Don't Pour Iced Tea on Your Laptop...and other random thoughts.

David the Geek Guy

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm supposed to be on hiatus for the rest of the month, posting only select episodes and a few pithy comments. 

However....and isn't there always a however?

In a stroke of genius, I knocked over a glass iced tea and hit my kitchen laptop in the process, thereby effectively killing it. Granted, it was slowly shuffling off its e-coils, and I had already been surreptitiously (lest it find out what I was doing, thereby hurting its feelings) looking for a replacement.

I ran over to Best Buy in Eagan. David the Geek Guy was really nice even thought he had to pronounce my beloved box D.O.A. But when I asked about the hard drive, he happily popped it out (yeah, it had a hard drive,) had it checked out, and pronounced the sucker intact (thank G-d.) I picked a new box, decided with the sale price, I would get the extra-special tech support and have them move the old hard drive files onto the new box. I took said new box back to David and he said he would take care of the rest. He did. And instead of having to wait until Thursday to pick up the new machine, he called me four hours later to tell me it was done. I ran over there lickety-split.

Other than wasting way too much time to install Chrome, I am up and running with all my old programs. I am ecstatic. Even Microsoft knew who I was on the first try. I was very impressed.

But I was more impressed with David the Geek Guy. Nice, competent, helpful...a veritable Boy Scout of a kid. Best Buy, if you're listening, keep the guy around if you can. He instills confidence in the process, not something that happens very often these days. Thanks also go to my friend Bill who dropped what he was doing to come over to Best Buy to help me evaluate laptops. Thankfully this is Prime/Anti-Prime week and the Dell 15.6 I liked at $509 was now $399. A clear win all the way around....except now I have to get used to a new keyboard. Feh! Always the worst part. 

So, back to the hiatus part.  For the next few weeks, I'll be posting some old episodes that I think are worth revisiting. The first, The Second Amendment ~ Stuff You Might Not Know, was first published on July 23, 2012. I think it's worth re-reading. 

Did you know there are two versions of the second amendment?

This is the version that was passed by the Congress:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

And this is the one that was ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State:

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

A real "eats shoots and leaves" moment, eh? Well, it’s worse than just bad punctuation.

As conceded by the Supreme Court, there is a direct link between the Second Amendment and the English Bill of Rights of 1689, which protects the rights of Protestants from disarmament by the Crown. Their text reads as follows: 

"That the Subjects which are Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Conditions and as allowed by Law."

Charleville American Revolutionary War Musket

Lacking the phrase, “as allowed by law,” our version seems to circumvent the ability of Congress (or anyone else for that matter) to make a determination about what the law permits...and by extension, makes the passage of any law restricting guns a matter of constitutionality. So, there is actually no law that can be made (according to the NRA) that can limit the ownership of any gun. 

In District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), SCOTUS ruled that it was absolutely okay to own a gun unconnected to a militia, and said gun could be used for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. It was the first SCOTUS ruling that considered the Second Amendment to be protecting an individual right.

Since day one, however, there has been debate over the intent of the Amendment, and whether or not firearm type was limited to the scope of a militia. SCOTUS has never defined the meaning of the word arms, and subsequently any attempt to limit the type of firearms permitted has become a constitutional debate.

What has been omitted from the debate is common sense.

Lots of people have permits for and legally own handguns. Some people feel safer having one in the house, and they are supposed to be trained in the use and storage of such a weapon. One does not leave one’s Glock lying about on the kitchen table for the kids to play with or take to school for show and tell.

Hunting guns are supposed to be used for sport and when not in use, I do believe they are supposed to be kept in locked storage. And lots of people participate in other marksmen-type events like skeet, decathlon and pentathlon safely and without incident.

But show me where in this country one needs to own a couple of Uzis, AK-47s, and a few customized M-16s thrown in for good measure? Does one need to ever stock thousands of rounds of armor piercing ammo for afore mentioned weapons?

         National Priorities       © 2012, Steven G. Artley, ARTLEY CARTOONS 

It’s time to give up our delusions of frontierness; them days are long gone. Even in our most rural communities, there is not a single reason on the planet for ANYONE in the United States to own an assault rifle. Guns and ammo are not the same as laundry detergent and a 12-pack of toilet paper. You cannot point an empty cardboard spindle at someone and shoot them with Charmin'. We put warning labels on everything, but we still let people walk out of gun swap meets without so much as a name verification. How does New York City ban giant sodas and too much salt in your fries....but cannot stop assault weapon ownership?

I am not suggesting all guns be banned….although I wouldn’t exactly be opposed to that idea….but it’s time to stand up to groups like the NRA and demand common sense be allowed back into the conversation. The gun lobby isn’t about hobbyists or hunters or urban dwellers who feel safe with a gun in the flat. That lobby is ultimately about greed, arms dealing, and a willingness to bear hatred toward segments of our population.

It’s time to stop being afraid of the NRA. They are just a group of people who seem to think it’s more important to let anyone own weapons, and by extension, allow a crazy person who owns some of these to shoot up a movie theatre…..or a school…..or a community center….or a Long Island Railroad car…… The list just goes on and on.

We have a big election coming up. Maybe now is the time to demand common sense be restored to the gun debate. There are more of us who want to see assault weapons banned than want to see them protected. We, The People, are the only ones who can demand a halt to the insanity of insufficient gun control.

 ********

For shits and giggles, try this list on for size: List of mass shootings in the United States

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week - 2022

Shinzo Abe was assassinated with a homemade gun this week. 

Madmen will always manage to secure a weapon. 

That doesn't mean we have to make it easy.

Is It Time To Repeal The 2nd?

After last week's sad episode dedicated to my friend Shoshana, I had hopes for a lighthearted and happier one for this week. Alas, that is not to be.

We live in a nation where one party rails about protecting life in utero, but refuses to protect living breathing children. Where "well regulated militia" means anyone with a credit card. Where women are being reclassified into third or fourth class citizens without the right of self-determination. I've written a lot about the second amendment, and I've defended the right of individuals to own guns...sure...hunting rifles and even hand guns. But I also support background checks, licensing, requirements for insurance, and the complete ban of assault style rifles, bump stocks, and large magazines. Those are not recreational firearms, those are designed to kill people. NO ONE in this country...like most of the rest of the civilized world, has the need to own one of those unless, of course, it's a substitute penis. And even then, owning an assault rifle does not make you sexy, desirable, or attractive. It makes you look like a small-dick loser. Kinda the way a car with a souped up muffler and giant tires makes you look like a small-dick loser. Women are not stupid. We recognize this for what it is...and it ain't gonna get you laid. 

And so far, We, the People, are standing idly by watching all those rights that made us exceptional get tossed overboard by men who can't get laid. Oh, come on; let's be real honest here and call it what it is: SDS - Small Dick Syndrome.

The GOP has captured this bombastic market without realizing it might actually have a shorter shelf-life than their penises. Shortly before he passed away,  Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens called for the repeal of the Second Amendment. Writing an op ed for the New York Times in the aftermath of the Parkland Massacre, he wrote:

That support is a clear sign to lawmakers to enact legislation prohibiting civilian ownership of semiautomatic weapons, increasing the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 years old, and establishing more comprehensive background checks on all purchasers of firearms. But the demonstrators should seek more effective and more lasting reform. They should demand a repeal of the Second Amendment…

For over 200 years after the adoption of the Second Amendment, it was uniformly understood as not placing any limit on either federal or state authority to enact gun control legislation. In 1939 the Supreme Court unanimously held that Congress could prohibit the possession of a sawed-off shotgun because that weapon had no reasonable relation to the preservation or efficiency of a “well regulated militia.” 

Repealing a Bill o'Rights Amendment is a super big deal, and not real likely. But it does beg the question as to whether or not framers of the Constitution ever envisioned Columbine, Sandy Hook, or Parkland. Maybe it's time to take a closer look at what that means. We may not be able to get that change through now, but maybe it's time to plant those seeds?

There's a new voting bloc on the horizon and we'd better get ready for them. 

The Atlantic, a magazine known for telling it like it is in far more scholarly and elegant ways,  published an article last year, The GOP's Demographic Doom that contained the following statement:

In 2020, for the first time, Millennials and Gen Z (which comprise young adults born in 1981 or later) will equal Baby Boomers and prior generations (older adults born in 1964 or earlier) as a share of all Americans eligible to vote, according to a new study from the nonpartisan States of Change project. Because older voters typically turn out at higher rates than younger ones, the study forecasts that those earlier generations will still cast more ballots next month, by a margin of 43 percent to 32 percent. But in 2024, the two younger generations are expected to equal the older ones as a share of actual voters on Election Day. And by 2028, Millennials and Gen Z will dwarf the older generations as a share of both eligible and actual voters. That will be true not only nationally, but in all the crucial battleground states, according to previously unreleased projections provided to me by States of Change.

See, the only thing standing between us and The Handmaid's Tale are a bunch of kids who may not fully grok the power they hold in their hands.  

It's pretty clear the old white guys aren't gonna do anything for anyone, these kids included. The best defense we're going to have to survive the Troglodytic Epoch is to get this voting bloc to actually vote. And block the GOP from further fracturing this country.  Think of it this way: 

• the kids of Columbine (1999) are all pushing 40. They vote, and they are very cognizant that nothing changed after their friends were killed. Assault weapons are still available to basically anyone who wants one, and even those who want to shoot up a school. 
• the kids of Sandy Hook (2012) are now around 16 or 17 years old, just on the cusp of voting. They will be old enough to vote in the 2024 election. They, too, know their classmates died in vain because nothing has changed. They know its gonna be up to them.
• Parkland (2018) kids set out to change the world because of what happened at their school. What happened to them? They were mocked, labeled as deviants, and bullied for going up against the NRA. That hasn't stopped them though; they are still waging the war. 

Wanna scare yourself silly? Read what school shooting survivors say about surviving a school shooting. There are survivors and they don't forget. They live with the memories and the fears and the terrors. And they will all vote. 

What happened at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde can ever be fully explained. Police that stood there and did nothing because they were afraid they would be shot if they confronted the shooter WHILE the shooter was massacring children with an automatic rifle. They had to get DNA evidence from parents to identify the children because their faces and bodies were shredded. SHREDDED. But the cops stood there and did nothing. 

Beto O'Rouke confronted Governor Abbott and the mayor of Uvalde at their press conference and was slammed for doing so. Sure he was. He was the only one with balls in the room. I think he's my hero. 

You are doing nothing. You are offering up nothing. You said this was not predictable. This was totally predictable when you choose not to do anything.

The mayor of Uvalde, the city where children died as cops did nothing, replied

I can’t believe that you’re a sick son of a bitch that would come to a deal like this to make a political issue.

NOT A POLITICAL ISSUE??????? Who is the sick son of a bitch in that room? Definitely NOT the one with balls enough to call those assholes out on their refusal to take automatic rifles out of the hands of mentally incompetent. 

Why isn't the entire state of Texas rising up to do something for their kids?

Oh wait. Let me answer that. 

Why is the Texas legislature demanding waiting periods, videos, and permission slips before a woman can request health care, but have no problem handing out AR-15s to anyone who wants one? I am beginning to believe there isn't a normal sized dick in the room, not to mention balls attached to the tiny ones. Where are their voices protesting the lack of life of small, LIVING children? Oh, just gag me on that crap. They don't give a shit about anyone's lives but their own. This is a Penis Power Play. Spare me your thoughts and prayers; they're worth about the same amount as your wanker. Useless. Inconsequential. Not worth noticing.

And let's not forget all those Latino surnames. No Abbots, Smiths, or  McLaughlins in that crowd.

Uvalde (2022) kids have a ways to go before they reach voting age, but I have a strong suspicion they will join the ranks of Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Parkland in trying to change the world. If there is still a world left to change. I want their parents to light a fire under those kids. Someone has got to be angry enough to change Texas. 

Meanwhile, I am so angry I can't even see straight. If you're offended by my analysis of the root cause, too bad. My blog. My rules. 

The Wifely Person Tip o'the Day

Don't just sit there.

Do something.

Anything.

Plant the seeds that will ultimately repeal the 2nd Amendment

and replace it with something practical.