Saturday - Running Thoughts, Continued

In the ol' RSS feed today:

From the Washington Post-

'The FBI has found no evidence so far that Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people and wounded more than 53 at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, chose the popular establishment because of its gay clientele, U.S law enforcement officials said.'

I don't have a whole lot of confidence about anything the FBI says any more.
They couldn't find enough evidence to recommend charges for Hillary Clinton...
I have a feeling they couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the sole.

**

A certain broadcast news conglomerate should really stop using Obama's gushing praise of Hillary as a centerpiece...

"“There has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office than Hillary Clinton, ever. And that’s the truth.”
-Obama, at NC speech endorsing Clinton.

Anyone with two brain cells to rub together should see this for the sack of horseshit that it is.
Not even Obama could possibly believe it, narcissist that he is...

Really?

In a January 2008 debate, Senator Obama accused Clinton of being “willing to say anything to get elected.”
He repeated the charge in a radio ad that same month, in which he attacked Clinton as “what’s wrong with politics” and claimed she “will say anything to get elected."

Maybe that is what he's talking about?
That that is what a Democrat thinks makes the best possible candidate?

The Tenderloin

So, I've mentioned a couple times I'm in SanFran.
Lovely city, so I'm told...
Sadly I'm in the Tenderloin. Not the best spot in the downtown area.

What/where is the Tenderloin?


If you'd like to be depressed, Google images - "SF Tenderloin" for a look at what it's like to walk around here... As a rule- by 9:30 I'm back in the hotel and dialed into Netflix.

I was on walkabout the first night I was here when there was a shooting about a block away- an innocuous 'pop' and and shouting from the corner of O'Farrell and Hyde. About 10 minutes later there were 4 or 5 police cars on the scene. This is at 10pm-
Really crazy shit starts about 11:30 or 12.

Yesterday the guy who runs my favorite taquería (Los Colores) was telling me about a stabbing on Wednesday evening; One of the local traffic shouters (a street person whose primary pastime is to lurch about in the street and incoherently shout at the cars going by) was stabbed in chest by another homeless person.
Not for any good reason- but because "she had bumped into her"...

I initially blew it off- until I was checking out the news-

Suspect in Tenderloin Flees After Stabbing Woman in Chest

At about 10 p.m. Wednesday, a 40-year-old woman was walking near the intersection of Leavenworth and Eddy streets when another woman bumped into her. The woman who bumped into her engaged in an argument and then stabbed her in the chest with a sharp object before fleeing, according to San Francisco police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza.

Police responded and found the victim suffering from a puncture wound to the chest. She was transported to San Francisco General Hospital with injuries that are not considered life-threatening, Esparza said.

Wow.

There was also a wrong-way-one-way police chase on Monday morning-
At 6am I was in one of the local diners having breakfast and the all-night counterman was watching the police work a traffic accident involving a parked car (where someone was sleeping)- he said a BMW was going the wrong way up Mason Street and hit the car...
Looking at the news a day later...

Stolen BMW’s wild ride across San Francisco

San Francisco police have detained a 37-year-old suspect who allegedly stole a car early this morning from a South of Market BMW dealership by driving it through the showroom window and onto city streets, a police spokesman said.
...
Upon arrival at the dealership, officers found a large floor to ceiling window of the dealership smashed and discovered cars had been moved around, according to Esparza.
....
It appears that once the suspect had gained access to the vehicle, he drove it through the window of the dealership and onto the street, according to police.

At 5:23 a.m., police responded to a call of an injury hit-and-run crash at Mason and Post streets near Union Square involving a new BMW, Esparza said.

The suspect in that crash fled the scene on foot after crashing a BMW into a parked vehicle where an occupant was sleeping. Police said the occupant of that vehicle was not seriously injured.

If you add wall-to-wall blue-staters, granola-munching hippies of all description, hipsters trying to gentrify the seedier areas of town, water shortages, wildfires, earthquakes, mudslides, general crime, insane taxes and sky-high prices... well... You see why I'm generally not a fan of this place.

Ok- Now you should be thoroughly horrified about visiting San Francisco in general.

If, however, fate decides to bend you over the back of the sofa and you find yourself staying for an interminable period at the Hilton off Union Square, here are a few places for food and drink that are approved by The Big Guy...

First- as referenced earlier-
Lunchtime:
Los Colores (link up top)- Tacos & such- Inexpensive & tasty. Try the carne asada.
Also for lunch-
David's Delicatessen - the Chopped Chicken Liver- to die for!
Kucina ni Tess - Fliipino place behind the Hilton. Kawali Lechon (pork belly) and Bistik (beef w/ lemon, onions & soy).


Dinner-
Coco Bang - Korean hole-in-the-wall on Taylor St. Amazing fried chicken.
For drinks (Or early dinner)
Redford - (But go early - at 9 hipsters hit this place hard!)
If you go before 7:00 for dinner, get the Antipasto plate and a Moscow Mule at happy hour prices. The bourbon deviled eggs are great.

Breakfast-
Pinecrest Diner - Good basic diner food. -OR-
Olympic Flame Cafe - really basic, better prices than Pinecrest, but really old.

Other places of note:
Hyde Away Blues BBQ & Gumbo cafe. I keep trying to get here, but I keep getting sidetracked or they are closed because they've run out of food.
Brenda's French Soul Food -This place is supposed to be amaze-balls - it's a little bit of a hike, but I'm going there tomorrow for breakfast... Will let you know how it goes.

Pretty much everything I've done is by foot...
If I can swing it, there is a rum bar I want to visit...
Smuggler's Cove - Supposedly one of the top 50 bars in the US...
Any place that boasts over 400 rums on hand definitely has my attention.
Again, film at 11.

If I make it.


TBG - - ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Quick Hits - 7/8/14

A couple for this AM whilst reading USA Yesterday at breakfast...

A "Voices" writer (R.Jervis) continues to trumpet the tired prevarication about how high the deportation rate is under Obama...
He doesn't bother mention how they are cooking the numbers by classifying anyone turned away at the border during a normal border crossing as a "deportation".
Morons.

-+-+-+-+-+-

DeWayne Wickham had a great idea for what to do with all the kids that are coming across the border...
Instead of sending them off to Great Aunt Maria's in Sioux Falls with a strong admonishment " You better come back when we call you.", he says send 'em all to Gitmo.
Seriously- great idea.
Infrastructure in place, space, control, and incentive for repatriation to original country.

GIMF: Wickham Deportation Guantanamo

more later-

TBG

Master Chief? Darth Vader?

Sargent Smith?

Quite interesting new US Army headgear concept...
Comes with chem & bio filters...
Probably useful for piloting TIE fighters too.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Give It A Rest, Will Ya?

I'm finally feet-wet here in Sochi...

The cable services at my 'hotel' are a little lacking so I'm relying on my RSS feed for news...
Seems everyone's got their knickers in a twist about possible attacks here during the Olympics.

ABC News:
Terror 'Surprise' for Sochi Olympics? Purported Suicide Bombers' New Threat

Yahoo News:
Threat surfaces as US lawmakers fret over Olympics security

Politico:
Senator Angus King (I) would skip Olympics

The Guardian:
US studying plans to rescue Americans if terrorists strike Sochi Olympics

Hey MSM- could you tone it down just a bit with the "If it bleeds, it leads" sensationalism? When you make a big deal out of it, it becomes a big deal.

Regarding the oft-asked question: What are YOU going to do?

The answer is, as always: Mind my own business, keep my eyes open and don't do anything stupid. (Well- how about 'minimize stupid moves' instead?)
This is true whether I'm in Sochi or Sydney, Johannesburg or Jax Beach.
And it should be for you too, if you want to be around for your next cake day.
Running into a movie-theater shooter seems as likely as an attack from the vodka-Kahlua-cream jihadis these days- so you watch your ass too.


See previous post about Condition White children...

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Earthquake Reaction

As with everything else that "unexpectedly" happens these days...
Just wait to see what kind of knee-jerk reactions, new procedures and
government-driven precautionary regulations get put in place due
to the earthquake...

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

2010 In Review : TLDR?

2010 was a relatively good year.
My year started out in Boston with the Winter Classic in Fenway, working with the the NHL and later met some great folks at a Blogmeet.
I spent a large amount of time in Vancouver with some great co-workers at the Olympics...
In March we got a chance to try out our roasting skills by cooking a whole pig in a Caja China, a marvelous way to cook pork for a crowd.

We began to see where the whole Anthropomorphic Climate Change proponents and the IPCC cooked their results and colluded to sell the general public a bill of goods that would ultimately cost nations and businesses billions of dollars... The Public has finally begun to wake up and smell the coffee regarding the Man-Made Climate Change Agenda, and they see that is is a pile of shit too...
Yeah- the wheels are falling off that gravy train pretty quickly.

I was up at the Masters for another Tournament this year- My 12th year working there... This year the pollen was worse than normal...
Musta been all the Global Warmening...

All year long I have been getting quite a bit of Recoil Therapy since I joined the range at the SSSA... Great folks to shoot with and the range is a joy to shoot at.

Travel is always a big part of my life-I've already mentioned Vancouver, but I also made it to the NBA finals for a couple days, several working trips to New York, a trip to Madrid (my first time there) and Greece with my friend and NBA Statistician extraordinaire Pat Gehm.
I got to make several road trips this year- Jax to Texas and back, an aborted trip to California and a return trip to New York that was a comedy of errors. "You're jus' a leeeeetle overweight." was an understatement- I was over by 3000 lbs... And a couple trips (Barclays and Deutchebank) from the Northeast back down to Florida to help out with the events equipment distribution.
I also did my yearly sojourn to Shanghai and I worked in the new Consol Energy center in Pittsburgh, then came back for a site survey for the Winter Classic via a snowstorm in December, So I have had a good amount of Pittsburgh time this year...

Jingalls and I made it down to the Keys for some lobster diving this past summer, and right on the heels of that trip I got involved with some new technology testing for the NHL draft, spending some time in LA for that test.

From a family standpoint it been pretty good- The Perfect Child is a senior this year; When TWWKMT & I got married, her nephew Chip was in our wedding. This year, Chip got married and the PC was a bridesmaid in his wedding... What goes around comes around, eh?
(The wedding weekend was memorable for other events too, especially for a one guest who- how shall we say - over-imbibed?
We shall let that episode remain shrouded in mystery... Heh.)


We had some close brushes in Jacksonville by some tropical storms this year- Earl and Danielle threatened to make life interesting, but they never actually got close enough to do too much damage. They did make the local surfers happy though...

I took on a semi-co-blogger for Listen2Unclejay.com, the wife of a friend up in Franklin MA who volunteered to fill in for me while I was MIA in October and scared the crap out of the PC and other Constant Readers with her posts... Proxi has continued to post sporadically, and refuses to use any restraint or taste in some of her posts. Be careful when you read her stuff- it might require mind-bleach.

Jingalls and I made it out for some hog hunting this year too- Neither of us got one, but Chief Propeller Head MitchM did bag one, and we promptly cooked it up in the Caja China- mmmmm. Tasty! We have plans for more hog hunting come February.

Relationships are all going well- Bozie and Koa are still enjoying their morning romp, The PC and Boyfriend are doing well, even with the spectre of his enlistment in the Navy looming over them. A final milestone for us this year- The Woman Who Knows Most Things and I celebrated our 20th Anniversary in December. Or as TWWKMT opines "Seven happy years!"
Wait, what?

There were some rough spots this year too...

On March 21st, the Obama Administration passed sweeping healthcare reform. It was promised that we could keep our existing insurance if we wanted to, and that it would bring costs down and improve services, it has since been shown to be a complete crock of shit that will be so expensive and so invasive that it will be an anchor weighing down out entire healthcare system and will drive our medical programs into becoming a government-run nightmare monopoly.

The BP oil spill was a nightmare for many concerned parties, and a boon and blessing for many others. Fishermen, tourist sites and the residents of the Gulf coast (including the critters that live therein) go the short end of the stick. Scammers and the Obama Administration took every advantage of the crisis to advance their own purposes... The Gummint got to go through a huge amount of command and control theatrics and wring billions out of BP "for the victims" then wound up lining the pockets of cronies and co-conspirators. Scammers and crooks that learned their trade through the Katrina aftermath on how to siphon money from the Gummint got to make another killing, capitalizing on the crisis, just like the Community Organizer in Chief taught them.

On a more personal note, my car was once again burgled and I lost 3 firearms, a .40, a .22 rifle and a 9mm, which has me developing a silent alarm for the driveway. The trick is NOT having it go off when a raccoon or a possum wanders up the driveway.

The TSA has made my life extra-miserable, I got Backscatter scanning AND a rather intimate patdown in 6 of 8 flights this fall, since they started their new "Piss Off America" imitative. Makes me want to drive everywhere I go...I wonder if Avis would mind if I drove one of their rentals to Beijing?

We did experience the loss of a beloved family member this year- Our Dalmatian, Maggie Mae, crossed the Rainbow Bridge this summer- No doubt she's found some sunny space that she can run and play, and some big shady trees to rest under. She took good care of us for 14 years, and she earned her place in the sun...

Next Steps-

2011 promises to be a doozy-

The PC will be off to college this summer, and it looks like I'll have a full slate of events to work on though the year.
We'll make time for more hunting, diving, lobstering, recoil therapy and experimenting in the kitchen...

Stay tuned for another year of fun here at Listen2unclejay.com 
TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Scanning the Headlines...

...in Google News.






































Those Irish Priests in the Philippines need to watch who they are consorting with...
(After reading further...)

Oh... Never mind. I was thinking of something else.


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Got Powder? and the V Coincidence.

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was one of many attempts by British Catholics in the late 1500s and early 1600s to restore what they saw as the true church. However, it stood out from other conspiracies because it was aimed at Parliament as well as the monarch...

In the early 1700s, after choosing Protestantism over Catholicism, the British began to celebrate the anniversary of the thwarting of the Gunpowder Plot.
In England this holiday became known as Guy Fawkes’ Day, and was celebrated by burning Fawkes in effigy. Later, fireworks were added to the festivities.

Children made human figures out of straw and sticks, and begged coins from passersby by asking, “Penny for the Guy?” They chanted rhymes like these:

“Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, ’twas his intent
To blow up King and Parliament.”

A few old Fawkes’ Night rhymes were aimed at the far-off leader of the Catholic Church:

“A penny loaf to feed the Pope.
A farthing cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.”

You've gotta like it when they get the kids involved in political propaganda...mmmm, mmmm, mmmm.


Image by DutchPhil

Linking today's uh...celebration to a more current-events note,
quite a few people made some specific parallels between the movie "V for Vendetta" and the Bush Administration back when that movie premiered....
"V for Vendetta Against Bush"

Clearly the filmmakers intended to make this a parable of the Bush administration. A character in the film says that "America's war" came to their country.

Well... Guess what? The V is on the other foot now...



V:Tea Party TV at The New Republic

"...The political drama of the original was replaced by a ham-handed metaphor for President Obama. The visitors are young, charismatic, futuristic, and have a one-worldish vision of peace. They target the young by enticing them to join an idealistic (but, in reality, sinister) youth group. A few perceptive humans warn of the dangers of hopping on the bandwagon before we know what the bandwagon is really about."

Wow.
Hollywood making thinly-veiled political references to garner ratings and publicity?
No! Say it ain't so!



So... What are the odds that V gets "canceled due to low ratings" once the White House makes a few carefully chosen phone calls?

Word around the campfire is that they are going to air 4 of the regular episodes, then it will go on hiatus (nudge nudge wink wink) until March...(never to return).

My question is how did ABC (Barry's lapdog) ever green-light the content of this remake of V?

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Hitting Close To Home....

Only in Jax Beach...

A guy and his friends:
1. Want to buy crack at 4:30 AM
2. Approach 3 males on the street. (At 4:30AM, they probably weren't Boy Scouts.)
3. Are asked to exit the vehicle to conduct pharmaceutical transaction.
4. One of them actually DOES it... (Musta really wanted that crack...)
5. ...And he gets shot.
5a. Where?
"He was hit once in the left buttock, and the bullet exited through his right testicle."
6. His friends take off in the car, leaving him with his new friends.
7. He limps (heh) to McDonald's and calls police.
8. Explains to the cops about getting shot while trying to buy crack.

Unresolved issues:
- Did they arrest the person attempting to buy crack cocaine?
- They are looking for the guy(s) that shot a guy trying to break the law by buying narcotics.
(One assumes they are not looking for them to award them Good Citizen Citations.)
- Was the Crack Buyer armed?
(Perhaps with a ferret in his pants? Seems to be all the rage these days...)

Photo:Singleton/AP

- WHY IS ALL THIS SHIT HAPPENING 12 BLOCKS FROM MY HOUSE?
(Time to start looking for some acreage out in Bradford County. The zoning board turned down my request for a variance to install a moat, electrified fencing and automated 20mm turret guns at the Estrogen Palace.)

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Food Fight

History of Warfare from WWII to the present...



Cheat sheet:
Germans- Sausage, Pretzel
Jews - Matzoh Bread
Israel - Lox Bagel
British - Fish and Chips
French- croissant roll
Japanese- Maki Roll, Nigiri Sushi
Americans- Burger, Fries, Sliders, Fried Chicken Nuggets
Russians - Beef Stroganoff
Koreans- Kimchi
Chinese- Dumplings, Fried Rice, Egg Roll
Cuba - Cuban Sandwiches
Middle East- Kebabs, Falafel, Pita
Vietnamese- Spring Rolls

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Headline Confusion

Survivor of fatal January shooting fears for his life

Article Here

Shooting... Right.
Fatal... Right.
Survivor... Huh?
Fears for life... I don't get it.

TBG, so confused.