I know, slim selection but so where the picking and I am not in my computer.

Mom’s orchid blooming in Tennessee. I guess I can officially say it survived the trip.

Me: “I don’t like this. These people are acting suspiciously. What do they want from me?”
Missus: “What do you mean? They are being perfectly nice.”
Me: “That’s it, they are trying to lower my barriers, get me confident and then attack!”
Missus: (Looking at me condescendingly) “It is an awful sneaky tactic called ‘Southern Hospitality’, you dumb ass.”
Me: (Mumbling excuses rather than acknowledge the obvious)

You may laugh, but the “struggle” is real. And no, I don’t wish people here be less hospitable, but I know I have to make more inroads in my installed mental “software” and accept that people are simply being nice for no other reason than they are truly nice.

And I am indeed warming up to it. Smiling does take less effort than looking like you just murdered a family and are not to be messed with.

Being nice saves energy!

Tennessee shall soon be covered in snot-dripping zombies caused by the new Delta variant to the Wuhan Flu.

And just like that, a slumbering threat awakens again.

The rate of daily coronavirus infections in Tennessee has more than tripled in the past three weeks – one of the largest increases in the entire nation – as the virus shows signs of renewed spread. The state’s average test positivity rate and count of active infections also climbed sharply in the same time period.
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Tennesseans have effectively opened the door for this spread, leaving themselves vulnerable to the return of the virus, by failing to take advantage of vaccines that have been free and accessible for months, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

COVID-19 infections triple as Tennessee backs off vaccine outreach (dnj.com)

I have seen less drama in a Telenovela’s finale.  Since I got here, I noticed that the Left and the Media (but I repeat myself) have been on a bender about the Republican-led State not forcing young ones into vaccination and assorted other “DO THIS OR YOU DIE!” schemes. So basically I am not missing the DeSantis Derangement Syndrome at all but just the same BBQ with different sauce.

Infections mean squat. Anybody who has taken all but an hour of health classes in school knows that. The key indicator is deaths and if they have increased in any significant way and for that, in a very “newspaperish” and traditional manner, you have to go to the bottom of the article.

Fortunately, Tennessee’s increased infections have not translated into a rise in hospitalizations or deaths – at least, not yet. The state is still reporting single-digit hospitalizations and deaths from the virus each day, and these statistics have not increased in step with infection rates.

I have seen plenty of vaccination campaigns in my lifetime. And truthfully nothing so hamfisted and bullying as this Covid Vaccination drive, and I come from a Third World country where the rule of laws was always in the favor of the Government to impose its will on People. All the campaigns were not ordering but inviting people to be vaccinated (or bring the kids to have their series of vaccinations) to a convenient location near them. Sometimes week days were selected with work and school suspended for that day and region so people could attend. there was not a push or a browbeat or an organized campaign to shame people into getting vaccinated: Lots of people came and if you did not, Oh Well, your ass.

But what we have here is simply a push to prove assertion of power. You will do stuff we tell you not because of the “public good” but because they can get away with it, they can go away with proving they have power over you. It ain’t about health but spreading the  plague of little dictators about the land.

If you want to get the vaccine, do so. We got ours. You do not want to get the vaccine? Fine and dandy, we are still friends and we can hang and I am even willing to bet that unless you are past 65 and have managed to screw up your health and are just there by the Grace of God, you have a pretty good chance (98% I believe) you won’t die of this crap if you get infected.

And for those Karens in public service and private life: Shut the hell up and let people be. Stop trying to develop your own little fiefdoms may they be physical or in that sick real state inside your brain.  The laws and regulations you want to impose to control somebody else’s body and health will be used against you in the future because the Robespierre Principle is karma at its best.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An Albuquerque man who was upset with protestors who tried to tear down a controversial statue in Old Town had pled guilty to intimidating a witness who was going to testify agast the man who shot one of those protestors. The prosecution described Daniel Carr showing up at a witness’s home and threatening him if he testified against, Steven Baca, who police said opened fire at a protester after demonstrators vandalized the Juan de Onate statue last June.

Man pleads guilty to intimidating a witness in controversial statue incident

Although I admire the wish for activism, if you do not realize that our actions will be set a much stricter set of “rules” and face stiffer consequences than the Opposition, you better stay put and stop trying to “help.”

Even when the evidence against one of them is so overwhelming that they have plea guilty to serious felonies, the system is designed to come up with ssome sort of work-around to lessen the impact.

A man charged in the Lower Broadway fires set during rioting and unrest in Nashville in May of last year has been sentenced to 10 years, but has the possibility of an alternative sentence.

Ryan Keith Ray, 34, pleaded guilty on April 22 to charges of inciting a riot, burglary, vandalism over $60,000, theft of property over $2,500 and setting fire to personal property after breaking into Margaritaville and Big Time Boots, where police say he set a fire on May 30, 2020.
…

Judge Cheryl Blackburn sentenced Ray to 10 years, with the possibility of an alternative sentence after an evaluation by the Davidson County Community Corrections program.

…

Blackburn gave community corrections three weeks to evaluate and determine Ray’s eligibility for the program.

Man charged in Nashville riot sentenced to 10 years with possibility of alternative sentence

And we have seen this movie before and know how it ends: The arsonist not even serving a third of the sentence before being back on the streets. Any if it was one of us? Probably 10 full years before “enhancements” and at a hardcore institution.

Once again: Fight smart.

Yesterday I found myself scaling down on the “intake” of the new environment because I found myself trying to force data collection rater than simply “sit and observe.”

We do not live in an individualized/compartmentalized world but one that is a blend and dance of people interacting with each other. Rather than observing the whole image (I know very Gestalt and stuff) I was trying to analyze every part which is not only unnecessary but dumb as a falling rock.

I just started to focus on the difference I could see comparing to past experiences. While back in Miami, a loud group at the Cracker Barrel would be something normal giving the Latino’s propension to simply be loud and expansive, here in Tennessee is not as common with most people being rather concentrated on communicating just loud enough for the person across the table.  So when I saw table with about 8 people being loud, I watched to see their attitude: It was celebratory and jovial which rendered low in the threat scale according to experience and gut. And that was it! No need for a person to person analysis and assessment because truly it is not necessary, it only wastes time and mental stamina and does nothing to promote your safety.

Although certainly there are different behaviors between where I was and where I am, people will have a lot of commonalities everywhere you go. If you know those already, you do not need to “relearn” them. You just concentrate in the differences, analyze what could be consider a danger indicator and archive it for future reference. The rest is just ornamental stuff.

Work smart, not hard.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Mayor of Cincinnati:

There must be hit squads of NRA members going to research labs and small garages across the world knee-capping anybody doing research on smart guns, right? That is what is keeping the research from reaching its success.

The sad part for the Mayor is that the NRA has never come against Smart Gun technology or endorsed it either: They simply have stated that is gun owners the one who will decided if the technology is necessary or successful via their pockets. They do oppose to imposing the technology and may had made fun about retrofitting half a billion firearms in the hands of US Citizens, but never an outright chest-thumping opposition to the technology. The reason? The lying Opposition cannot say that the NRA, for all it says and preaches about gun safety, contradicts itself attacking the development of a safety device for guns.  They can make crap up like The Dishonorable Mr. Cranley is doing, but they simply cannot offer a direct quote where the NRA states its opposition to it because simply does not exist.

Many times we still fail to see the amount of game-ship and news manipulation that goes into Gun Rights. We do not need to preach to ourselves, we are already firmly entrenched on the right side, but we have to fight for the souls and minds of those lost somewhere n the middle of the field.

Let the Enemy lie and then expose them. It is not a glamorous job, but it still needs to be done.

Hat Tip @FlynDutchman466