A small rant here. One of my many pet peeves (amazing how many of those you collect as you get older) is when people declare they have an emergency when they really do not. Once when I was working hospitality, I got called just as I had walked in the house in the wee hours and was advised there was it was an emergency call. When asked what it was (thougts of the hotel on fire crossed my mind) I was told that a coworker that I had given a ride home had left her purse in my car, wanted it back and the Manager On Duty told me to return it.

I was this close to utter a comment that would have me sent to have a nice chat with HR, but I held myself and just went back to the lady’s house, returned her purse and took myself out of the pool of helpful associates willing to assist other associates get home.

This has bothered me for years, and it was not till recently while driving around that I noticed these clinics all over the place here in TN.

If you check what they offer in manner of urgent care, the list is limited:

When you need more than a Band-Aid, but less than a call to 911.
Bites, Stings and Allergic Reactions
Burns
Cuts, Scrapes and Minor Lacerations
Eye Irritation and Injury
Respiratory Conditions
Muscular pain and injuries
Sprains and Strains
Broken Bones

Well shit, that is a damned good way to put it. So now I have my “own” definition of levels of priorities

Emergency, Urgency and Inconvenience.

I define Emergency any situation where you need life-saving devices and techniques. May it be going for the gun, calling 911 or breaking out the “Oh Shit!” Medical kit, we are talking about an event where lives are at risk of grievous injury or death.

Urgency is reflected on the list above. I have dealt on my own with everything there but broken bones (I don’t have what I consider real training with that) and it should be your responsibility to learn how to treat those injuries without having to pull the fire alarm, call 911 or bother somebody. And yes, you could help somebody with an urgency, but be mindful if you are legally protected in your state by a Good Samaritan Law, but even then, you can still be sued. Take that into account.

Inconvenience is pretty much anything else, especially if it is stupid shit you have done to yourself. You left your keys inside the locked car? Forgot to bring the charger of your smart phone? Broke a heel? Are late for work and need a babysitter? Inconveniences, not Urgencies or Emergencies and you should be even ashamed to bother a third-party requesting help.

I believe that pretty much covers it. Feel free to expound in the comments and give us your definitions.

I keep saying that I am amazed no more truckers get shot in this area because there is an abundance of assholes out in the highways. Like the 18-wheeler that brake-checked a loaded dump truck in the lane next to mine.

EV Mustang or as I call it Electro Eurotrash Hatchback by Ford. Apparently comes with matching passenger.

And the Redneck of the Day award goes to:

He just needs to tape a flashlight aiming down to the tailgate, so he does not get a ticket for driving without a tag light.

B.L.U.F.
The state dances around “in common use” because they fear it. They even explain why it can’t be used. If it was used, then they would lose.
(1650 words)

Ok, the state starts with a clear, concise, and correct statement of Heller‘s text, history, and tradition methodology.

When a circuit court issues an opinion, it can be cited in other cases. Here, the state is referencing an opinion from the Seventh Circuit, which said that it was the plaintiff’s burden to prove that something is an arm.

This is pure sophistry. The Seventh Circuit is saying something true to hide the false premises that will come later.

In order for the Second Amendment to presumptively protect a conduct, that conduct must fall within the scope of the Second Amendment. Thus, the object must be an Arm. The conduct must have something to do with keeping or bearing that arm.

“Is it an arm?” is the first question to be asked. The Seventh Circuit stated that correctly. The state states that correctly here.

The state then begins its dance. [T]he the Supreme Court in Heller explored the parameters of what constituted an “arm” such that it would fall within the protections of the Second Amendment. —id.
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This is not a drive-in horror movie, this is Florida in 2024.

NEW – DoD officials say they are "alerted" about a potential maritime "mass migration" from Haiti into the United States.pic.twitter.com/gIY32mwKTN

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) March 12, 2024

From the NY Post:

Florida border agents placed on high alert for refugees following breakdown of order in Haiti

Border agents in Miami have been told to prepare for a wave of migration from Haiti following the takeover of the country by bloodthirsty gangs, The Post has learned.

An internal agency email leaked to The Post pointed out it is unlikely Haitians who take to the sea and enter Florida illegally will be repatriated back to their home country, given its instability.

The message also warned that one vessel of migrants landing would overwhelm agency capabilities in the area.

“One landing will cripple the station and our ability to respond to other traffic,” the email to agents read.

“With the breakdown of the government in Haiti repatriating Haitians may not be happening for the foreseeable future,” the email read. “If this is the case, then the Coast Guard may not be stopping Haitian sail freighter[s].”

Border Patrol officials are concerned that if Haitian migrants reach Florida’s shores it will be difficult to contain the groups, transport them in a timely fashion for processing and identify fraudulent families, the email read.

Après moi, le déluge.

the first boat will overwhelm the system, then it will be non stop.

We will have no idea who is coming, but we can guarantee that it won’t be just starving women and children.

The crime wave that would come from this will be horrendous.

The disturbing thing is that I honestly believe the federal government has no desire to prevent this.

If you live in South Florida, prepare for the worst.

J. Kb. sent me this one and I had to both laugh and admire.

A FAFO from 1902

A while ago I brought “Strange Fruit” by Nina Simone to Tuesday Tunes.

It was a hard listen, not because of the skill of the singer, but because of the subject.

Here is her impeccable voice in something a little lighter.

This is grand.

Probably he is not a real doctor of medicine, but just some dude that managed to avoid working in HR by the tiniest of margins.

Let’s go over his tweet, shall we?

I remember my parents telling me about the huge lines on which people waited— eagerly— when the polio vaccine was released in 1955.

He is probably talking about the Salk vaccine but fails to inform (or probably does not know) that Salk’s was the last of a long line of tryouts that began in the mid 1930s. We are talking about decades or research and not a sudden 3-month creation which we still are not sure if it truly worked or not (And I did take the vaccine, so there.)

Do you know why we didn’t have anti-vaxxers back then?

 

We did have, especially since there were thousands and thousands of cases of people getting polio after getting the vaccine. It took more years of streamlining and getting the process right to make the vaccine as safe as possible, and even then iy was not 100% effective as an old friend of mine discovered and had to live with for the rest of his life.

Because there were no MAGAts, and Americans weren’t fu*king imbeciles in those days!!

And that is all you need to read to understand where this guy comes from. And I do love the photo he used because as bad as the polio epidemic was, you can see people were not masked and wearing face shields nor they were keeping a 6-foot distance nor the country was shut down for months under “two weeks to find the cure” bullshit.

Such a humongous load of Snake Oil it was that even those who trusted vaccination like me, no longer do.

I also predict we will see a huge raise in mortality in Third World countries precisely because even people there will no longer trust the vaccines that have years of safe and effective use. How do we know none of that COVID shit is not mixed with the old stuff?