I’m back home from Pintastic NE 2023 the most relaxing time I’ve had in months and frankly the best Pintastic I’ve attended with one exception. I didn’t have a chance to interview Gabe at the end of the show because of time constraints, however I will be uploading and posting video daily till it’s all up. Meanwhile here is the new Godfather 50th Anniversary Pinball Machine.
The one on the left is the “cheap” one that sells for $12,500, the one on the right is the expensive version that sells for $15,000. You’ll hear more about that specific game later in the month.
I’d like to give Mr. Lieu the benefit of the doubt that he actually understands that this is unconstitutional but I would not be surprised if this is more of a case of learning what Harry Reid did not, namely if your side changes the rules in one state then the other side can do the same elsewhere.
Frankly I’m less concerned if he’s doing this for selfish reasons, altruistic reasons or both as long as he’s with us in defending the constitution.
Apparently the president’s performance in Vietnam was yet another national embarrassment but frankly I’m wondering something.
For a long time Joe Biden making a fool or an ass out of himself was not newsworthy because the media didn’t want to promote or expose this fact which was a disgrace in terms of how journalism works.
I’m wondering however if we’ve actually reached a point where Joe Biden being non compos mentis is so common and so established that it’s no longer newsworthy if he acts that way, or that it will not be newsworthy until he carries himself like a normal person.
I’m sorry. I like Citizen Free Press and think it’s usually an excellent source but this a “fascinating read” Really?
Can someone tell me why anyone, particularly a conservative site is trusting a story from the NYT or Bill Kristol as a source as to what big money GOP donors are thinking concerning election 2023?
Finally today is 9/11 and as a child of Depression era parents and the son of a father who served in the Pacific in World War 2 I find myself more and more frustrated on this day.
I hate that we didn’t rebuild the towers twice as big.
I hate that we didn’t finish the job with Iran when we had armies to the east and west of Iran and a navy to the south.
I hate that we didn’t do in Iraq what we did in Germany and Japan, namely stay till they were no longer a threat even if it took half a century. If we weren’t going to do the job right why go in?
But all those things that I hate are a function of what the country and the culture has become helped on by enemies who figured out it’s cheaper and smarter to spend their money on pols and academics that you can buy and use for decades rather than weapons that can be destroyed or go obsolete.
All of these things were choices made by us as a nation, just as our decline has been a choice. That’s the worst part of it all.
On the bright side today is the birthday of one of my nephews that I’m closest to so while 9/11 is a day of infamy on the day and shame pondering our response nationally personally I’m glad to have this fine fellow in my family so happy birthday and many more.
Last week, during a run on the North Branch Trail at Harms Woods in Skokie, Illinois, a speeding cyclist came close to running me over and causing enormous physical harm to me.
And that got me thinking.
Chicagoans voted for a handful when they elected Brandon Johnson as mayor. He’s a leftist whose candidacy was pretty much paid for by the Chicago Teachers Union.
In July, his transition team released “A Blueprint for Creating a More Just and Vibrant City for All,” their gameplan for America’s third-largest city. In it you’ll find a recommendation that Chicago should “lower the default citywide speed limit to 20 mph generally and 10 mph on residential streets.” Currently, unless otherwise posted, the statewide urban default speed limit, when no signs are posted, is 30 miles per hour.
That means for what you might call a through street, or an arterial street, such as Cicero Avenue or 111th Street, unless posted differently–and yes, possibly higher–the speed limit is 30-mph. Expressways have a 55-mph speed limits in Chicago.
Residential streets, or what Chicagoans have always called side streets, appear to also have a 30-mph speed limit too. Although, common sense–there are pockets of it here and there in the city–compels most drivers to motor along around 20-mph. The many stop signs on Chicago side streets, as well as the numerous but not-so-clearly marked speed bumps, which are tall enough to scrape the bottoms of most sedans and SUVs if you are driving too fast–are another form of discipline. And believe it or not, many drivers keep an eye out for pedestrians and cyclists. I do.
An aside: A Southwest Side man, fed up with an alley speed bump damaging his car, removed it. He was fined $500.
These proposed lower speed limits are another bad idea from Chicago, which seems destined to be passed in population soon by Houston. It’s another utopian parlor game idea brought to the mainstream. Most people, even those who don’t drive cars, probably agree with me. Our economy and our society are auto-centric and will remain so indefinitely. Disclosure: I work in the automotive industry. People like their cars. And if people don’t own one, often they wish they did.
That’s not to say that bike riders have a legitimate beef about idiotic and reckless drivers. Many cyclists are severely injured and killed by cars. While running, I’ve been nearly hit by an automobile a few times. But bikers aren’t all angels either. More on that in a bit.
Now one thing conservatives and moderates don’t do, is yell and scream when liberals present fringe ideas. “That’ll never happen,” is a typical response they offer.
Abolishment of cash bail is one of those “loony” ideas that no one took seriously ten years ago. Well, liberals kept pushing, albeit slowly at first, but next week the SAFE-T Act takes effect in Illinois–it abolishes cash bail. The defund the police movement–and some municipal police departments, not in Illinois, did see cuts in funding. Defund the police was another left-wing parlor game dream concept. Thankfully there has been some pushback lately. The left’s war on popular home appliances, such as natural gas stoves, dishwashers, and even ceiling fans, has begun.
One can view the low default speed limit movement as a secondary front of government’s war on internal combustion engine automobiles. But Chicago drivers, few of whom drive EVs, also have to cope with seemingly omnipresent red-light cameras as well as speed cameras that spew out tickets to motorists for driving just 6-mph over the speed limit. A 20-mph arterial street speed limit offers a new revenue stream for Chicago, which, because of unfunded pension mandates, is functionally bankrupt.
Why aren’t more Chicagoans going full “Howard Beale?” He was the tormented antihero in the Network movie. You know, sticking your head out of the window of your home and screaming, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!” Watch the clip in the link. And the Howard Beale reaction works much better in cities.
Oh, let me return to those bicycle riders. Presumably, the proposed default 20-mph speed limit in Chicago would also apply to them. Or would it? What I call the cyclist lobby possesses the imperiousness of the green movement and the aggressiveness of a testosterone rush after a brutal workout.
Prior to the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, I saw many senior-citizen regulars on the North Branch Trail during my runs. But lockdown queen Lori Lightfoot, Johnson’s predecessor as mayor, closed Chicago’s Lakefront Bike Trail.
Where did the cyclists go?
Some brought their bikes, or rode them, to the North Branch Trail. Several cyclists nearly ran me over in 2020. My guess is that they were speeding along well over 30 mph. Did I say speeding? Harms Woods is part of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, and the speed limit on paved and dirt trails is 15 miles per hour. I suspect there were many complaints about these Tour de France wannabes, because in 2021 I noticed newly posted 15 mph speed limit signs on these trails. A year or so later, all of those signs were gone. Likely there were more complaints, but not from the same people. And not only were those speed limit signs gone, but so were those elderly trail walkers. Those hiking regulars never returned.
Wait, there’s more!
Many of these speeding trail cyclists ride three abreast on a very narrow trail. And it’s now a rarity when I hear a bell ring, horn honk, or an “on your left” shout out from cyclists passing me during a run.
The photograph at the top of this post is of the North Branch Trail during the 2020 lockdown.
When I pass a walker or a runner on a path, I always say, “On your left.” My parents taught me manners.
Oh, until the running and cyclist paths were separated on Chicago’s Lakefront Trail, I experienced numerous close collision calls with cyclists while running there. Just as when there is a crash between cyclist and a car the “winner” of that collision is obvious, so it is when a bicyclist plows over a runner, particularly one like me, who is nearing retirement age. But don’t feel sorry for me. When it’s between me and a cyclist racing up an elevated bridge on the North Branch Trail over a busy street, I usually prevail.
Northeast of where I live is Sheridan Road, which bisects some of the wealthiest communities in America. Sometimes I see packs of bicyclists of more than a dozen, zooming in and out of traffic, seemingly oblivious to cars.
While I don’t see those bike packs within Chicago’s city limits, with a 20-mph default speed limit, will emboldened cyclists misbehave recklessly in the same manner?
As for myself, I can take solace knowing that in three months the North Branch Trail will be nearly bike rider-free. Winter will be here, and the cyclists will retreat into hibernation. As they will in Chicago, whether there is a 20-mph speed limit or not.
While I see fewer runners on the trails on rainy days, particularly cold ones, I almost never see cyclists.
Say what you will about automobiles, but they have roofs and windshield wipers, as well as heating and air conditioning. Unless your car’s A/C is broken, unlike a cyclist commuting to work on a hot summer day, you won’t need to shower when you arrive at your jobsite to remove newly acquired body odor.
Oh, on occasion, I do ride a bicycle. And yes, I’m one of the good ones.
UPDATE September 12:
They’re not all gone! During this morning run, I saw a 15 mph “Share the Trail” sign in Harms Woods just north of Golf Road. I also saw many cyclists–and one jerk on a motorized bike–going much faster.
As a military member, reporting mental health problems is a Catch-22. On one hand, everyone is encouraging you to speak up when you need help, but then you tend to get punished when you do.
For example, it used to be if you claimed any sort of mental health problem, from depression and anxiety to even trauma due to a sexual assault, it would cause your clearance to be suspended. Thankfully, that isn’t true anymore, and on my last security clearance questions, I noticed that the interviewer only asked if I had schizophrenia or other delusional-type illnesses.
The stigma is still very real, and most vets won’t seek treatment because they think something bad will happen to them. And for those that are pilots, another shoe dropped. From the Washington Post:
Federal authorities have been investigating nearly5,000 pilots suspected of falsifying their medical records to conceal that they were receiving benefits for mental health disorders and other serious conditions that could make them unfit to fly, documents and interviews show.
The pilots under scrutiny are military veterans who told the Federal Aviation Administration that they are healthy enough to fly, yet failed to report — as required by law — that they were also collecting veterans benefits for disabilities that could bar them from the cockpit.
Sounds bad right? So what sorts of disabilities did they find pilots not reporting?
“If they’re going to shine a light on veterans, they need to shine a light everywhere,” said Rick Mangini, 52, a former Army pilot who has been grounded from his job flying for a cargo company since his medical certificate was not renewed last month. The FAA notified him in May that he was under review for failing to disclose sleep apnea, for which he receives VA disability benefits, Mangini said. Although he checked the box on his application that asked if he receives any government disability benefits, Mangini, who lives in Killeen, Tex., said he was not aware he had to provide specifics.
Sleep apnea. Yup. They also look for depression and anxiety, but its not an automatic grounding if you have those:
Pilots who have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety or other mental health conditions are not automatically prohibited from flying. But the FAA requires them to be closely monitored because their conditions and medications can affect their ability to safely handle an aircraft.
Now, you would think given the size of the investigation that we have lots of suicidal pilots out there, but according to the article, we haven’t lost a passenger plane since 2009, and while the article indicated there is suspicion that some pilots may have deliberately crashed in other countries, its not 100% confirmed.
So what’s going to happen? Well:
Military pilots will stop reporting mental health problems, and will not get the help they need.
These guys and gals will pay a lot of money to people that specialize in VA claims that will get them benefits without having to be reported.
At some point, a veteran pilot is going to commit suicide and leave a note that says he was afraid of getting help because he wouldn’t be employable anymore.
There is already a stigma that being in the military causes mental health problems, and this is going to further push people away from joining.
This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.
Posted: September 9, 2023 by datechguy in Uncategorized
Back in the days when I was learning programing in the 1979 of of the first things we learned was the If/Then or sometimes If/Then/Else
It works like this
IF X > 5 Then Y=Y-X
This means that if X has a value higher than five then subtract the value of X from Y
IF X > 5 Then Y-Y-x Else Y=0
This means if X has a value higher than five then subtract the value of X from why BUT if X is not greater than five then set Y to a value of “0”.
If Then can be used to express other things a great example of is the bill passed in California where you can lose custody of your kid if you go along with the current gender madness. The one thing that might have inhibited that bill from becoming law is that signing such a bill might inhibit a potential presidential campaign by Gavin Newson as it would be such a killer in swing states that you couldn’t steal enough votes to save him.
Expressed as an IF statement it would read:
IF Newsom = “candidate for president” THEN AB 957= “veto”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he won’t run for president in 2024 or stand in Kamala Harris’s way in the future:
“We need to move past this notion that he’s not going to run,” Newsom told NBC “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd in an interview clip released Friday. “President Biden is going to run and I’m looking forward to him getting reelected.”
Newsom’s comments further end speculation about a potential 2024 White House bid. The California governor has long said he won’t challenge Biden for the 2024 Democratic nomination but has been talked about as a potential future presidential candidate.
Expressed as an IF Then Else statement that would read:
IF Newsom = “candidate for president” THEN AB 957= “veto” ELSE AB 957 = “Law”
Simple If/Then logic
If I had kids I’d get out of California as soon as possible, if I were engaged to be married I’d check my potential wife’s position on AB 957 and if she supported it I’d cancel at once.
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