that’s different.

I assure you, I am not spreading guano on your crops. This is a bona fide reality where I currently hang my hat, collect tax notices and pontificate on a Macintosh.

DOUBLE WIELDING DAMOCLES

What we have here is an elected official going Florentine with a Sword of Damocles in each hand.

https://geddon.org/Florentine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_Damocles

This elected official has no idea how to sword fight, to extend the metaphor.

In a ... well, dang. Hang on.

Most of the other elected leaders involved in this matter have sided against this “leader.” They all sit on the same board.

The hierarchy of the “leader” and the cohort supervise have also arrayed against the leader.

This is a mildly surprising display of cohesion and unity in the face of well-precedented blatant hypocrisy (example at the federal level - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-kills-effort-release-congressional-sexual-misconduct-harassment-rcna261679) and a thorough, deliberate ignorance of the law, some important contracts and chains of command.

Leaders can come together to oppose another leader and they do so frequently.

At the same time, the leaders’ opposition is very often just as wrong as the leader they go after. This time in my community, they are in the right. Mostly.

As to the rest of my descriptive phrases above, I say deliberate et al and I mean it. In the Peach State, elected officials are required to have a certain amount of training, which includes:

• Updates on laws affecting their jobs
• HR
• Policies and how to implement & use them
• General information on how to do the job

This training is too often like pouring water into a bass fishing dip net. Something happened, maybe, probably not and if it did, it was not worth paying attention to.

_______ _______ _____ ____________ ________ _________ ________ AND ______ ___________ EVERY ___________ ___________ __________!

OFFENDED

You might say I am offended by this. You are not entirely wrong, as evidenced by the blank spaces above representing words I am not using in this post.

I am more disappointed.

I am, increasingly, annoyed with myself.

To ‘splain

Not long ago, Mike M. attempted to talk me down as my internal boiler was reaching critical pressure. The situation was simply: Some people did not do what they repeatedly stated they would do. This is sometimes more than I can handle.

https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/when-autism-and-adhd-occur-together

Mike tried to tell me I cannot expect others to live to my standards and expectations. He is right. 100% He got that from the Stoics. However, in the middle of an ... attack for lack of a better word, my grey matter simply does not process this.

In hindsight - “When you are offended at any man’s fault,” Epictetus tells us, “turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.”

Yeah. Thanks.

So, as I rail against our leaders, I stop to see when I have done the exact same thing. I realize i am no better than they.

However, I am not in a position to make a decision that will affect the lives of thousands and thousands of people for better or worse. These leaders are.

They abdicate or, even worse, abrogate the responsibility to do what is right.

My negative emotions and reactions are further fueled by my inability to make needed changes. One man, one vote can make a difference, but it is rare. I have seen local races decided by 3 votes. What little I can do (this blog being evidence), I do.

Too often, I feel that I am calling for Pancho to saddle my steed, for there are dragons to be slain.

We have met the enemy and he is us - Walt Kelley from the Pogo comic strip

Let's talk about countries.

Call the nation Wlhud (We Live Here You Don’t).

Imagine if you will Wlhud has repeatedly attacked and periodically invaded other countries.  These are not defensive attacks. These attacks are attempts at regime change, attempts to shut down various lawful activities, proxy battles between Wlhud and Tioc  (This Is Our Country). Sometimes these attacks are resource grabs because Wlhud is big enough, strong enough and mean enough to just go in and try to take it.

Tioc defends its way of life and that of its allies. Tioc insists there is nothing wrong with the way people in its country and other places are living. Tioc also says invading to grab resources, regime change and so far is plainly wrong.

Consider also that Wlhud has broken more treaties than any other country in the world.

Whoops. Got that backward.

Tioc is the one doing the attacks. Wlhud is the other side.

Ah crap. I had it right the first time.

Sheet. Maybe it is reversed.

Eh.

The leaders of Wlhud make sure none of the leaders’ family members get involved in combat. If a family member accidentally winds up in the military, strings are pulled to make sure Family Guy is a REMF (rear echelon mother fucker) in no danger whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Tioc makes sure to take the poor, those with limited prospects, sometimes criminals and put them in the military. Yes, some to most of Tioc’s forces are volunteers and joined because they actually wanted to, for whatever reason. Still, Hobson’s Choice ain’t a choice at all.

Hang on. Did I get that one backward, too? Y’all let me know.

Wlhud goes out and kills civilians and children in other countries. Collateral damage. It happens. Wlhud excuses this as just a cost of war and it was nothing personal.

Homes are bombed into dust. Hospitals are shattered. Infrastructure is demolished and vital supplies like water are cut off, often poisoned and so forth. Crops are razed before harvest. Wlhud said this demoralizes the enemy and is a quick path to victory.

No, sorry. That is what Tioc does. I am sure of it.

Meanwhile, Tioc oppresses its citizens, violates basic human rights and insists it is a paragon of virtue. Any criticism of how citizens are treated are shouted down, loudly and repeatedly, with plenty of finger-pointing at the accuser’s own record of human rights violations.

Tioc citizens died because they cannot get the medicare care they need. They go hungry sometimes. Relief is often shanghaied and dumped into the leaders’ pockets and their friends. This is either covered up or a token arrest is made, usually someone who offended the leadership. An example is made and the leaders roundly back slap each other and tell citizens what a good job they are doing.

Yanno what? I believe that is what Wlhud does.

Arg.

Confused yet? Why? It’s very simple.

Do this -

Strip away the country’s name and its geographic location. Remove identifiers.

Now look at the records I mention above. Go with JUST what that country does and forget the name and location.

Sheer numbers. Straight numbers. Only numbers. No identifiers.

Now you tell me, which country is which.

You can’t.

You tell me children and civilians are dying and it just happens. Really. Bombs go off on your community and you lose family members, will you still say "it just happens?" Will you be as nonchalant when the water you drink is fouled and poisonous? NIMBY much? Why?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PivWY9wn5ps

Unions? You mean worthless employee protection racket

A recent experience has reinforced my decision that unions are nothing more than a money-making scheme both for the unions and for union members AND a scheme to keep bad employees on the payroll.

I shan't bore you with all my experiences with unions. Those are somewhere herein. Dig 'em out at your own risk.

Rather, today I present you another example of a union protecting a bad employee.

I am a federal firearms license holder. I buy, sell and trade guns with the (not needed) permission of the government.

Guns are shipped to me.

A recent shipment was a handgun. It came via US Post Office.

That same day a shipment of medicine for an organ transplant recipient (roommate in the house) was also delivered via the Post Office.

The gun required, please note the word required as this is vital, an adult signature.

I got home the evening the items were delivered. Because I was in Big Red, I had to pull past the mail box and get out to get the daily delivery. This is important. If I were in the little truck, I could have reached the mail box. Likely, I'da driven into the yard and parked, never seeing the packages.

There, lying against the front yard pecan tree, were 2 packages from the USPS. Note here, I live on US Highway 41, the second most famous road in the United States. Allman Brothers, Ramblin' Man.

I also live on the edge of the Hood. The packages were visible from Highway 41. I've had stuff stolen from my fenced back yard in the past.

I took the packages inside. Look at me, being a responsible adult and all.

Meds for the kidney transplant patient. These are literally life and death medications. 

A pistol.

FAILED

Once again, I failed the Stoics. I was mad enough chew steel and s--t nails. My ass wanted to crochet bobwar.

Let's not belabor the point.

COMPLAINT

I filed a complaint.

I wrote, at the request of the USPS investigator, 2 reports on what happened.

The first report outlined what happened.

Report 2 addressed the statement the letter carrier gave to the investigators:

1) The package signature had Baker Brothers. BB Easy Handling Watermelon System is the name of the gun company.

2) The carrier said she spoke to my daughter who the carrier said refused to sign. The carrier said my daughter (who she could not identify) told her to leave it under the tree. For the record:
    a) Progeny 2 is a paramedic. She knows how important those meds are.
    b) Also, my favorite daughter was at work that day.
    c) Offspring the Second receives mail at my house but does not live there.

THE INVESTIGATION

The investigation included an interview with USPS officials and, of course, a rep. from the USPS union.

Under questioning, the carrier would not identify who signed for the gun. Would. Not. Hrmmm.

Repeating questioning, with the union rep present, proved as useful as interrogating a wood duck about the current state of affairs in Iran. Lots of quacking, plenty of ruffled feathers and s--t piled high and deep.

THE CONCLUSION

The lead investigator and I talked, in person, in front of my house. The investigator fell on the metaphorical sword.

What'd I learn?

The carrier was given "punishment." The investigator did not say what that was, what it involved or how serious it was. Reading between screaming billboards on fire on the Interstate, I inferred the carrier was given a mild reprimand and was told, "Do not do this again."

The investigator told me that is what the Union "would allow."

Uh huhn.

So we have a quasi-federal government employee in a union who was derelict on duty and:

1) Put another human being a real risk of severe health problems, possibly death.
2) Put an entire community at risk of a stolen firearm going into the hands of various community thugs. My neighborhood has shootings (generally no one hurt) pretty regularly.

The union has, once again, stepped in to protect someone who should not have the job the person holds.

AFTERMATH

Aftermath? Exactly as I have come to expect from unions.

In other words, not a diety-cursed making-of-the-beast-with-2-backs thing.

The investigator told me that carrier is "our problem child" and is under increased "observation" by the Investigator and the Post Master. "If (entity) did it once, likely (entity) has done it before," the investigator said.

Again, in other words, not a diety-cursed making-of-the-beast-with-2-backs thing will be done.

This has reinforced my belief that unions are not worthless. They serve as a bad example and tell us what we should not do.

When I failed the Stoics

This is about deadlines. This is about me. This is about how I react to deadlines. This is how I failed the Stoics, sort of.

For more'n 40 years I have lived with, by, through, for and on deadlines in a way most people won't quite understand.

In my world, missing a deadline is more than just being late. It is losing. Losing exponentially as that distance between the deadline and when the work will actually be done gets greater.

Arg. Complicated.

Try this - In my world, missing a deadline has very real costs. Those costs grows exponentially as time passes.

It is more than just what it does to my wallet. It is more than what it does to the company wallet. Those are bad enough.

Missing a deadline, without a valid reason is worse for a 2-part reason:

1) It is rude
2) It is an inconvenience

These, these, they drive me I allow these 2 things far more control over me than they should have.

Needs work, as one friend in particularly regularly states about himself. That's a reminder to me.

RUDE

It is rude because the people who missed the deadline do not care about other folks and their lives and what they have to do. They are too self-centered. They believe the word revolves around them.

What and when they want is all that matters. Other people are either obstacles to be obliterated, steps to reach higher or something to simply be ignored in the way Cthulhu considers this reality.

I do not like dealing with those kind of people. Where possible, I do not deal with them.

INCONVENIENCE

These people who think of deadlines as something that applies to other people also have no problem being an inconvenience to others. See above.

These inconsiderate people have no problem in making others set aside their schedules, their wants, their needs and everything else.

Deadlines to these people are simply ficticious points on a chronological map. At least until it blows up and they have to start eating the cost.

Ahhhhh.

A LESSON

You might think that is enough to teach a lesson. You are wrong. Humans have a singular ability to tilt at windmills up to their final breath.

Me? I have spent far too much time sounding the charge and demanding Pancho give me the best lance. I am trying to change this.

TIME

Time is apparently an illusion to these folks. They do things when they feel like it.

Round here we call it Turner County Time. I am certain you have a similar saying where you are. The geographic name changes. The idea is constant.

I recall dedicating the High School gym here to the late Ronalda Pierce. Time set. Time started. Moved through the 45-minute ceremony. Done.

As we were shaking hands, remembering Ronalda and such, people were still coming into the gym expecting to see the ceremony. 45 minutes late is still on time to some people.

When these people are the ones being treated rudely or inconvenienced by missed deadlines, the world has come to an end. People responsible must be punished. 

Point out they do the same thing? Insults fly. Cognitive dissonance rules.

FAILED

And this is where I failed the Stoics, sort of.

They tell us everything that happens is good. 

The Stoics also remind me I am not in control of my circumstances, but I am 100% in control of my reaction to them. Unreasoning emotional reactions are not good.

The Stoics tell us to accept our fate and go a step further. Embrace it. Love it. Amor Fati.

They also tell us if we can change things, do it. If we cannot, accept it.

I try to do that. I presently can't won't always do that with those other people who think a deadline is just a word in a dictionary. I am trying to be better.

Where deadlines and other people are concerned ... stoicism is replaced with fury. I explain further.

GREATER THE IRE

The more people who are affected, the greater the ire. This is not just about me.

If it was about me, I'd be a Mt. Vesuvius every time I went to the doctor. Appointment 9:30. Get into the exam room 10:30. Doc walks in 10:45.

This only affects me. I ain't always happy. I am resigned to it. I manage. I have learned to block off the time needed for events like this. Where possible, I do things that need doing while I wait.

Some day I will learn to accept and embrace it. Amor Fati.

Maybe.

Again, it only affects me. I roll with it.

Add more people to the mix, I presently cannot will not handle it in a rational way.

BETTER

I am getting better at handling other people missing deadlines. I am learning to just say, "Cool." and then walk away leaving those who mangled matters to sort it out without my presence.

This is me changing things.

When I have walked away, this has left other people shocked, stunned, outraged and etc.

Their problem. Not mine. They can should become Stoic and enjoy it. Or, learn what a deadline is and stick to it.

Ooooooo.

Unfortunately, walking away is not always reasonably possible for me. It is always possible, but may come with a cost I cannot am unwilling to pay. If you know much about me, you understand that. In those cases, I should must accept the matter with calm dignity. 

I'm trying.

If someone misses a deadline enough times, that person is no longer part of my situations and circumstances. I simply will not acknowledge them. I handled the matter. Costs will be paid.

VALID

Missing a deadline with a valid reason, not an excuse, I can deal with that. Fecal materials are a space-time occurrence.

Need to change the deadline? Let folks know as soon as you can. Let people who are also in the queue know so they can adjust their schedules.

This notice and adjustment recently happened in a matter I was involved with. 

All involved got an update when the matter was pushed back about 30 minutes. Cool! I made adjustments. It worked. The Stoic in me smiled and said "This too is a good thing."

That notice showed:

Respect
Acknowledgement
Awareness

To me, that ain't a lot to ask. To too many others, that is a task required effort beyond measure.

To those people, I offer a modern Stoic response - A lack or planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

Cannot help

 <sigh>

UPDATE: The individual in question below was taken into custody by the Ashburn Police Department on Monday afternoon. Charged with a minor offense. She had a warm place to sleep and food.

Rolled into work a few minutes after 6. Across the street, she was standing, rocking back and forth. She likely slept there in that small, unheated space.

The space holds a kiosk for people to pay their power bill. That's it. No heat, that I know of. Might be heated. May have AC because this is S. Georgia. Summer temps and electronics do not pair well.

She had to be — no she did not. If the owner arrived before she left, she'd get arrested again.

Then she'd have a warm place to stay and food, for at least as long as she stayed in jail. She is a regular at the Iron Bar hotel.

WHAT WAS COMING

Knowing what was coming, I opened the door, stepped in and locked it behind me.

Yep. 30 minutes later, the door rattled. She was trying to get in.

The crew arrived. Left door unlocked.

She came back. Mumbling incoherently. Obviously wanting something, anything. She'd take it and trade it to someone for money to buy lottery tickets, cigarettes and whatever else struck her as necessary at that moment.

In that moment, I remembered why my desk is behind a wall, away from public view, for those times when people come into the building. At least I get a second or so to react, if needed, before they make it around the counter and back to me.

I ain't paranoid. I have proof. Tangible proof. Come by. I'll show you the bullet holes.

Anyway, the door was locked after she left. She came back a few moments ago. Door still locked.

A LIFE OF FREEDOM

A brief story -

Yakutsk, Russia, is supposed to be one of the coldest cities on earth. Temps regularly hit -50 C. If you wanna believe Google, that's -58 F. You can freeze to death quite quickly.

Yakutsk has homeless people. One gent there has lived homeless there for 20 years. He does not want a home. He prefers his life of ultimate freedom. Wow.

Yes, it is freedom. No taxes, no job, no expectations.

She has the same freedom. She refuses to cooperate with people who try to help. People have gotten her an apartment, a room, etc. Never stays long. Either leaves or gets kicked out. The kicking is far more likely.

MENTAL HEALTH

She probably has mental health issues. I cannot state this for certain. Other people have told me she does.

I hear people yelling, "We need to do more for people with mental health issues."

How? What? When? Where? People like her refuse any and all help. Will. Not. Take. It. Handouts of cash, drugs, food, booze, gladly accepted.

Years ago, we dealt with these people by putting them in "mental institutions." That is now cruel and inhumane. Sometimes, I agree. Sometimes, I disagree. Some people need to be removed from the public.

Is she one? I am not sure. As best I know, she's never harmed anyone. She has yelled at people, including me. Could she harm someone? Sure. We all have that potential.

Potential is not reality. If we lock up people because "they might," then we should all be behind bars.

Anyway, how can you help someone who just walks away every time?

SHE BE SWINGING

She can be rational. She can be as irrational as a toddler denied a cookie. There is no telling who you'll get when you encounter her. Those swings are massive.

According to her, I am either her pastor, a racist, a handout provider or something else found within her personal universe.

Yeah.

I do my best to avoid her, as I did this morning. No good comes of the times we interact.

CANNOT HELP

I cannot help. I do not know how to help.

I am not sure I want to know how to help. It may take too much. It may take something I am not willing to give.

At least for a while, I am pretty much a prisoner in my office. I can leave, maybe. Walk, yes. Drive? No. If I get into the truck, I am genuinely concerned she will stand behind it so I cannot back out. If she does that, then the local constabulary has to be called in. I do not want to do that, even though it means she'd have food and a place at least for a few days.

I am at a loss.

If you have suggestions, I'm listening.

Rose colored glasses

This one is gonna offend a LOT more people than usual. A very few won't be offended. Very. Few.

This is a-poke-you-in-the-eye-with-a-sharp-stick rant. We are slaying sacred cows. We are taking the meat and burning it away on piles of rainforest timber.

On with the show, eh?

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

Ooooh. Big word. Fancy word. Try another - delusional. Again? Homo non clara mente cogitare.

Bah. Make this simple.

Human. 

We - that is you, me, that guy who just ducked around the corner so you won't see him staring at you and everyone you know - we are all afflicted with this disorder to some degree or another.

We mentally ingest what we want and consign the rest to a hazardous-waste dump.

A very rare, very few people can overcome this. History has a handful of examples. None of 'em appear in this rambling.

GET TO THE POINT ALREADY

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here's yer point -

We have what we asked for. Well, you did and do. That we don't like it, see the Cognitive Dissonance above. "We" because I got hauled into the mess you made against my will.

What did we (most of you) ask for? 

More government.

What did we (all of us) get? More government.

Me and very, very, very, very few others wanted and tried for something different. We actually tried to get less government, but our voices were shut down, drowned out and crushed beneath the weight and power of what the rest of you demanded.

Mind you, this tiny peer group and I are not excluded from the Cognitive Dissonance. It rages within us. We too idealize a utopia and believe it can happen.

<sigh> It can't. It won't. Keep reading.

NO!

I hear your screams. You did not ask for more government.

Yeah, you did. If you voted, you asked for more government, more than 99% of you voted for more anyway. If you did not vote, you definitely asked for more government. You are part of that 99%.

And, you got it. Jesus, Harold and Joseph, you got it and slammed it down on everyone!

The joy I find in this debacle is that you are in the same grinder as the rest of us. A bunch of you will not admit that. Of course, a bunch of you will insist nothing is wrong while being dissolved in the belly of a sarlac.

LEFT

The left - you have loudly demanded more government as if government will magically (government is magic, or rather sleight of hand) cure all the ills facing us. 

Ooooh, yes you have. The left in this country has ballooned government in lock-step with the right. Look at the voting records. Look at how spending has increased.

A very close friend of mine, call him Mua'Dib, is so vocal about more government, it is one of 3-4 things he talks about. The others are irrelevant.

I have tilted at his windmills for too long. I have told him when you ask for more government, you will get it and not like it. Prophecy fulfilled. Each time I said this in the past, his reply is "You have to be careful who you vote for."

How's that working out, Usul?

See Get To The Point above.

RIGHT

The right - you have loudly demanded more government as if government will magically (government is magic, or rather sleight of hand) cure all the ills facing us.

The right in this country has ballooned government in lock-step with the left. Look at the voting records. Look at how spending has increased. Who did it?

I have a friend on the far right who swears government is the problem and it must be reduced. Call him Gipper. He can talk about 3-4 things, one being government. The others are irrelevant.

His words do not match his actions because he literally demands more government that will get rid of the problems he sees. I have told him that when you ask for more government, you will get it and not like it. Prophecy fulfilled. Each time I said this in the past, his reply is "You have to be careful who you vote for."

How's that working out, Dutch?

WOOPS!

I just read what I wrote. Apologies. I got them reversed. Mua'Dib is on the right and Gipper is on the left.

Um. No. I had it correct the first time.

No, the second time is the proper placement.

Wudja. Hold on. What? Wait. Is this?

Bah. You figure out which one is which. I have something more to say.

ANARCHY

I have a friend who is a total anarchist. He does not want any laws. Call him Sid.

I point out Somalia is a place where anarchy is the order of the day. (See what I did there?) He says no, Somalia is a failed state.

Mr. Vicious, pray tell what is the difference, I ask.

His mouth moves. Sounds come out. He has created his own language, which he and he alone understands. Through this language, I guess he explains why he is correct and I am a buffoon with less understanding than Mike the famous headless chicken. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken

INTRODUCING THE PROBLEM!

Here is the problem. As Pogo said many decades ago, "We have met the enemy and he is us." Nature abhors a Hoov - er, vacuum. Power does the same. Something is going to fill that void.

People.

Humans will either lead or follow. That very, very few I mentioned earlier are willing to just get out of the way. The leaders and followers will not tolerate that so they hunt down the very, very few and kill them.

Yep. Check human history.

People will NOT leave well enough alone. Gotta tell someone else what to do, when to do it, how to do it, where to do it and the reverse, not do it.

Why? Because the dude with the biggest stick said do it or do not do it. Otherwise, get hit with the stick. Sometimes a group of people will rise up and hit the big stick dude. Then, they start telling people the whats, etc., and whatnots, etc.

Again why? Because they said so. Big stick, remember?

People will NOT follow the rules. Check out my FB page for the posts I call, "People who park like hammerhoids." (That is how I want to spell the word and this is my column.) These people just flat out ignore parking lines and parking spaces.

Some of them would drive through the store if they could get their vehicle down the aisles.

Each time I take a picture, I say, "And you are why we need laws." More & more people are submitting pictures for me to post. Keep it up. Each time I post a submitted picture, I say, "And you (the driver) are why we need laws."

Karl Marx screwed it up. The truth was and is there. His dialectic even calls for a continual rollover and roll over of those in charge. He just put on rose-colored glasses to temper what he wanted to see. 

The truth is, the struggle to rein in government will always be with us.

Why? Because see everything above.

Meanwhile, we have more government.

I hope you are happy because you got what you asked for and it is literally killing us. 

I sure ain't happy about it.

A happy guy

 This morning, 10 Jan. 2026, I rolled outta bed.

"Better check messages. Just in case."

Yep. There it was. Canceled. More than canceled, gone, baby gone.

Cool.

If I had put odds on it the day before, it'd be something like 85-90% exactly what happened. 

She did it before, albeit that other time she was also strung out on 'scripts. This time, sober. At least I think sober. WTH do I know?

"I will not bother you again" were the last words.

Cool. In order to make sure I did not dwell on it, go back to it and etc, I blocked her briefly. Just long enough to erase all the contacts and messages. Then, I unblocked her. Erased the other threads in other places.

Ain't mad. Ain't skeered. Also, ain't got no reason to leave the block in place. She did not engage one of the very few rules that get people blocked. She can contact me again.

85-90% sure she will.

Gonna be a different set of rules when that happens.

And that, luddites and geraniums, will result in another "I will not bother you again" on her part.

Goose said he was sorry. I said no worries. I am a happy guy. Still am. Plan to continue to be.

What happened was a good thing, the best thing in fact.

Mel asked what I was expecting. A discussion about a business decision she was pondering and pizza. Anything else, up to her.

I am a happy guy. If the follow-through occurred, I'd be a happy guy.

Yes, it was expected. I fault no one. It happened. What happened was a good thing, the best thing in fact.

Cool. I am a happy guy.

Going Socratic

 

I have questions. 

I will be attacked for these. Socrates drank hemlock for corrupting the youth of Athens. The vast majority of people do not like having to examine their belief structure. They like it even less when they cannot defend that belief structure.

Ad hominem gets you dropped, block and banned.

You may ask questions. I absolutely WILL answer them to the best of my ability and will back up my answers with facts and evidence, if the question is of that nature. If you ask my opinion, that may or may not require empirical proof.

Where appropriate, I request that you cite your sources. If you do not cite sources, then do not expect much in the way of my answers to your questions. If the question asks your opinion, sources not necessary.

Part 1

Should we charge leaders of other countries with US-specific crimes? Can other countries charge our leaders with their country-specific crimes? If we charge the leaders of other countries with violating US law, who else will be arrested? Vladmir Putin? The midget from N. Korea? Myanmar's leaders? African country leaders? If China decides to come and arrest Trump for violating Chinese law, is this fair?

Part 2

At what point do we as a nation stop controlling what American adults do to themselves? What gives anyone the right to tell an adult he or she may not engage in risky behavior? What else should we ban? How many lives has alcohol ruined v. how many lives has marijuana ruined? What is your acceptable death or ruined life threshold? Do you believe in body autonomy?

Part 3

If we are looking to hold mass killers accountable, when will we hold the US government accountable for the deaths the military has inflicted over the past 20 or so years? What about other countries? Iran, Iraq, Syria? Great Britain? Russia? China?

Part 4

Can you show me anywhere prohibition has actually worked? How did the US experiment with alcohol prohibition work out?

Part 5

"And now the head has been cut off the snake. Let's hope Trump cleans out the cartels for good." Can you show me any place, any time, anywhere in which a power vacuum was not promptly filled? How did the regime change in Afghanistan work?

Part 6

Given the double-talk coming out of Washington, whom should we believe and when? Are we at war with Venezuela or not? Are we there to run the country or not? Are we there to take over the oil fields or not?

Part 7

If we are at war, are you willing to sign up and fight? Are you, if you are a parent, willing to send your children to the fight? If you are not willing to physically join the fight, do you truly support this military effort? If you will not physically fight, how is OK to send someone else to fight?