Category: random

About a week before the Disney Store permanently closed its doors at Meadowood Mall, I went to see what they had for sale. That’s where I found a very unique looking Mickey Mouse coffee mug.

Since I consider this mug to be somewhat special, I don’t often use it. Beside, it’s so large that I generally have to heat the coffee in it a number of times because it goes cold too quick.

Anyway, recently I decided to use it and after filling it up I went out side to enjoy a little sunshine and to play fetch with the dogs. Half an hour later I came in the house and sat down at my computer to do some research and to write.

Two-hours later I stopped to reheat my cup of coffee, only to discover I couldn’t find it. I searched all through the house looking for, even checking in the microwave, the cupboards and the refrigerator-freeze, jus’ in case I had a brain-fart and set it down in one of those places.

But my search turned up nothing. While still vexed, I decided to grab another cup and pour myself some more coffee and return to my computer.

The following day I again took up the search for the missing mug; even digging through the kitchen trash can and the large green monster in the garage. Still I couldn’t find it.

By the second day I had pretty much put it’s disappearance out of my head, telling myself it would suddenly show up when I wasn’t looking for the damned thing.

Three days after I had last seen it, I went outside to see what the dogs were up too as sometimes their quietness makes me think they are up to no good. As I stepped out on the back porch, I noticed my Mickey Mouse cup sitting on the fence rail – right where I suddenly remembered placing it.

“Doh!” as Homer Simpson would say.

Happy that it really wasn’t lost, I walked over and picked it up. It was still half full of coffee as well as something else.

A little set of eyes peered up at me as I held the cup. A small mouse had fallen into the coffee cup and it was dog-paddling for all that it was worth.

Squatting on the cement pad and gently tipping the cup on its side, I dumped both the cold coffee and exhausted mouse out onto the concrete. At first I thought the strain of swimming to keep it’s head above the surface had proved to be too much; the mouse lay unmoving a my feet.

It was still breathing, but doing little else and I was sure that it was a goner. However after a few seconds it rolled over, stood up, shook itself (which looked more like a spasm than shaking) and scurried off into some dead leaved gathered at the base of our fence.

After taking the cup into the house and giving it a thorough washing, I couldn’t help smile at the fact that I had a real mouse swimming inside my Mickey Mouse coffee cup.

Minnesotans elected pro-wrestler Jesse Ventura as their governor in 1998. Ventura ran on the Reform Party platform, promising to cut the size and scope of government, class sizes and he supported public debate on legalized prostitution.

His governorship started out fine, but the economy took a downturn and the legislature turned its back on Ventura. Throwing a temper-tantrum, he started staying home, refusing to go to the capitol and badmouthing anyone who criticized him.

About two years later Ventura asked Donald Trump to run for president on the Reform Party ticket. Trump promised fair trade, universal health care and claimed Oprah Winfrey would be his ideal running mate.

Then in early February Ventura became angry with the Reform Party and withdrew from the faction. Shortly after, Trump ended his campaign as well.

The anger with Clinton Administration that brought Ventura to the governorship of Minnesota is identical to the anger American’s are feeling with the Obama Administration. They’re pissed at what’s happening and see nothing to lose by tossing out the old guard and embracing an untested one.

In the end, Ventura’s governorship didn’t work out because of the wish to seek some sort of retribution against those seen as having created the problem. It didn’t work then, it won’t work now and it will not work after January 2017.

As the saying goes, “A knight in shining armor is one whose metal has never been truly tested.”

Domestic terror groups seem to pose a greater threat to the U.S. than Daesh (ISIS,) al Qaeda or the Taliban joined, according to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who was in Portland on Thursday, bragging about the arrest of 19 political prisoners by her Department of Justice (DOJ.)

“The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the American people and defending the rule of law,” said. Lynch. “Today’s actions make clear that we will not tolerate the use of threats or force against federal agents who are doing their jobs. We will continue to protect public land on behalf of the American people, uphold federal law, and ensure that those who employ violence to express their grievances with the government will be apprehended and held accountable for their crimes.”

Odd how she stated, “I condemn the senseless acts of violence by some individuals in Baltimore that have resulted in harm to law enforcement officers, destruction of property and a shattering of the peace in the city of Baltimore,” but never made a single arrest in the situation, though there was news footage showing the unlawful actions.

And then of Ferguson, she declared: “The residents of Ferguson have suffered the deprivation of their constitutional rights, the rights guaranteed to all Americans, for decades. They have waited decades for justice. They should not be forced to wait any longer,” as she announced plans to persecute the city’s police force.

Talk about turning things upside down and inside out. Yet it’s only getting worse as the DOJ, plans to combat the constitutionally abiding citizen by creating the ‘Domestic Terrorism Counsel.  Assistant Attorney General John Carlin, who oversees national security at the DOJ, announced the new position that will coordinate the investigation and prosecution of so-called ‘anti-government and hate groups.’

In making his proclamation, Carlin pointed to such high-profile attacks as the racially motivated Charleston church shooting in June 2015 or the murder of two Las Vegas police officers by a white supremacist couple in June 2014. Unfortunately he failed to point out the violent rioting, the burning and looting that happened in both Ferguson and Baltimore.

To top that off, FBI Director James Comey is showing his complete ignorance of the U.S. Constitution  claiming, “Our democracy provides lawful ways individuals can respond if they disagree with their government, but if you resort to violence or threats, you will be held accountable under the law.”

First, we are a constitutional republic and secondly the federal government has no legal claim to land in Nevada or any other state. Finally, he appears to not care about the first or second amendments, which say we have the right to assemble peaceably, redress the government, speak out against heat same government and to use arms to protect and defend the Constitution for tyranny.

Meanwhile, 19 political prisoners remain charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. and conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer. They also face charges of  using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence; assault on a federal officer; threatening a federal law enforcement officer; obstruction of justice, interference with interstate commerce by extortion and interstate travel in aid of extortion.

So far not a single piece of evidence, like a picture or video has surfaced showing any of the people charged in this indictments acted in a threatening manner. On the other hand, there is a damning piece of video showing the murder of LaVoy Finicum, by unidentified agents of the federal government and the state of Oregon.

The government is creating a false narrative by changing what you and I know is right and true, parsing words and using the compliant media to spread it’s evil propaganda. The only way of putting a halt to such encroachment to our liberties is through the recognition of the state over the federal government and the people over the state as provided by Article 10 of the U.S. Constitution, which reads, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Built in 2002, the complex of buildings include a large hangar with clam-shell doors at the southern end of an asphalt strip. The complex has no official name and not many people even know it’s there.

 

Known locally as ‘Area 6.’ the site has only fences and visitor checkpoints and seen from the Mercury highway at the northern end of Yucca Flat. But exactly what goes on at there remains top-secret.

In fact the National Nuclear Security Administration’s kept Area 6 at such a low profile that few defense industry experts are aware of its existence. The National Nuclear Security Administration is a semi-autonomous branch of the Energy Department with a Nevada field office, based in North Las Vegas.

A safety analysis of Yucca Mountain nuclear storage facilities, written by Bechtel SAIC, has a description of the airfield:

“The purpose of this facility is to construct, operate, and test a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles. Tests include, but are not limited to, air-frame modifications, sensor operation, and on board computer development. A small, manned chase plane is used to track the unmanned aerial vehicles…”

Area 6 activities include research and development of sensors for detecting explosive materials, deadly gases and chemicals, and radioactive sources that could be used in “dirty bombs.” The facility’s manned by at least 80 people, includes maintenance areas and is also used by the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

Two DoE environmental studies say the base operates four to six UAV flights and two to four manned flights per day, flying mainly over the dry lake bed at altitudes under 12,000 feet. Furthermore, several classified Lockheed UAVs have been tested at airfields along the range, though which haven’t been disclosed.

Funding for Area 6 comes through the ‘Strategic Partnership Program,’ (SPP) which was part of the $84 million budgeted for the entire security site for the fiscal year 2015. In March 2010, President Obama spoke of SPP during the Export-Import Bank Annual Conference: “We’ll create public-private partnerships to help firms break into new markets with the help of those who have been there — shipping and supply-chain companies, for example.”

However, much of that SPP money comes from Defense Department branches including the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. So it leaves one to wonder — what sort of ‘public-private partnerships,’ are being forged in Nevada’s vast and under-populated desert?

“We don’t meet people by accident. They’re meant to cross our paths for a reason,” goes the old saw.

C.J. Shotwell wasn’t here for very long, six or seven days, maybe. And to be honest, I didn’t really know him all that well as we only chit-chatted while out in Gary’s garage.

A hard-rock miner by trade, he’d arrived one late night after Gary drove to Winnemucca to pick him. He wanted to come to the Reno/Sparks area to quit drinking and drugging.

Every time I saw C.J., he was smiling and joking. But I could also tell that something was off – there was deep sadness and a hidden anger that he desperately tried to suppress.

After a few days, both C.J. and Gary knew it wasn’t working. And instead of checking into a rehab program offered through the Salvation Army, C.J. chose to return home and to his girlfriend.

Gary didn’t have the car that day, so he asked if I’d take C.J. down to the train station so he could catch the east bound Amtrak home. Since I was looking for something to do out of the ordinary, I said yes.

If C.J. happened to be disappointed in himself, I couldn’t tell. I shook his hand and wished him well as he climbed out my truck and grabbed the two bags from my pickups’ bed.

That was about three weeks ago — the last time I saw him. And it will be the last time too.

Sometime during the night of Thursday, March 3, when the Devil had him in his grip, C.J. found a secluded spot behind a motel and hanged his self. The following morning as the sun broke over Sonoma Peak, someone discovered his body.

His death has hit Gary and his wife Autumn pretty hard as they struggle to reach out to C.J.’s family to let them know what has happened. As for me, I’m thinking, reflecting and waiting to realize why we crossed paths.

Tonight, I say yet another prayer for C.J. – this time asking for God’s tender mercies.

The Bureau of Land Management is claiming that a number of Texas ranches don’t actually belong to the ranchers, but rather to the federal government. This is in despite of each rancher having a deed for their property and having paid property taxes on the land each year.

The BLM’s claim — the land shouldn’t have been sold in the first place. However, at least one rancher, Ken Aderholt, isn’t giving up his property without a fight.

Aderholt’s family has lived and raised cattle on the land for the past 70 years. Yet in 2014, the rancher received a phone call from the BLM representative who claimed that 625 acres of his property actually belonged to the federal government.

 

The representative said the discovery was made when the government began “redefining” boundary lines along the Red River, which runs along the border between Oklahoma and Texas. So by redefining the boundary to half-a-mile inland, the change affects the size of Aderholt’s property.

Despite pointing out he has a deed showing he’s the owner the BLM’s still claiming they own the 625 acres adding that the Texas should never have produced that deed as it never belongs to the state. Now, the BLM says it plans to take his property from him ‘legally.’

The BLM hasn’t said what it’ll do with the land, but if history has shown us anything, it could be converted into public bird watching, horseback riding, or even be condemned. Furthermore, the BLM could lease the land back to Aderholt, or worse it could lease it to someone else entirely.

Remember, the federal government doe not have the right to act independent of the U.S. Constitution.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) harassed a dairy farmer and made several warrantless searches of his property all because he produced raw milk. It started after the farmer provided the raw milk to an organic food co-op, where participants paid money into the co-op and, in return, received the raw milk.

 

Elkhart County, Indiana Sheriff Brad Rogers became involved in the case in 2011 when the farmer complained to him. He emailed the Department of Justice (DOJ), writing:

“I understand that you have made recent requests to (the farmer) for documents and to appear before a grand jury, and he has had a number of inspections and attempted inspections on his farm within Elkhart County. This is notice that any further attempts to inspect this farm without a warrant signed by a judge, based on probable cause, will result in federal inspectors’ removal or arrest for trespassing by my officers or I.

In addition, if any further action is taken by the federal government on (the farmer), while he is in Elkhart County, I will expect that you or federal authorities contact my office prior to such action. I will expect you to forward this information to your federal associates, including the FDA.”

Shortly after sending the email, the farmer received a certified letter from the DOJ cancelling his grand jury subpoena. And no federal inspectors have visited the farm since 2011.

Rogers is a member of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association.and been with the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department for 27 years. He also practices what he preaches.

It’s always difficult to lose a friend to death. My friend Pam Sadler died following an asthma attack and I can’t help but feel her loss.

We worked at the same radio company and only ever saw enough of each other long enough to say a simple hello, a nod or a smile as we passed each other. I was a part of the air staff, working nights and graveyard, while she worked in sales during the day.

So it is easy to see that we really had no chance of meeting — that is until chance intervened. It was the early morning hours of November 14, 2010 – I was working in the news room when I heard a noise coming from the sales office area.

Quietly, I walked into the maze of cubicles while listening to the sound of a woman softly crying. Near the farthest wall I found Pam, sitting at her desk with a tissue covering her eyes.

“Are you okay?” I asked as quietly as possible.

She jumped in her seat and let out an expletive adding, “You scared me!”

“I’m sorry,” I replied, asking again, “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” she said at first, quickly changing her answer, “No, I’m really frustrated.”

And that’s how I officially met Pam. We spent the next 15-20 minutes talking about life, work, children, hopes and dreams.

It was one of the best conversations I can ever recall having such a short time-span. I had to return to do the news at the top of the hour and she left for home, hoping to get a couple of hours of sleep before returning to work.

When I got home that morning, I switched on my computer to check my Facebook page. There I found this message waiting for me:

“Thank you again for talking with me this morning. It made me evaluate what I need to take care of and to take care of me for a change. I’m just going to focus on what I love to do and do my best at it. Thank you to my newest friend. This will be a conversation only held between you and me. By the way — sorry for making you nervous this morning. Have a good day and week. – Pam”

I’m so glad I saved that message – almost as happy about that as I’m sad that she’s gone from this earth.

Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt has filed a brief endorsing a multi-state legal fight against President Obama’s plan to curtail greenhouse gas emissions. The brief says only the states have the right to decide pollution emission standards.

“We are repeatedly seeing more federal regulation that is less tied to the actual text of the laws that federal agencies claim is the basis for their rules,” Laxalt said in a statement.

Environmentalists immediately criticized the filing. In fact , the group ‘Climate Parents’ claims Laxalt is choosing the interests of out-of-state coal corporations over the health of children, communities and the climate.

Called the Clean Power Plan, the rules limit carbon dioxide production starting in 2022 with the final goal in Nevada in 2030 of 855 pounds per megawatt-hour. Nevada’s expected to meet the target without difficulty, achieving a level of 578 pounds of carbon dioxide by that year by one estimate.

More than two dozen states are appealing the rules in a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The U.S. Supreme Court put enforcement of the rules on hold pending the appeals process.

Meanwhile, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval is downplaying the AG’s filing, claiming that “the attorney general is simply offering his legal opinion.”

As I sat reading Genesis 25 and 26 — the story of Esau and Jacob — a tiny thought crept its way into my brain and lodge itself there so it could fester. I went to bed thinking of the two brothers and their life-long struggle over birthrights and blessings and I awoke to the same come the next day.

There was a lesson in the story, but I had to find it before I could share it. I had to understand it before I could find the lesson and why the story had become so overwhelming to me.

It took me a week to winnow things out. In the end it came down to Esau, who also in the end lost both his birthright, first through stupidity and then secondly, his father’s blessing through trickery.

I’ve boiled it down to this: Have we lost our birthright because of our stupidity and are we about to lose our blessings from our Father due to trickery?

Since childhood, I’ve watched as the American people have given up their God-given rights without so much as a fuss or a whimper. In that same time I’ve witnessed our Constitutional Republic slip closer and closer to a democracy – which in the end is the greatest wish of the Anarchists.

(Democracy with a lower case ‘d’ is a social condition of classlessness and equality; Anarchy is a state of disorder due to the absence or non-recognition of authority. Thus democracy eventually falls away into anarchy due to the human condition.)

And every four years I’ve watched as candidates come and go, many providing pledges and services that they cannot hope to provide. Yet, the people fall for the trickery because of their stupidity.

As I see the juggernaut that is the Donald Trump campaign, I can’t help but see the pattern Esau fell for twice. First is the taking of our birthright, and then comes the taking of all our blessings.

Here is why I see it the way I do: Trump is not a part of the ‘establishment,’ an outsider to the Republican electoral processes and thus hated for his current success. However the people love him for his brash-outspokenness and ability to channel their anger from what they see as an injustice done to the nation they love.

Yet they are blind in my opinion to the back room deals being made to keep the king from the throne. Yes, I’m claiming that the Progressive Democratic Party and the Progressive Republican Party are working hand in hand with one another to prevent Trump from winning the presidency, because he’ll upset the ‘things as they are’ way of Washington D.C. politics and not in a good way.

Many people have mistaken Trump’s tough-talking rhetoric for strong American leadership, when in fact it is far from that of a leader. Plainly stated, Trump is an angry, narcissistic, bully of a man as shown by these selected comments:

• “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters,” Trump told Iowa supporters.

• “I mean I had a rating – 68-percent would not leave under any circumstance. I think that means murder, I think it means anything, OK?” Trump said of his supporters during a rally in Sparks, Nevada.

• “I’d like to punch him in the face,” Trump said, about a man disrupting his rally the eve before the Nevada caucuses.

I cannot help think that anyone, big or small, who has ever crossed him in the slightest – especially during this campaign season — will be a target for his wrath should he be elected.

It isn’t hard to look back into the recent past of the 20th century to find a similar situation and to learn how it unfolded. Lutheran Preacher Dietrich Bonhoeffer comes to mind was a Lutheran Pastor who was an influential critic of Adolf Hitler and Nazism.

He publicly spoke against the Nazi policy of euthanasia and the murder of Jews. The day Hitler became the Fuehrer, he had Bonhoeffer arrested and imprisoned and eventually executed in May 1945.

And before you accuse me of claiming Trump is the next Hitler, let me go on record to say that I do not believe for a second. I am simply using this historical reference to make my point that we are going down a road that can have no good outcome for America or her people.

Lastly, I’m not advocating voting for Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. On the contrary as they are the antithesis of what America’s values are about: on the one hand you have a woman whose plagued by her own egotistical dishonesty while on the other you have a man who is an avowed Socialist, a believer in a system of governance that has led to the death of millions around the world.

Neither is a Constitutional candidate. But then again neither is Trump.

So how does the story of Esau turn out? Esau’s attitude is too common today as far too many cry out, “Give me what I want. I want it now. I want it regardless of its cost. Give me my indulgences — I do not care about the consequences!”

We are Esau and we’re about to suffer a horrible trick.