I have the room to talk. Do you?

Read on at your own risk. Fair warning. Depending on your comments, my reaction will range from indifferent to love to kicking you out until I can calm down. Proceed as you see fit. I sure am.

I have the room to talk. I have the street cred to talk. I have the pain to talk. I have something you, well, more'n 99 percent of you, don't have.

Before I go any further, lemme add this - I get plenty of hate mail. Business as usual. This one is different. So, for those who see fit to berate, accuse and otherwise vilify and flame me for what follows, S.T.F.U. I have more, far more, in this than you do. 

HAYMAKER INCOMING

I approved the Do Not Resuscitate order for my mother. Because of COVID-19. 

I told the doctors to pull the plug. She died around 7:15 p.m. Sunday. The last time I saw her in person was in March the day before the wreck that landed her in the hospital and ended with her death at that same hospital. It was more than three weeks since I last spoke to her on the phone.

I'll give you a moment to recover from that Mike Tyson haymaker outta nowhere.

Over it? Good. So, before you fire up the Illudium q-36 explosive space modulator, remember how much skin I have in this game. Or don't. Because if you see fit to attack me over what follows, you won't get a second opportunity to do so.

In case you don't get that, I gave doctors and nurses the OK to pull the plug on life support for my mother if they felt she could not recover from the damage COVID-19 caused her. They said she could not. And, if you still want to rake me over metaphorical coals for my opinions below, you'll be doing it without me knowing 'cause I will boot you out of my life both IRL and online.

Now then.

ONE OPINIONATED CURMUDGEON

Curmudgeon. A polite way of saying crotchety old bastard. We hold unpopular opinions, so saying opinionated curmudgeon is redundant. Curmudgeons also dispense wisdom, so the appellation COB is not completely correct. Yes, I am saying I dispense wisdom. I get it from people much wiser than I and pass it along.

You are still welcome to refer to me as a COB.

During this global scare I have not worn a mask. I have not worn gloves. I have, rarely, used hand sanitizer. I don't like the stuff. I have done the "social distancing thing" because I was pretty much doing that before. I like some distance.

I have shaken hands, hugged and otherwise made physical contact with people I'd otherwise make such contact with. The day I do not hug Earl The Pearl Perry when I see him, call Edgar Perry 'cause I'm dead. Lotsa other people in that "Yer getting hugged no matter what" group.

I'm pentecostal. I'll hug anything I can catch.

BOUT DEM RULES

Rules, someone said, are meant to be broken. Sometimes, rules needs to be fed into a wood chipper. Sometimes rules need to be hit with an atomic disintegrator.

I've gone into stores, seen the one-way aisles, and done my best to adhere to that. This probably does not make sense to you. I adhere to the store's aisle directions because that is a private business. They have the right to run their business the way they wish. If I don't like it, I won't shop there.

While I do not have a Costco anywhere near me, I would not shop there because they require customers to have a face mask. I support Costco's ability to make that decision and I support their decision. There is no contradiction here.

I do support the businesses which made decisions on their own.

I also believe, if you need a license from the state to run your business (I object to state licensing), then you have agreed to abide by the state's orders. The state says shut down, then your business has to shut down. Again, you signed the papers agreeing to do as the state ordered.

I am angry (My failing there. Anger is a failing of the person who is angry. You, me, that guy who keeps ducking out of sight when you look his way, control our emotions. No other person can make you angry except you. Only I can make myself angry.) at government for issuing stay-at-home orders, orders to close businesses and etc. I have ignored those orders. I will continue to ignore those orders. I believe such orders are illegal, a violation of the Constitution and a violation of basic human rights. I believe it is a step toward tyranny.

The guy who was arrested while in a kayak in the sea, I believe in New Jersey, …  dude. He made my hero list.

Those who went outside in masks and gloves, I support you. Rock on! Those who did not wear such items, I support you too. Rock on!

You choose. I chose and you have the same right.

I am mad (again, I failed) about the bailout payments.

A WORD TO THE CRITICS

This word to the critics is in addition to the above disclaimers.

To the gent who told me "You need to suit up" outside a store I entered - Kind sir, I thank you for your concern and cordially invite you to commit improbable acts upon your own personage. I was suited up, shoes, pants, shirt.

To those who say "I don't want to hear it" when the tyranny and the rest of the nonsense RE: C-19 come up, stop reading. If you are still here, note that I abstained from further comment around you and on your social media. I respect your decision and your right to make that decision. You may, or may not, do the same here. See advisory above.

To all those who say I am putting others at risk by my behavior, you speak truth. I put others at risk when I get behind the wheel of a vehicle, walk down the street, run a business, speak face to face to others at any time without wearing a face mask, shake hands, touch something, etc etc etc.

In case you need a reminder, C-19 killed my momma.

RISK

To live is to be a risk and encounter risk. 

"In 2018, over 46,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses. Over 36,500 died in traffic accidents. Nearly 40,000 died from gun violence." Scientific American.

(Aside - a significant number of gun violence deaths were suicides, nearly all handguns. A significant number were inner-city gang violence with handguns. The scary "assault rifles" deaths are a blip at a percent or three)

Furthermore, how many colds, flu and other transmissible diseases have YOU passed along during your life? To a person with a compromised immune system, any virus or bacteria can be fatal. I don't see you doing much to protect those people when you go out without wearing protective gear.

I have asthma. I have compromised lungs from walking into a cloud of anhydrous ammonia when I was 5. A simple common cold can literally land me in the emergency room. Flu could knock me flat for days, more'n a week even. Some day, it may kill me. Pneumonia, which already kills plenty of people, is worse for me.

So, how ya doin' there by not putting ME at risk?

Yeah.

You tell me C-19 is not the same as all them others?

Tell that to people who die each year from the flu and explain to them why you didn't "suit up."

Ah right. You cannot do that. They are dead.

CHOICES

So, S.T.F.U. Unless, of course, you've had to pull the plug on a sibling, parent or child. In which case, we share something and I'll listen to you, unless you engage in ad hominem. Then, you gone. 

As the abortion rights crowd likes to say, "My body. My choice."

But, they say, your choice is affecting other people.

Ya don't say? I am not gonna get into the abortion debate. I simply say any choice you make is likely to affect someone else. See above.

SUITING UP

I see people wearing gloves.

Once you touch something with a glove, that glove is contaminated. Any germs on whatever you touched are now on the glove. Anything ELSE you touch with those gloves is also contaminated.

How many diseases have you spread?

I read a post from a gent who said he carries a cane, not for himself but anyone who is not wearing protective gear who gets to close. He promises to whop them with the cane.

Let that settle in. He will launch a physical attack on anyone who gets too close, I'm guessing within reach of the cane. 

Have we as a nation really sunk this low?

Yes.

I add, someone hits me with a cane, one or both of us will not be getting up again without help.

FEAR THIS

A radio station I listen to has a promo, "Hey dude, if you're scared, STAY HOME!"

"Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path."

Yanno the difference between a hero and a coward? The hero faces his fear and pushes forward. Coward hides or runs away.

I refuse to live my life in fear. I am not ruled by my fear and I will not be ruled by your fear. I will make some accommodations for your fear, but only to the point of helping you get past it and through it.

That is me. You make your own choice. 

You are even welcome to insist I abide by your choice. Don't be surprised when I refuse to do so.

Shoot me for I bring news

I'm seeing an upswing in the number of people questioning the First Amendment these days.

This is, rightly enough, disturbing. A few other things concern me when these folks question the need for 1A. In no particular order, they are:

• The idiotological leaning of these folks. Attention grammar nazis: I used the correct word.

• The media outlet being attacked. NB: my support or rejection of any media outlet is irrelevant.

• The lack of thought behind the reasons and motivations.

• A refusal to understand.

IDIOTOLOGICAL

As much as I wanna take credit for creating that word, I can't. I found online uses of it the same day I came up with it. In means having an ideology, world-view, outlook or viewpoint that is not based on reason, science, solid foundations, empirical evidence, proven history or a line of thought that has stood the test of time.

The idiotological leaning of these folks is that 1A must be bad because it allows the media to spread false information. Never mind the very folks complaining spread plenty of lies themselves.

Besides which, liars are as old as communication. Humans do not have a monopoly on this. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/05/animals-lying-liars-birds-squid/

My personal favorite liar in the rest of the Animal Kingdom is the Drongo. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2621584/The-bird-impersonates-MEERKAT-steal-food-Drongo-catches-quarter-meals-imitating-creatures.html

It's not that the media outlets are lying. Some are. More accurately, the media outlets accused of lying are expressing opinions and ideas that the idiotologically hidebound cannot stand. Before you get excited about this and start the finger-pointing, I tell you this attitude is found in equal measure on the right and the left.

The idiotological on both sides are dogmatic followers of the confirmation bias. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-confirmation-bias-2795024

Lemme put this in simpler terms - If someone has solid evidence and that evidence is rejected out of hand, this is idiotology.

In 1A terms, this means anything that contradicts the belief structure, no matter what it is, must be fake, heresy, lies and so on. Because it contradicts, it should not be permitted.

See the inherent problem? Under this line of thinking, the Flat Earth folks have to be shut down HARD, unless they are in a majority. If they achieve a majority, then the Round Earth folks must be shut down HARD. Pick an opinion or belief. Without 1A in place, the majority rules, whether or not that ruling is based on reality.

This way lies totalitarianism, despots and tyranny.

MEDIA ATTACKS

Here is an excellent defense of 1A and the need for it. Media attacks.

The most virulent attacks on the modern media are generally directed at Fox News. The left goes into apoplectic fits over this network's version of the news. Nevermind the vast majority of the news, not the opinions, but the straight news, is a carbon copy of most other news outlets. Again, set opinion aside.

Yes, CNN, the NY Times and a few others get a share of the attacks from the right. The hate is well below the level of vitriol aimed at Fox.

Adding to the furor of the left wingers (and birds do have a right wing as well), Fox commands the news ratings.
https://www.multichannel.com/news/fox-news-channel-dominates-weekly-cable-ratings-charts

If nothing else, this should give the left's idiotologicals cause for pause. It does not, because they cannot be rational about this. The pause is: If that many people are watching Fox, they must be a majority. Without 1A, they could easily force all other outlets out of business and all we'd have is Fox News.

Ya hear me yet? Without 1A and majority rule, all we'd have is Fox news.

The reverse is also true. If the left-leaning media dominates, then without 1A, the right-siders would be run out. All we'd have is places like Mother Earth News.

1A guarantees the right to choose who to listen to. 1A guarantees the rights of the idiotologicals on all sides as well as those of us standing apart looking on in horror. 1A means we have a choice.

More to the point - 1A protects your right to choose. Without it, we'd have a government-ordered media like N. Korea and China. You'd be told what to think, when to think it and how to think it.

Which brings us to

REASON

I almost discussed this above. Lemme lay this on you from 4 directions.

1. Shup.

1A protects your right to keep your damfool mouf shut. Yes, it does. No one can force you to say anything you disagree with. We tend to forget that, concentrating on our right to actually open our damfool moufs and start spewing nonsense.

“Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.” Mark Twain

A single rebuke does more for a person of understanding than a hundred lashes on the back of a fool. Proverbs 17:10

2. Rebels needed.

Society advances because of rebels, people challenging the norm, stepping outside convention and doing. Ya think not? All the people who changed the world did so in the face of authorities telling to knock it off or they would get knocked off.

Still disagree? Ok. Jesus. Martin Luther, Ghandi. Adolf Hitler, (I did not say all these people will meet your or my definition of good). Genghis Khan, Henry the VIII. Stalin. Washington, Jefferson. Gutenberg. Castro. Gates. Einstein. Marx. Guatama. Darwin. Whole lot more.

All these people stood up and challenged the status quo. They put forth ideas that were hated, rejected and many of them were killed for this. Some succeeded in a revolution and setting up a new order. Some did not. They all tried and they all relied on communicating messages that some people rejected with extreme violence. They did not follow the crowd.

Without deviation progress is not possible. Frank Zappa

3. Be wrong.

1A protects people's right to be wrong.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

✔@neiltyson

 · Mar 11, 2016

If there were ever a species for whom sex hurt, it surely went extinct long ago.

The Internet bodyslammed the famed astrophysicist over that tweet.

https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/13/tech/neil-degrasse-tyson-wrong-sex-twitter/index.html

It was not the first time he was wrong. Aside from some embarrassment, nothing happened. Why? 1A. Anyway, stick to the stars, Neil. 

The same applies to all the other "experts" out there who are suddenly Rhodes Scholars on the hot topic du jour. People who scream the loudest about FAKE NEWS! and make demands about 1A all have multiple PhDs in biology, astronomy, physics, psychiatry and psychology, internal and external medicine, philosophy, basket weaving, human resources, public administration and, certainly not least, the US Constitution.  That's sarcasm, BTW.

4. Be an idiot.

1A protects the rights of everyone to have a belief in defiance of facts. It also allows these people to present that belief. 1A also protects people from having to be 100 percent truthful all the time.

If people were confined to stating only facts, proven facts, we'd not have much to say. Hrm. That might be a good thing. Anyway...

Lemme rephrase that. 1A protects the right to lie.

http://trumanproject.org/home/doctrine-blog/supreme-court-upholds-right-to-lie-and-its-a-good-thing/

I understand that one is going to create splodey heads all over the place. However, I have yet to meet a human being capable of communicating who does not lie. Yep.

"I was not speeding."

"Santa Claus is watching you."

Other lies are any fictional work of literature, all TV shows not 100 percent factual and this includes sitcoms and other brain rotters. Despite their own words proving they lie, politicians still do it. They do it over and over and over no matter how many times they are caught. Reagan? Liar. http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Ronald_Reagan/EnduringLies_RonaldReagan.html Obama? Liar. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/list/?category=&ruling=false&speaker=barack-obama

5.  A bonus.

Smoke this one: It protects all the world's religious works and anti-religious works. The existence of God cannot be proven through SCIENCE! At the same time, SCIENCE! reminds us a lack of evidence is not a lack of existence. 1A guarantees both have a seat at the discussion table.

Speaking of polarities,

A lack of thought

We do away with 1A. That means freedom of the press is possibly gone. It also means your freedom of speech is also on the way out. You cannot restrict the press without restricting yourself at the same time.

Burns yer taters when someone insults, denigrates, rips, or GASP! tells the truth about your favorite president? Shut 'em up? Cool. Killing 1A also means you cannot insult, denigrate, rip or tell the truth about your most hated president.

And the last one - 

SLOW DOWN AND THINK

I keep seeing people say the media should be shut down for spreading lies. That's covered above. However, those "lies" are most often information attributed to reputable sources. In other words, we tell you what the president, CEO, bona fide leader, actual expert said. If that person lied, it's on their head. If you don't like the truth that person said, it's on your head.

Most of the media does not lie. We just tell you what other people say. They lie. 

I have a perfect f'r'instance from this week's newspaper I run.

Yesterday (Monday, May 4, 2020) the state had two reports about the Kung Flu panic for my county. Report 1, updated twice a day, showed 9 deaths for the whole county. Report 2, covering only nursing homes, reported 11 deaths. Tuesday morning's county-wide report showed 10 deaths.

Huhn?

I reported this. I quoted the Department of Health. I can show you the reports. I even pointed out the problem.

Yet, I am the problem.

Some people simply won't understand. I don't make news. I report it. If you do not like the news, you problem is with the people making the news, not me.

SHOOT 'EM ALL

In other words, shoot me for I bring news but that gun also has a barrel pointed at your head at the same time. Pull the trigger, both barrels go off.

No?

It is true I am a professional journalist. I get paid to tell you things. I earn a living by writing, speaking — communicating. Just like you do.

Every job I know of requires the person doing the job to communicate with someone else. You have to tell someone something. You have to ask someone something. 1A protects your right to do that, free of interference from the government and free of interference from others who prefer you do not communicate. That is critical. No matter what you say, someone is going to be offended. 1A means they have to take it. 1A means YOU have to take it. You may call other people idiots. I guarantee someone else is calling you an idiot. 1A protects all of us idiots.

As Rowan Atkinson said, the right to offend is greater than the right to not be offended.

Another modest proposal

Communicable diseases are rich folks diseases.

Poor folks don't get them until the rich people bring them around.

You disagree?

How many Native Americans in N and S America were wiped out by smallpox? How'd they get smallpox? Rich Europeans financed expeditions to this part of the world, exporting various diseases with 'em. The poor folks on the trips wuda stayed home, except for the rich backers sending them out.

With few exceptions, pretty much every plague that has wiped out significant parts of humanity or spread across the globe was because of rich people.

As a post I saw on FB said, corona virus is a rich person disease. Poor folks can't take cruises and fly all over the world. We go to the flea market.

China is supposed to be ground zero for this new strain of the Corona virus. China is often ground zero for a LOT of the virii that spread across the world. How do these diseases reach beyond China? Rich people from there go to other countries. Rich people from other countries visit China. They both spread the virus at home when they get back.

Poor people can't afford to make long distance trips like that.

You can argue that the military has some role in the spread of these diseases. I'm not gonna argue that, but even the military is fronted by rich people. Rich people don't join the military or get drafted. They get poor folks to do this instead. In other words, rich folks have a proxy to do the grunt work.

AN IDEA

I have a radical idea, one that will never be accepted and most people will call me a blithering idiot for even saying it.

Let's hold the rich folks accountable.

Say a millionaire comes back from China with a virus and then infects the people around him when he gets back. It spreads from there. Thanks to DNA testing, we can source back to the original point of infection. Yes, we can. Look at the work done on the AIDs virus. Look at how other virii are traced backward to a point of origin.

We find that Patient Zero, as medical types refer to that person. Hold that person accountable for the medical bills, lost time from work and etc for everyone who gets sick as a result of the rich person being a disease vector.

Betcha we'll see a whole lot less spread of diseases. Bankrupt a few multimillionaires and they will all take a whole lot more care about where they travel and how they act when they get back.

Social Insecurity

If you are one of those people who like to scream "I PAY MY BILLS!" and your sum total income is from Social Security or disability, you don't pay your bills. Taxpayers do. If you use any part of the Social Security program to pay any of your bills, again, taxpayers are paying your bills for you.

Now before some of you get excited and jump my case about Social Security and Medicare being something you paid for, get this:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickwwatson/2018/07/09/you-havent-earned-your-social-security-its-welfare/

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/03/27/the-average-american-pays-this-much-in-social-secu.aspx

Still don't agree? Then explain why 24 percent of the federal budget goes to Social Security programs. https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/policy-basics-where-do-our-federal-tax-dollars-go That's money the federal government is borrowing, BTW.

CRUNCHY

Lets get crunchy with some datat. Running the Motley Fool numbers:

$712 a year paid into Medicare.

Person retires in 45 years.

$32,040 paid into Medicare.

$32,000 average hip replacement cost.https://www.lendingpoint.com/blog/hip-replacement-surgery-what-it-costs-and-how-to-pay-for-it/

One hip replacement wipes out everything you "invested" into the Social Security Medicare program. After that, you are tapping what others put into the system.

If you paid for the benefits you receive, then quit taxing the rest of us. The reality is, those on various Social Security programs have made slaves of the rest of us. How do you explain it if I am wrong?

Gettin' crunchy again.

$2,463 (average) paid into Social Security.

Person retires in 45 years.

$110,835 paid into Social Security (Disability numbers are far worse).
$17,650 average annual benefits paid out.

In 10 years, you tap the system for $176,500.

Again, you are tapping what others put into the system. No? If Social Security taxes stopped right now, the system could stagger along for a couple of years, maybe. Then it would be out of money completely. It must continue to have an influx of funds to stay around. Can you say Ponzi Scheme?

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2016/06/20/what-would-happen-if-social-security-were-dismantl.aspx

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2018/07/17/heres-what-would-happen-if-congress-paid-back-all.aspx

Note - this link contains an error of fact. "In reality, only American citizens who've earned the prerequisite 40 lifetime work credits are able to collect a benefit." You can collect Social Security with fewer credits, especially if you apply for the disability side.

INVESTING

Investing Social Securit proceeds? Yes. https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/policy-basics-understanding-the-social-security-trust-funds However, "Starting in 2020, Social Security will begin to draw down trust fund reserves to help pay for benefits." There's a reason politicians with sense are proposing hikes to Social Security taxes or cuts to benefits.

Further, that investment is considered extremely secure, but it doesn't have great returns.

This webpage does the math. 

http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/histretSP.html

In short, everything you paid into the Social Security system and all the proceeds from the investments are STILL wiped out in short order. One hip replacement, your Medicare contribution is gone. Medicines, doctor visits and more quickly wipe out the returns on investment.

And on the topic of investing, where does the Social Security Administration invest that money? Into Treasury Securities. https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/policy-basics-understanding-the-social-security-trust-funds Yes, SS earns interest on these investments.

Who pays the interest? Taxpayers. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/treasurybond.asp "Treasury bonds are part of the larger category of government bonds, a type of bond issued by a national government with a commitment to pay period interest payments known as coupon payments as well as the principal upon maturity." Someone will now say "GOVERNMENT PAYS THAT INTEREST!" And where, precisely, oh Sage of Our Times, do you think government gets the money to pay the interest?

Taxpayers.

DISABILITY

The next time I hear someone under the age of 60 who collects disability and says "It's my money because I paid into the system," I will have to walk away. My study of the Stoics is pushing me away from angry reactions; angry is all my fault and no one can make me mad but me.

However, coping with monumental stupidity is something I am still learning. Those on disability probably - I have not researched this, just running on what I see - are an even greater drain on the Medicare part of Social Security.

In short, you ain't paid enough to cover what you are taking. You are pulling from taxpayers like me who are supporting the system. You may be paying all your bills, but you are using my money to do it.

Don't believe me? Cool. You crunch the numbers and prove me wrong.

Slavery by any other name

In the argument about universal health care, a major argument against it is health care is not a right.

In brief: You (an individual) do not have the right to force anyone to provide you a service.

Slavery is not just suggested by people making this argument, it is flat-out shouted from the mountains by a lot of people who don't really know what they are talking about.

More the point, I am saying the folks making the "slave" argument either:

1) Ain't paying attention.

2) Are paying attention but ain't willing to drop that wrecking ball on collective toes.

So as me bud Gianna occasionally says, "here's your Clue X 4." As I often add, "Upside yo haid."

F.A.P.E.

Got that? Some of you do. Some don't. I 'splain.

Free And Public Education.

Smurfy. In the US, chilluns are guaranteed the right to a Free & Public Education through a certain age. Not only that, it has to be an appropriate education. It can be tailored to the individual student and that can be mind-boggling expensive. That part is called IEP - Individual Education Plan.

As the parent of a special needs kid, now an adult, I know the IEP process. In short, the IEP is the 10 Commandments carved by the finger of God. Violate the IEP, people lose teaching credentials, possible jail time, fines, etc etc. https://www.specialeducationguide.com/pre-k-12/what-is-special-education/legal-rights-to-services/ Hindsight being what it is, I shuda had one education professional up on charges and had that person's teaching credentials revoked some years ago.

Anyway, while the FAPE only lasts so long, you get to pay for it the rest of your life. At least in every state I know of, you pay for it forever. Public schools run on your taxes.

Slavery

The argument that universal health care makes people slaves, slams headlong into public school teaching. The naysayers state no one has the right to the production of another, Yet, we have public schools which anyone may attend. Past that, every state I check has some sort of free adult public education to teach adults enough to pass the GED test.

I have yet to hear anyone say a teacher is a slave. I have never met a teacher forced to become one in a public school. I have met some who say becoming a teacher was not the best choice they could have made. I've also met former teachers who left the education profession. None was forced to stay.

Taxes pay teachers. Taxes will pay those in the healthcare profession with universal health care. Can someone show me a real difference between the two?

Didn't think so.

Now there is slavery. You and I have no choice about paying taxes. We either pay or run the risk of going to jail.

I don't know anyone forced to work in the healthcare field or face jail as alternative.

At the same time, we do have other education options. Private school and home schooling are very much in use. The folks using private school and doing home school still have to pay for the public school.

Yup.

This split system will be a part of universal healthcare, if it passes. Some people will get private insurance and go to doctors who will not participate in slave-dollar-funded healthcare programs.

Sure, some healthcare operations will be forced to take the public dole. Public schools are forced to take the public dole too. Show me a real difference. You can't.

Both come down to a service provided by an individual and that individual is paid with tax dollars.

Other countries? Glad you axed. Now I whack you.

http://www.canadian-healthcare.org/page6.html - Canada went totalitarian on this one, as you can read in the link. Still, private health care options exist.

https://comparemedicalplans.net/health-insurance/ - Private health care and insurance in the UK.

I ain't interested in chasing this coon up no more trees so you can do your own research on private medical care in universal care countries.

OTHER FREE STUFF

As I think on this, I can come up with plenty of examples that are almost identical to the "free" healthcare idea. Just a few:

Roads - Use 'em or not, you still pay for 'em.
Law enforcement - Their salaries are paid by tax dollars.
The penal system - We foot the bill for people on paid vacations in the Iron Bar hotel.
SSI, Disability and Social Security, including Medicare and Medicaid - Your tax dollars at work.

I can do lots more.

Reality is, you may vigorously complain about universal health care. I'm right there widja. But to say it is slavery and no one has a right to the work or services of another person, well that just doesn't square with our current system.

Unless you are after a total revamp of the entire governmental structure (I sure am!), then I question why you use the slavery argument against universal health care.

Why I really (not kidding) favor gun control

When I say I favor gun control, I refer exactly to the kind of gun control the left and the right wants. The gun control as favored by Damnocrats and Reboobicans. I mean the kind of gun control that says citizens cannot have certain guns, or any gun for that matter.

I. Am. Not. Kidding.

I am also being fair. I ask you to do the same. As you read this, if you find fault with my logic and my attempt to be fair across the board, please point that out.

Here is the rock bottom, Lowest Common Denominator, flat point, be-all end-all, starting point and real crux of the matter. Either you are serious about stopping people from killing other people regardless of the ways, means and method or you have a different motive. You either want the violence to stop OR you have a different agenda and don't really care about people harming other people against their will.

If you've ever seen Penn & Teller's show Bullshit, then go ahead and assume I've chased this rabbit down the hole exactly they do and proven this point exactly as they do.

Preventing harm and death is the metric. Period. Everything is must follow.

BAN 'EM

Want a total gun ban? I'm down with that. Again, not kidding. 

Gimme yer restrictions list. I'll work with you to make it happen.

Bring it on. I'll sign the papers. I'll lobby any and every elected official in the nation to make this happen,

I continue to be as serious as a heart attack,

Let's make this happen.

BE FAIR

At the same time, I insist, require, demand and absolutely must have a ban of equity and proportion for any device that causes harm to a human being without that human's permission. What someone does to him or herself, none of your business, none of my business.

Band guns, yes. But put a proportional ban on everything else that brings harm to a human.

This is all about being fair. 

DEATHS

Let's talk about death.

Do you believe in body autonomy? As in your body, you decide. Wanna tat? Get as many as you like. Like to smoke? Fire 'em up. Fat? Have another pie. Exercise, eat right, drink in moderation and etc? Mo' power to ya. Do you have the right to bungee jump? Take the Polar Plunge? Race vehicles?

If you believe you have the right to decide what to do with yourself, good. We're on the same page. If you believe government or anyone else has the right to tell you what to do with your body, then good as well. Just don't expect me to agree with you. Further, I will resist you and your efforts with as much force or more as you bring against me.

Body autonomy. It either is or it ain't. And this is splodey heads No. 1.

The CDC lists the top 10 causes of death. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm  No. 10 on the list is suicide. Under the rules here, suicide is removed as a reason to ban or restrict anything. Your life is yours to do with as you wish. I do not have the right to force you to continue to live against your will. You do not have the right to force me to live against my will. Splodey head No. 2.

VIOLENT CRIME

For purposes of this blog, I say violent crime is murder and assault. Any crime in which a person is harmed. I am leaving out DUI-caused injuries and deaths. That should be included, but I already discussed why we should regulate guns the same exact way we regulate vehicles. http://porkbrainsandmilkgravy.blogspot.com/2017/11/guns-regulated-like-vehicles-yes-please.html

The FBI specifically says using its report has to be done carefully:
Figures used in this Report were submitted voluntarily by law enforcement agencies throughout the country. Individuals using these tabulations are cautioned against drawing conclusions by making direct comparisons between cities. Comparisons lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents. Valid assessments are possible only with careful study and analysis of the range of unique conditions affecting each local law enforcement jurisdiction. It is important to remember that crime is a social problem and, therefore, a concern of the entire community. In addition, the efforts of law enforcement are limited to factors within its control. The data user is, therefore, cautioned against comparing statistical data of individual agencies. Further information on this topic can be obtained in Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics: Their Proper Use.

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-4.xls

This is the most recent complete report on the FBI website as of this posting. Well, this is what we have to work with. Mooooving on.

GUNS

Firearms accounted for 11,004 murders in 2016. 

Handguns account for the sizable majority of murders, 7,105. It is here we slam headlong into the first immovable object and splodey head No. 3. For sake of space, I'm leaving out the splodey head count from now on. It's gonna soar.

Stare Decisis. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stare_decisis.asp S. Decisis means the point of law is settled. Move on, nothing to see here. It's over, done and that's it so shuddup already. 

"Hang on. You just said–—"

I sure did. I am also using the logic of the gun grabbers, the left and the right here. If abortion is a settled issue, let it go. If other things the Supreme Court has decided are over and done, let it go. You cannot bring it up any more. Across the board. It's either settled or not, all of it. You cannot pick and chose which bear to poke and which sleeping dogs to leave snoozing. It's all or nothing.

Handguns, as decided in two cases by the Supreme Court, are legal. Citizens are allowed to possess same.

Aaight, so we say it can be debated again. Let's debate. Handgun ownership is back on the table as a right to be weighed. Handgun violence MUST be compared to other devices used to inflict unwanted violence on other human beings. We'll get back to this in a few paragraphs. Abortion rights also back on the table, BTW.

So what about the guns?

Rifles, a category that includes the misnamed "assault rifles" accounted for a measly 374 deaths. Well, measly unless someone who was killed by a rifle is important to you.

Shotgun? 202. Other guns, 186.

Knives accounted for 1,604 murders. Blunt objects (hammers are part of this subset as are clubs, sticks, poles, etc), 472. Personal weapons defined as your body and shoving someone, 656. The others are very low except for the "Other weapons or weapons not stated" at 903.

I could, but will not monkey wrench nor sand the gears by bringing up stolen and illegally obtained guns. Gun control folks get a free pass on that one.

DEATH BY OTHER MEANS

People don't need a weapon to kill someone.

I know I said I was leaving this one out. I changed my mind. Sue someone. "In 2016, 10,497 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for 28% of all traffic-related deaths in the United States." https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html Now some of these were the driver and certainly some of these were single-vehicle crashes in which only the driver was killed. 

Howsomever, in 2016, 34,439 people were killed overall in vehicle crashes. That is about three times the number of gun deaths. Again. some of these were single-vehicle and only the driver died. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812580

Far more telling is "[t]here were 37,461 traffic fatalities in the United States in 2016, of which 23,714 (63%) were occupants of passenger vehicles." https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812494 Ooo. People not driving were killed at more than double the number of people murdered with firearms.

BUT THE CHILLUN

This argument has been overused. "Think of the children." Please, do. Think of the inner-city kids and the minorities, not just the majority-ethnic kids who die in multi-death shootings. If you are not addressing the deaths of the inner-city kids who die in much higher proportions than other kids and who die in enormously greater proportions from shooters with handguns instead of rifles, I must ask why you are not speaking to this much greater problem.

"Gotta start somewhere." "Baby steps," you say.

No. The reality is you have a different agenda and do not care about the inner city kids. No? When was the last time you blew up in outrage over the near-constant shootings in Chicago?

If this situation was a patient in a trauma surgery wound, focusing on school shootings is putting stitches in an arm wound while a femoral artery is gushing. The operation was a success, but the patient died.

What are the leading causes of death in kids?

"With preventable deaths at an all-time high, NSC calls on parents to use National Safety Month to assess the greatest threats to young children’s safety." https://www.nsc.org/in-the-newsroom/top-five-ways-children-are-dying-accidentally

The top PREVENTABLE deaths for children are:

Suffocation

Car wrecks

Drowning

Fire

Choking

The CDC breaks it out even more. https://www.cdc.gov/safechild/child_injury_data.html Again, a major cause of chillun's death, wrecks. MedPage Today adds cancer and firearms as the top leading causes of deaths for kids. ADDS. As in includes these in the already listed category. As in here are 2 more things and we are not taking away from the other stuff listed. https://www.medpagetoday.com/pediatrics/generalpediatrics/77034

In 2016, 1,033 kids under 13 were killed by vehicles. https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/children

"In 2016, there were 2,082 teen drivers of passenger vehicles involved in fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes." https://www.nhtsa.gov/road-safety/teen-driving

3,100, or thereabout, kids were killed in 2016 because of vehicles. https://www.nhtsa.gov/road-safety/teen-driving

Teens are muchly over-represented in vehicle fatalities and gun deaths.

I do words, not math. You'll have to crunch the numbers in this report. https://www.childtrends.org/indicators/motor-vehicle-deaths

"Nearly 1,300 children die … [from] gunshot wounds each year. Boys, older children, and minorities are disproportionately affected." https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/140/1/e20163486 That figure is in dispute.  "3,128 children and teens died from guns in the United States in 2016, one every 2 hours and 48 minutes." https://gracechapelministries.org/facts-about-gun-violence/ One outfit here is science-based with verified research. T'other has a clear agenda and no proof to back up its statement. Pick whichever you like. Then, go to the media bias chart and find the media outlets you trust to tell the truth. https://www.adfontesmedia.com/?v=402f03a963ba When you choose your outlets on the media chart, get back to me.

When it comes to children's deaths, by gun and by vehicle are tied. If you use the higher number. Good enough.

I add some of these deaths by gun are suicides. In the US, depending on the state, a 17 YOA is an adult. In all states, as best I know, an 18 YOA is an adult. I know some 16 YOAs who are more mature than some at 22 YOA. That in mind, suicides are removed from the equation. Now, gun deaths for kids is below the vehicle deaths for kids. You disagree? "In 2016, nearly 60 percent of all firearm deaths were suicides, according to the CDC. In that same year, more than 1,100 young people between the ages of 10 and 19 died by suicide by firearm." https://www.citylab.com/life/2019/01/teen-suicide-guns-in-america-mass-shootings-data/581335/ Body autonomy and all that. BTW, if you say kids are not capable of making that kinda decision, then they are also not capable of making life-altering decisions either.

Death by gun for kids is 2/3s that of death by vehicle for kids.

If you are serious about keeping kids from dying at the hands of another, here's your information. Use it. Or, don't. How you use this information, in any way, shape or form, tells the truth about what you really believe and what you really want.

I already know.

ANOTHER POINT

Here's another point to ponder. You are more likely to be injured in a wreck than with a gun. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm When you roll those numbers, remember to remove suicides. That makes the vehicle injuries really outpace firearms injuries.

The US has an estimated 393 million guns in private hands. An estimated 263.6 million vehicles are on the road. There are more than 100 million more guns out there than vehicles.

With that in mind, your chances of suffering from a vehicle are MUCH greater than your chances of suffering from a firearm.

You may bring up the fact that vehicles are used far more often every day than firearms. Granted. Doesn't change the metric in the slightest. The bottom line - stop people from killing and harming other people. Period. Frequency of use without harm and death is irrelevant.

We're interested in stopping the damage, period.

NOW WHAT

Now what indeed?

You have before you the stark reality.

Vehicles account for three times the number of deaths as guns. Drop vehicle deaths to eliminate the driver and the number of vehicle deaths is still twice the number of murders committed with guns. Drop suicides and — we've already discussed that.

You want to ban guns? Then first ban vehicles, which are proven twice as deadly as vehicles.

That sounds ridiculous? I'm just tryna piece together logic and reason and a way to reduce human-inflicted death on other humans.

Make a vehicle twice as hard to get as a gun. 

I'm good either way. I just want parity here. I just want to be fair.

Run that right down the line. Before you slap any restriction on gun ownership, compare the gun violence to violence done with anything else.

If you want to break this down by specific item, equally good. In that case, a knife should three times harder to buy than a rifle, based JUST on the number of murders committed with each. Some people only want certain categories of guns banned or restricted. Cool. Run that right down the line with everything else.

A vehicle should be ... damfino many times harder to get than a rifle. I do words, not math.

MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT

If you disagree with me, make your argument however you choose. Whatever manner you choose.
When you piece your argument together, every time you mention gun or a synonym, swap it for the other things you mention like vehicle, fork, rock, tree, etc. Every time you mention one of those other things, mark it out and put gun in the same place. Whatever causes death and harm, switch the terminology.

Again, the metric is harm and death. The rest is semantics.

Does the argument still hold up logically? Does it make sense? Are your points still based on reason and fact?

If not, go back and edit.

ONE LAST THING

Is all this stupid? Not my call. I'm just applying reason and logic.

If you find fault with my logic, tell me. If you find fault with my reasoning, tell me. I will, I promise, correct it and replace this blog with the corrected one. I'll even send you a copy of the revised version. 

If you have an emotion-based argument in either direction, you are welcome to tell me that as well. Don't expect a reply or any changes to the above.

When the truth hurts

When the truth hurts, yer living wrong.

While a few people have tried to debate the merits of that statement and what truth actually is, I stand firm on that declaration.

If the truth hurts, then you are the one who needs to either adapt to the truth or get used to the pain. I'd rather be hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie. I also admit there are times when a lie is the better option.

No?

True story. Grandma was dying. She knew it. We knew it. The doctors knew it. They told everybody. Congestive heart failure. She also broke a leg. As she slowly eased into whatever comes next, she got black spots on her foot.

Necrosis. Precursor to gangrene and amputation.

Grandma asked Ma if Ma knew what it was. Ma lied. "I don't know." S'far as I know, the rest of us lied to her as well.

She died in peace and intact without the worry of losing her leg.

Lies were the right decision.

But for some folks, a lie and only a lie will do even in the face of evidence so solid SCIENCE! moves it out of the "theory" category and into the "This is so settled it can never be questioned ever" category.

Enter Snopes. Me? I happen to like Snopes a lot. It is a go-to resource for me. Snopes itself, not the forums hosted by the organization. The forums are nothing more than letters to the editor and replies with no effort to fact check so much of it.

I have friends on the far right and the far left who all decry Snopes as a slanted organization, full of opinion, deceit and lies.

SHOW ME

Really? Show me. Show me an example of bias on Snopes' part, the part the Snopes crew runs and not the forums. Show me opinion. Aaight, I give you that one. When Snopes hands down a ruling on the veracity of a claim, that is opinion.

Show me deceit on the part of the Snopes research staff.

Show me lies on the part of the Snopes research staff.

I ain't gonna wait 'cause you can't.

FIND THIS

What you can find is a one in a million error. This is seized upon by the far wingers as a reason the site can't be trusted. What they reject outright is how Snopes was informed of the error and then corrected it. Apparently, these people are so close to perfect they have never made a mistake.

Be my role model, wudja?

What you can find is Snopes offering an "undetermined" opinion because the research staff could not find enough CREDIBLE evidence to issue a definite opinion one way or another. This is damning, according to the far wingers, because evidence is out there. Yes, Virginia, it is. It's right there in the filing cabinet with the proof of a Flat Earth, Elvis is alive and faking the moon landing.

What you can find is Snopes research. They get as close to the original source as possible. They fact check. They present their findings. This infuriates the far wingers who scream "FAKE NEWS!" as if their clamor is sufficient to drown out the truth.

Unfortunately, their yelling is doing exactly that.

AND IT MATTERS HOW

Another complaint against Snopes is how the two founders split and the resulting lawsuits, claims, counterclaims and insults hurled at each other with more venom than a box jellyfish. The far wingers say Snopes can't be trusted because of all that tar and feathering and mudslinging.

How, exactly, does this matter? The far wingers are quick to support people who commit acts more incredulous and outrageous than the former married partnership that created Snopes.

If such antics matter where Snopes is concerned, it should matter across the board.

Except it doesn't. To paraphrase Henry Kissinger, "These are our miscreants. Those are their miscreants."

THE TRUTH

When Snopes presents the truth, not as the site wants it to be or as some of the readers want it to be, then it is laid bare for those willing to embrace truth.

I ain't gonna cut people out because they pooh-pooh Snopes. I certainly am going to give them the respect they deserve for ignoring the truth.

Come to the truth side. We have less pain.

Pullin' the trigger

Another way of putting this: we ain't responsible for your feelings.

Some folks on social media have dropped, blocked and banned me (Wooooo!) because I hurt their feelings and refused to back up.

This was not intentional. I posted something I found hilarious. These few folks got twisted knickers over the humor.

I am amused.

The offended I know about did give me a warning. "Either change or I am blocking you." They usually gave me a deadline. One person did not, just sent a pm explaining why she was giving me the boot and blocked me. I do regret E. blocking me because she often made me think. I miss that. I do not regret refusing to bow to her ultimatum. Given the opportunity, I'll even double down on what made her block me.

I suspect most of the folks who blocked me just had a splodey head and hit the ban and block so fast they nearly broke their keyboard.

Let's make this clear, m'kay. I don't need a deadline. I don't need a warning. If you tell me change or else, well then, bye Felicia.

Pull the trigger.

Back when I was posting political commentary, I know folks blocked me. Again, a few gave me a warning and a deadline. I've cut the politics back to less than a 10th of what it once was. Did that for me, no one else. I still post an occasional political piece and I am certain it causes splodey heads.

Still don't need a warning.

Pull the trigger.

I shall continue to be sadly amused.

Every time someone blocks me because they are offended, the forces of darkness and oppression advance. Seriously. Think about it.

If you block someone because you can't stand their version or humor or their political leanings, all you do is make your world a little more narrow, a little more closed, a little more insular. Your circle of acceptable concepts constricts.

You lose because you don't get that expression of thought and ideas. You lose because you reject with prejudice that which you disagree with. You lose because you enable repression.

It's a short walk from saying you refuse to listen to someone saying what they believe and say should be banned. It's a walk too many people are taking these days.

Someone is now asking if I have ever banned and blocked someone on social media. Yes, I have and probably will again. I do this to people who engage in ad hominem. I just ain't got time for that.

Ain't too proud

Many years ago we loaded up and went to Etlanna. We being Ma, Shag and myself. We went to visit her mother, Grandma, also known as Alma C and Grandma Morgan.

As we pulled out of the drive, I looked back to see her standing there crying.

I so get that now.

I read a swords and sorcery novel years ago in which young princesses from various kingdoms were taken to a central meeting place to pair off with young princes. The ladies left, knowing they would never see their childhood home, friends or family ever again.

Ow.

World Lit Only By Fire describes the medieval world in stark, blunt and painfully accurate terms. Men conscripted to fight the wars of their sovereigns left home. Most of them, if they survived the war, never made it back to their families. No maps. Few roads. Getting back home was a major challenge.

Dayum.

Not too long ago, I covered a story for the paper. A young soldier came home from the front, unexpectedly. The police department where he worked tricked his Dad into coming to the PD to "sign some papers" about the young man's police officer training which he could not do as he was overseas.

After the dad got over the shock, he just hugged his taller son crying and saying "You're back" over and over.

Doncha know it.

Tonight, Susan visited.

As we parted company I told her I missed her. Been over a month since I saw her. I added I also knew where she was if I really needed to see her. She lives about 20 minutes away south and works about 20 minutes away north. "It's not like you did what I did and moved to the other side of the country," I said. (I came back.)

As she drove off to go home ... I ain't too proud. The tears nearly came.

If you are a parent, you grok. If you are not a parent, you may think you get it. You don't. You can't. You do not have the frame of reference necessary to grok this. You can't even really understand it.

I am not complaining, merely pointing out a truth.

We raise our kids. We expect them to grow up and leave. Then, they do.

arg.

Sometimes reality sucks.