• Archives

  • Topics

  • Meta

  • The Boogeyman - Working Vacation
  • Coming Home
  • Via Serica

30 Days of Dune – Day 21

Parting with friends is a sadness. A place is only a place. — Thufir Hawat

My Take – I’ve been a lot of places that I wish I could go back to, but when I get a chance to return to places like Monterey or Tombstone, they aren’t what I was expecting.  The people who made those beautiful places enjoyable to me aren’t there anymore.  It’s not the places we go or the things we do that make our lives interesting and enjoyable, it’s the friends that share those experiences with us that make them worthwhile.

by daddybear71 on May 25, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Dune

Posted by daddybear71 on May 25, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/05/25/30-days-of-dune-day-21/

Responsible or no?

The mother of a man who was shot and killed on a dormitory on the grounds of Harvard University is suing the university.  Her claim is that the university did not take proper steps protect her son, and that lack of protection led to his death.

The facts appear to be this:  The son, Justin Cosby, went to the dormitory to sell marijuana in 2009.  He had no affiliation with Harvard. While he was there, he was robbed and shot by other people who were only there for the drugs and died.

Now, the guy who got shot wasn’t an angel.  He was a drug dealer who went to the grounds of a private institution to sell his wares.  My gut tells me “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes”.  But did he have a reasonable expectation that Harvard would provide for his physical security while on the grounds of the university?

Harvard University is a gun-free zone.  Their handbook for incoming freshmen states that firearms and dangerous weapons are not allowed on campus in accordance with Massachusetts law and school policy.  So people who go onto the campus, if they choose to follow the law, must remove from their persons those tools best suited for self-defense, including guns and knives.

If you force people who come to your campus to disarm, do you take on a legal responsibility to provide for their safety from those who choose to not follow the law and do not disarm?  That seems to be the legal question in this lawsuit.

Let’s look at this another way:  Let’s say I run a ferry company.  I believe that people who bring along their own inflatable rafts and life preservers clutter up the passenger spaces on my vessel and create a trip and fall hazard, so I prohibit my passengers from bringing their own safety equipment along for the trip.  If the vessel sinks, am I legally obligated to provide a life-preserver and enough space on lifeboats for every soul on board and trained crewmen whose responsibility it is to make sure everyone gets off the boat safely?  Or I could say that passengers can’t bring on food or water because it could be a health hazard.  Am I responsible for providing food and water to passengers if my ferry gets stuck out in the bay for a couple of days?

In my opinion, and I am far from a lawyer or legal scholar, if you take away the tools that someone can use to provide for their own safety while they are on your property, you become solely responsible for their safety, within reasonable limits.  Yes, in this case the person who was harmed was a criminal who had no connection to Harvard other than the place where his carcass hit the ground, but does that matter?  Would it matter if the person who was shot was a student, faculty, or an invited visitor?  Would Harvard be liable if the person who got shot was a jogger who was just running through the campus?

To me, when Harvard and the state of Massachusetts denied law-abiding citizens the tools of self-defense, they took on a legal responsibility to provide security at the level an armed citizen could provide for himself.  This one will be interesting to watch.

by daddybear71 on May 25, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Guns

Posted by daddybear71 on May 25, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/05/25/3503/

OpSec is my friend

Dear Secretary Clinton,

I read with interest your claims that technology specialists from the State Department have hacked servers used by al Qaeda and changed ads recruiting jihadists to reflect the death toll terrorists have had on Muslims.  I applaud their efforts to demoralize the enemy and inform the Muslim world about how much damage is done to them by those who use terror to control them.  I have always agreed that it is better, although usually harder, to convince someone not to fight than it is to kill them.  I wish them and others like them who serve in our government success in the future.

However, Madam Secretary, I have one thing to say to you and other members of the administration who publicize these crucial, but sensitive, ways we are fighting against terrorists who want to harm us:

Shut up.  No, please, shut the F!@#$! up.

I’m sorry for using such harsh language, but I feel it is necessary to break my habit of not cussing on this site in order to convey the strength of my convictions on this matter.  You see, every time you all open your mouth to chat up the latest operation or break through, you alert the enemy to our activities and capabilities.

Examples:

  • When you talk about how easy it is for our special operations forces to HALO jump into a normally denied area and attack a terrorist stronghold, you make it more likely that the enemy will pay attention to airplanes that are flying miles away or be more vigilant on guard duty.
  • When you talk about efforts by the U.S. government to penetrate, exploit, and disrupt enemy computer systems, you remind the enemy that they need to upgrade, patch, secure, and more closely monitor their systems.
  • When you televise animations, or sometimes actual footage, of strikes against terrorist targets, you teach our enemies how to better prepare for them.

I’m sure there are other examples, but I think you get the idea.

When you discuss the details of how you find, fix, and confirm high value targets, you put the assets we use in danger, and you show the enemy where his infrastructure, tactics, and strategies have weaknesses.  Every time you take a victory lap in front of the news cameras, you are putting real people in danger.  Usually it’s either an American in uniform, but it can also be a person who is putting his or her life in danger to help us.  If it becomes known that we do not keep the identities of our allies a secret, we lose the ability to recruit new ones when your loose lips lead to the murder of the current ones.

In short:  The enemy may know what happened to them, but we don’t have to confirm to them that it was us who did it, and we certainly shouldn’t be telling them how we did it.  Shut.The.F!@#$!.Up.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t do these things.  We should be doing them and more.  However, please consider how much damage you do to our cause before you use things that should be kept in the shadows to promote yourself and the administration.  The blood of our people is too precious to be hawked on the street in exchange for political points.

Respectfully,

Daddy J. Bear

Louisville, Kentucky

by daddybear71 on May 24, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by daddybear71 on May 24, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/05/24/opsec-is-my-friend/

30 Days of Dune – Day 20

To accept a little death is worse than death itself. — Chani

My Take – To compromise your core principles a little is worse than having them violated utterly.  When you surrender by increments, you train yourself to surrender.  Having your rights infringed on in a big way trains you to fight back.

by daddybear71 on May 24, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Dune

Posted by daddybear71 on May 24, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/05/24/30-days-of-dune-day-20/

So What?

A man in Wisconsin was arrested recently when police searched his motor home and and found $815,000 in cash.  The police claim that the money smelled of marijuana, but a subsequent search of the man’s home turned up nothing.  It just so happens that the man was convicted in the 1970’s for the bombing of an Army research center at the University of Wisconsin, but in this case, I don’t think that matters.

What matters to me is that a citizen was stopped by police and arrested after they found ‘too much money’ on him.  I’ve looked, and there’s nothing on a dollar bill that says “This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private, so long as they are under $10,000.00 and a drug dog doesn’t mistake this note for a MilkBone”.

The fact that the money ‘smelled of cannabis’ is immaterial to me.  The dollars in my wallet smell of motor oil at the moment.  Does that mean that the police can impound my cash because the EPA needs to investigate to see if I’ve been illegally dumping used oil in the sewers?  I can see nothing here that indicates he’s committed a crime, so why is his property being taken from him?

The only law I could find that mentions having more than a certain amount of money is Section 5332 of the 31st United States Code, and that deals with transport into and out of the United States, not within our borders.  In 2006, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a drug dog alerting on a car used to transport large amounts of cash is enough cause to impound the money without any evidence of a crime on the part of the person who owns it.  That sound you heard when you read that was my eardrums blowing out with steam when I read it.  And it’s not an isolated incident.  Radley Balko has done multiple posts about police in Tennessee trolling the interstates for people to stop and search for cash.

I’m not naive, I know it’s not something you see much anymore, and I know it’s something that criminals do, especially in those amounts and packaged in that manner.  But modify the story to say “Police stopped Mr. DaddyBear and found two rifles, 2000 rounds of pistol, shotgun, and high-caliber rifle ammunition, four pistols, and three shotguns in his vehicle.  The ammunition was sealed in a series of metal cans, and police also found several hundred spent shell casings in plastic bags.  Several of the firearms smelled strongly of spent gunpowder, leading police to believe that Mr. DaddyBear was transporting weapons related to violent crimes.  A police dog alerted to the smell of explosives residue on several items in the car.  No evidence of a crime was found on Mr. DaddyBear or in his automobile, but police seized the firearms, ammunition, and automobile”  Now, was I coming back from a murder scene, or was I coming home from a really good blogshoot?  Should my property be taken from me, with little to no recourse in recovering it, because I’m doing something the police don’t care for, but not breaking any laws?

My point is this:  Failure to find evidence of a crime means the cash is clean as far as I am concerned.  Yes, it looks suspicious, and the police should note that and maybe keep an eye out for this individual to be involved in the drug trade.  But how are they going to tell if he is smuggling cash from crimes, going to buy a new house with cash, or is just a guy who lives frugally and doesn’t trust banks?  The government needs to stop taking our property and get out of our private business.

by daddybear71 on May 23, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in drug policy, WTF

Posted by daddybear71 on May 23, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/05/23/so-what/

Today’s Earworm

Today it’s a whole bunch of earworms.  Boo and I watched Sesame Street this morning at the doctor’s office while we waited for his turn, and several songs from my childhood were featured.

First, one about one of the most interesting looking animals:

Elmo’s a hack:

Notice that this one mentioned cigars, and no reports of children’s heads exploding were registered in the mid-1970’s:

And of course, you can’t do a Sesame Street music DVD without this one:

by daddybear71 on May 23, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Earworm

Posted by daddybear71 on May 23, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/05/23/todays-earworm-165/

30 Days of Dune – Day 19

A popular man arouses the jealousy of the powerful. — Thufir Hawat

My Take – One of the things that I enjoy about the people I’ve met here in blog-land is that there is very little jealousy.  I have had a few posts linked by the rockstars of the blogosphere, and no-one felt it was necessary to tear me down or put me in my place.  When I get together with others bloggers, even when the biggest names in the field are present, we eat at a table of equals and everyone listens with respect, even when they disagree.  Those who show disrespect are quickly singled out, corrected, and if their behavior doesn’t improve, are either held up as the clowns they are to entertain the crowd or are banished from our campfires.  Even then, most bloggers try to be gentlemanly when telling someone to go away.

I wish all relationships had that much respect and politeness.

by daddybear71 on May 23, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Dune

Posted by daddybear71 on May 23, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/05/23/30-days-of-dune-day-19/

News Roundup

  • From the “Up Up And Away” Department – The SpaceX Falcon 9 spacecraft has launched and is on its way to the International Space Station.  Congratulations to SpaceX on getting something off the ground.  I hope that my grandchildren will look at space travel the same way that we look at intercontinental travel now.  Of course, that’s what my grandparents hoped too, but this is definite progress.
  • From the “Holes in the Desert” Department – Two men are being held by police after being accused of robbing people at a Las Vegas casino.  Besides the stupidity of trying to take money away from the people who own casinos in Vegas, these guys need to learn that the chips they tried to steal would probably have been deactivated and worthless by the time they hit the sidewalk, had they been successful.  Who’s got the over and under on whether these guys meet with a regrettable automotive accident the next time they try to start their cars?
  • From the “Creepy” Department – A vial of President Reagan’s blood, taken after the 1981 assassination attempt, is up for auction.  The seller tried to sell it to the Reagan Library and several government agencies, but was unsuccessful. Know what’s creepier?  The bidding is up to almost $10,000.  I’m a fan of Ronaldus Maximus, but do you really need a 30-year-old blood sample for your scrapbook?
  • From the “Aw Hell” Department – A man in California has been arrested after police found that the squirt gun he was carrying had been modified into a single shot shotgun.  The police are talking about how alarming it is that you can use a few dollars worth of hardware to make a zip gun.  If they’re surprised by that, they ought to talk to anyone who works as a guard at a prison.  The improvised weapons I’ve heard about are quite ingenious.  Expect calls for licensing squirt guns and using an FFL to buy a squirt gun across state lines in 3…2…1
  • From the “Only Minutes Away” Department – A 911 dipatcher in Washington was asleep at the switch recently when a woman called to report that her husband was having trouble breathing.  Eventually, another dispatcher got on the line and assisted the woman.  Now change that situation to read “Called to report that someone was trying to break into her home” and you’ll understand why I make sure that Irish Woman knows how to get to the guns and how to use them.  It’s bozos like this that make the people who are actually trying to be a service to society look like crap.  Hopefully he’s fired and finds a new career in the all-night gas station service industry.
by daddybear71 on May 22, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in news

Posted by daddybear71 on May 22, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/05/22/news-roundup-121/

30 Days of Dune – Day 18

Muad’Dib learned rapidly because his first training was in how to learn. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It’s shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult. Muad’Dib knew that every experience carries its lesson. — The Humanity of Muad’Dib by the Princess Irulan

My Take – The most important thing we can teach our children is how to ask questions, and that it is right to question.  Make them curious, and they will never stop learning.  Curtail their curiosity, and you condemn them to a drab, limited existence.

by daddybear71 on May 22, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Dune

Posted by daddybear71 on May 22, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/05/22/30-days-of-dune-day-18/

Picture of the Day

Yeah, it’s the Kentucky Primary.  My wookie suit is fully combed out and wrinkle free, and my bow-caster has been cleaned, oiled, re-assembled, and passed a function test.

What are you doing for your country today?

by daddybear71 on May 22, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in poltics

Posted by daddybear71 on May 22, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/05/22/picture-of-the-day-3/

« Older Posts
Newer Posts »