Roads

Soooooo, what has happened in the world since I last blogged on Thursday. . . . hmmmmm . . . .nope . . can not think of a thing. Everything is running smoothly. Like shit through a goose.

In other news - with James Street reconstruction getting ready to begin in less they 2 months Counsel and other people who are in the know, had our "year end" (year beginning) meeting on Columbus roads. What we learned from last year and all that.

One main talking point is compared to most other communities Columbus roads are in pretty darn good shape . . . WHEN COMPARED TO OTHER TOWNS.  Oregon has not spent a dime on roads for 6 or 7 years they were in debt that deep.

All roads in Columbus are rated on a 1-10 scale with 10 being brand new.  72% of our roads are in the 5-10 range. and 66% are in the 7-10 range.  Our 1-2 roads are 10% and lowering and we had a small blip up on more 5-6.  5-6 rating roads (16%) are in-between.  Don't want to fix them YET.

Here in Columbus we spent a little under $3 million on roads last year and property taxes blipped up $10 for most people.  I hope that shows how good "we" have been doing on keeping our debt under control.

One thing we noted was that we don't want two streets being done at the same time.  LOTS of complaints on why one street is getting done faster then another.  People need to remember that while one company is doing the streets it's two very separate teams with two separate abilities (one good and one bad it seemed).

We also learned to give more lead time on tree removal as citizens need more time to mourn the loss.  Trees are ALWAYS replaced and this year only 25% of the trees had to be removed.  Sorry - it's just a fact of life. Roads and trees do not get along.

SO - the plan is for 2017 no street reconstruction work on anything but James Street. That is going to be it's own cluster_ _ _ _.  Maintenance yes but nothing major.

2018 HWY 73 from The Hospital to Faith Drive will be torn up and put anew with bike lanes on both sides.  This will get rid of all parking on the street in that area and we are getting this for about 10% of the normal cost as the State will pay the other 90% and hand the road over the the City.

Other reconstruction plans are still in the pre planning stage.

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Check this out. I'm a civil war freak so it really tweaked my interest.  This amazing historical photo showing the early test flights of the F-14 "Tomcat" during the American Civil War.

Some question the authenticity of this photograph, as it is widely known that the 6 pounder 1841 Model Gun, the workhorse of Mexican War, was considered obsolete by Civil War. You be the judge...

My gut feeling is that this is alternative facts!

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IMPORTANT TO NOTE, This is NOT alternative facts - I looked it up - it's real! 

A few days ago our corrupt, ignorant sexual predator President removed the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence from the National Security Council. He replaced them with Steve Bannon, who has no government, intelligence, or high-level military experience; his experience is leading a propaganda outlet (Breitbart News) that peddles white supremacist and conspiracy theories.

This would be deeply concerning in and of itself. But one of the jobs of the NSC is to oversee a secret panel that authorizes the assassination of “enemies of the United States Government” – including American citizens. 

These targeted killings are fully authorized by law under the Congressional military authorization act following 9/11. There is no trial, no due process, and no public record of the decision or the assassination itself.

Just to recap the absurdity: the President of the United States has appointed a known propagandist and white supremacist to replace the highest military advisor in the country on a council that authorizes secret, legal, targeted killings of American citizens (and others) without due process. 

OH - gotta laugh. Donald's voter fraud expert is registered to vote in 3 states

Choking!

I literally (and I do mean literally this time) almost died last night.  Probably the closest I have ever come to sudden death (unlike my cancer 25 years ago).

I was at Pizza Pit having a sandwich before Home Brew Club and was talking to a fellow brewer I hardly knew when some food lodged in my throat. At first it was no big deal but after a few seconds I realize this was something different.  

I had taken a few CPR courses in my life and knew that as long as I could get air everything was fine . . . . .I could not get air.  I relaxed and found I could get a tiny bit of air if I breathed very very slowly.  Maybe a 90% blockage.  So as began to slowly take any air I could get while trying to swallow . . . . it was not working.

Maybe 30 seconds  (???) later I realize this was more serious then I thought. My mind was calm but my body was starting to panic a little. This is when many people get up and run to the bathroom . . .and die.

I stood up and started to point at my neck and willing the other brewer to PLEASE give me heimlich. I was not in dire need . . YET but I was wishing he would notice I was having a problem.  I was looking around for where I could fall to give myself heimlich and I think I was 10 seconds away from running to the kitchen.  I was still able to get a tiny amount of air but not enough.

FINALLY there was a little movement and it became dislodged which was good because I was getting a little tunnel vision-ish. That 10% air I was getting saved me.

I sat down and git REALLY hot. Didn't eat the rest of my Classic Combo (awesome sandwich),

I tell ya - since that moment every time I take a big breath it's like my first breath.  PLEASE - learn the heimlich.  If you see someone having issues ASK if they need help - that can't ask you!!  

That is the lesson I learned

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At Home Brew Club we were judging 13 Belgian Blondes (something Trump would love to do) and as I sat down I was next to a fellow Columbus resident, two brewers that work at Enerpac and a guy that seemed oddly more familiar then 2 months ago.

He looked at me and said . . . "are you on the city council in Columbus?"  And then it hit me. He was one of the two guys that we have been meeting with from Fromm Family Foods, He's A Fromm!!

Now I need to find a brewer in American Packaging. LOL

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I'm doing a project with HLPC and the pavilion.  I took a tour and it's looking GREAT.  I only took one shot so far but intend on doing more next week.

I did not know that many of the north side windows were removed. They used to be big like on the south side, and that wood along the bottom of the walls was added at some point.

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Back to my favorite topic - The Wall will never be built between Mexico and Texas.  Why?  Well, for one thing all the cement in that area comes from Mexico. Another problem is that in Texas 45% of construction labor is from undocumented immigrants (14% Nation wide).  There is a huge labor shortage in America.  The brewery in Sun Prairie was scuttled because once bids started to come in the $1 million raised was not enough.  There is a lack of contractors to build things and prices are sky rocketing. What was $1 million 2 years ago is now $1.7 million.

In Iowa farmers are rethinking this whole Trump thing with TPP being canceled. Seems 20% of American corn crops go overseas and now that deal was scuttled with no replacement.  So the poor countries that NEED corn to stave off hunger are shut out of American corn and American corn has no where to go and prices will start to lower.  Iowa farmers are saying they can not make a profit now on crops as there is no one to sell them too.  

And of course the trade war between Mexico has started and a few million American workers that need trade from Mexico will be out of work.  Oh, China has mobilized their warships and are pounding their chests over the new American aggression.

Whitehouse leaks have said that Trump spends a lot of his day obsessing over what people are saying about him and his handlers are trying to get him away from TV. And Obamacare?  They have no clue what will replace it. They have been looking for a better solution for 6 years and have nothing at the moment except a mandated health saving account (sort of their plan for Medicaid) .  In fact all of these Executive orders Trump has been signing are just paperwork with zero substance behind them . . BUT . . he looks great signing them which is what counts.          

The upper management of the State Department who many have worked with the last 4 Presidents all quit. Really not THAT odd but NORMALLY they wait for replacements - not this time. Plus since we do not yet have a Secretary of State yet there is literally nobody running the State department with any actual professional experience in foreign affairs.

Basically, America has no State department, no ambassadors to talk to foreign governments to help explain a President who is literally (and I do mean literally) clueless on how government works.

But besides that we're good! Everything is running smoothly!





   

Harry's and the media

Remember, when real facts prove you wrong and make you look stupid, just use alternative facts instead.

tyrants throughout history have tried (and some successfully) to control the press using four time tested techniques.

1. Berate the media - turn the public against the media calling ALL press and media names. When Donald blatantly lies he calls out the media and says THEY are the ones lying, that are SCUM.

2. Limit access. Donald does not hold news conferences and has already banned some networks from the Press Room.  He no longer allows the media to travel with him and restricts knowledge so we don't even know who he is meeting with.  For instance, he has had a 1 on 1 phone conversation with Putin and the only way Americans would know this is that The Kremlin reported it.

3. Threaten the media - Donald has threatened the media saying if they continue to post his remarks in a bad way he will sue them for liable. He has promised to open up liable laws so when he sues he can win lots and lots of money.

4. By pass the media altogether and go right to the public. Tweet tweet tweet and victory rallies so he can communicate his alternate facts directly to supporters.

Media comes from the word intermediate - a go-between between the powerful and the non-powerful. Media holds the powerful accountable for their actions - YET - our new government is going the opposite way and threatening the media. Trump wants to get rid of the media because they keep correcting his blatant lies.

This is literally one of the saddest periods in American history.

In other news

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And then there are the Packers - yea - you can only roll the dice so many times with so many injuries. Super Bowl teams are normally the healthy ones . . or at least the ones with injuries spread out, not ALL in one position.

Great run, lots of fun . . move along.

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I ran out of blades for my Mach3 razor and because I'm like a crow and an drawn to shiny objects I ordered a free Harry's Razor.  I'm being serious - best shave I have had in a long long time.  I only shave like 2 or 3 times a week at most (more then I comb my hair) so I have the $3 subscription where I get a new blade like once every couple months but seriously, I was impressed.  There is a trimming blade on top that is outstanding.   Thumbs up.

Like our new Shark Rocket vacuum.  DJ said she never thought a new vacuum would be this exciting but she is totally amazed.

Technology is great . . yea - it puts people out of work but so did the steam shovel and we survived.

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 A school friend of a friend wrote a very very good article. Instead of skimming the first few paragraphs I actually read the entire thing - wonderful!  More pro America then anti-Trump.

America the Aggrieved Departs Center Stage

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Have a nice snow storm - you will need to shovel this one - no melting a few days later.   I expect 3-5 but there could be much heavier bands as this seems to be moving south (meaning more snow for us) and intensifying.

Cheers!

Rod

Two Cats Two & The last day of Democracy - no sunlight - EVER

Two Cats Two

WELL ladies and friend - today is the last day I can get all anal about our fraudulent President who gropes woman, makes fun of the handicap, screws small businessmen and woman, enjoys gaming the system for his own profits and literally steals money from people (remember that $25 million settlement for theft?).

From here on everything that happens we can blame the GOP directly. They can no longer blame others for their corrupt buffoonish behavior.  

Obamacare, which was a GOP idea in the first place until Obama actually passed it and then the GOP purposefully tried to wreak it by making sure insurance companies would have to raise rates will become history when they come up with the SECOND best plan (Obama stole theirs) goes into law. 

BUT - we will endure (hopefully). 

SO - what the hell will I talk about now - what is my next windmill to chase  hmmmmm  

I still have issues with the Uday (Udey?) Dam and why it is actually needed as it ruins the Crawfish river and hurts Columbus.  We still are not a family friendly community with bike paths and things for young people to do but as long as know one but me complains nothing will happen.  So that windmill is a far way off.  

SO!  I got nothing.  SAD! 

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You know it's been 13 days since the last overtime game in the NBA? In some circles that is important.  My NBA system needs OT games (45-25 65.3% this year and 214-127 lifetime 62.7%) 

In other news - the Oakland Raiders are trying to move to Las Vegas, all they need are the votes.

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Today is day 1001 since Flint Michigan has had clean lead free water.  Remember the GOP government in charge wanted to make some money (it's what they do - it's all about money, not people, not unlike Washington now, it's all money and jobs, not peoples welfare)  and decided to switch water without really doing any research and then cover up their mistake.

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Steven Mnuchin, the former Goldman Sachs banker who should be in jail and is now (or will be) the secretary of the Treasury forgot about a $100 million asset disclosure  OOPS MY BAD!  Yea - I forget about my $100 million investments also.
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I can't believe Deadpool is actually in the running for an Oscar for best picture - great movie I thought - pretty darn funny.

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El Chapo has been extradited to the US.  This is a pretty big deal in crime circles.  No narco wants to be in prison in the US. it's a REAL bid deal for them.  (Watch Narcos on Netflix, it's an eye opener for the 70s).

In other shows, catch Travelers  on 'flix.  Not just another time travel series and not what I thought it was.

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If you are an Mexican with no green card and a parking ticket - say good by to your family!  After Trump takes a weekend off (he still believes being President is a 40 hour a week job with weekends off) he is signing executive orders.  All of that money undocumented visitors spend will go by by.  We don't need all that spending anyway.

I'm just blowing off my final rants.

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OH - we purchased a Shark  Rocket vacuum. WOW - seriously amazing machine.  We went right to the website for a MUCH cheaper deal and it really is awesome.  I was talking to the guys at Absolute Fitness who have one and they have the same response - AMAZING machine and MUCH cheaper then a Dyson.

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Kelly Ann Conway is wearing a clown outfit. She looks like a nut cracker. Her coat cost $3600.  God I hate her with a passion.

   
STEP AWAY STEP AWAY!

What the hell is wrong with Trump and Melania - they have not smiled ONCE so far.  I have never seen an entire family so miserable!

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Wall Street is up today - I suspect this is the tip and just like when Reagan took office - it  all comes down now.  Wall Street loves the idea of Trump but once they see the real ramifications . . . . .

OK - have a GREAT weekend - The next time we get more then a passing glimps at sun is 8 days off.  After Sunday we will start a long 8 day slide in temps to only 5 degrees above average.  Average high today is 23. Ten days from now we will be near 28.

Get used to clouds and fog.

See ya!

Police and Fire Commission vote

I spent a good part of last night a little pissed at myself for not speaking up in Council about the candidate for the Police and Fire Commission and not voting for who the Mayor had chosen.  It's not that I did not have anything to say. It was that I could not form different words then the others had already spoken.

Other members of council were very succinct and politically correct and I really had nothing to add. Should I have said "ditto, what they said" ?  I had some very strong feelings but the words were not forming and all of a sudden the candidate was at the stand being very aggressive at us.    

Here is the point I wanted to make but could not find the correct words.

Before I took office I expressed my displeasure that I thought it was a VERY bad idea to have auxiliary police officers on City Council.  Perfectly legal but I felt there was too much of a chance that it might look like there could a conflict of interest.

I also do not feel friends should be on city councils or commissions for this same reason. You can MAKE friends but there should be no pre-existing friendships, friendly acquaintance, yes, actual friends no. Government should not be a good ol' boy friendship network.   I also side on the "new blood" concept as Columbus needs to keep getting new people involved.

When I saw that the candidate was not only a good friend and neighbor with the Chief of Police and that they both served in the military I felt there was a unique bond between the two - OR - at least there would appear to be.  I loath the appearance of any hint of a "good ol' boys network" in Columbus, been there done that. It's what Columbus was famous for and something many have been working on NOT doing. This is part of the new blood thing I want to keep going. I am NOT speaking for the rest of the Council, they might have different opinions, only my personal feelings.

I would feel this same way if a friend of the Fire Chief wanted to be on the Commission or if a friend wanted to be on Council.  I just do not believe it is a smart thing.

How can I say that in a couple sentences that did not just mirror what others have said.  I don't need to talk just so I can hear myself speak.

SO - that is my story.  I actually wanted to speak first to break the ice but then others spoke so much more fluently then I and I thought Alderman Thom was right on with his reasons.

Sadly - at times you need to vote against "council friends" and it creates awkward moments, I've gone against Thom and The Mayor a number of times and I loath it but I need to be true to myself and what I believe is the right course of action.

Nuff said.    


 

         

   

The Twilight Zone returns

Seems the Packer game was as good as you thought it was.

Game Score is a way some stat geeks look at a game.  After every play they run an algorithm that looks at what are the chances NOW that a team will win a game.

After the sack on the 2nd to last real play Dallas had a 54% chance to win the game . . and then . .

Also of knot it was only the 32nd playoff game where both QBs had QB ratings of 95 or more.  Oddly if you ONLY look at QB ratings Prescott had a better rating then Rodgers  . . . . but I'm not big on QB ratings anyway.  sort of a meaningless stat in my book.

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Speaking of odds.

Irish bookmakers Paddy Power is now giving 7-4 odds that trump will NOT be President for 4 years, they also have 4-1 odds Trump gets impeached in the first 6 months (they gave Obama 8-1 odds of getting impeached in 6 months).

British-based gambling site Ladbrokes is giving even money on Trump making it 4 years

Allan Lichtman, who has correctly predicted every presidential election since Ronald Reagan – including Trump – claims that he thinks that Trump will likely be impeached.

Of course this has been the plan all along for the GOP. They can control Pence.

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Finally - this is pretty funny and comes from the BBC

President Trump: The Inauguration  4pm, BBC One/ STV 

"After a long absence, The Twilight Zone returns with one of the most ambitious, expensive and controversial productions in broadcast history. Sci-fi writers have dabbled often with alternative history stories - among the most common is the "What If The Nazis Had Won The Second World War" setting - but this huge interactive virtual reality project, which will unfold on TV, in the press, and on Twitter over the next four years, sets out to build an ongoing alternative present.

The story begins in a nightmarish version of 2017 in which huge sections of the US electorate have somehow been duped into voting to make Donald Trump president. It sounds far-fetched, and it is, but as it goes on it becomes more and more chillingly plausible. Today's feature-length opener concentrates on the gaudy inauguration of President Trump, and the stirrings of protest and despair surrounding the ceremony, while pundits speculate gravely on what lies ahead. It's a flawed piece, but a disturbing glimpse of the horrors we could stumble into, if we're not careful."

The BBC - real news.

Packers

The best of Packers stuff.

First of all - this is hard to see in stop motion but Rodgers is on his top toes leaning.

A funny thing happened after the game.  There was a tornado warning and people could not leave.

Also - DJ has family that have season tickets to Dallas games. They went on facebook last night and said they stopped at a restaurant 60 miles north of Dallas.  "It was like a morgue!".

Rodgers has thrown 5 TD passes in the last 2 years on free opponent offside plays - all the rest of the NFL QBs, in the last 2 years, have tossed 5 also!  

Packers are 4 point underdogs next Sunday - meaning they are 1 point underdogs on a neutral site.  Over/Under is 60.5 At this moment 55% of gamblers are playing Green Bay, I think that is a bad thing as the public is typically not that bright.

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This is the best video I have seen https://vimeo.com/199449134

RUN THE TABLE: Go Pack Go from Nial Nelson-Hopkins on Vimeo.

Switching it up a little - an iPhone image of my newest canvas

A little politics

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Weather should be in the mid to upper 40s after Tuesday 

WATCH The Mick on CBS?   VERY funny show!  Also - on Netflix Travelers is better then I thought and is really good and The OA looks interesting.  And of course Silicone Valley is hilarious, I think my career in IT matches Big Heads! LOL

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For anybody keeping track - Elwood applied for a job at Willy Street - almost over qualified as a cleaner. This would be a game changer for him - The PROBLEM is that while Willy Street North is on a bus route - NO buses from where he lives goes to Willy Street North without 3 transfers OR walking a mile late at night through bad streets to get to a bus stop.  He lives on teh full house intersection (151/51) by Walgreens,  

Is there any senior transportation in Madison. Cab would be $15 each way.  

The Golden 100 yards in Columbus

Packers - Shouldn't Matthews get two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery on that one play?

And a couple things ESPN mentioned:

There have been 3 TD passes this year in the NFL where the passer took longer the 8 seconds to throw the ball.   Rodgers has two of them.  

In the past 2 years in the NFL there have 9 successful Hail Mary's.  Rodgers has 3 of them. NOT counting the Fail Mary in Seattle.

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Funny things that happened this weekend - well, not FUNNY HA HA but humorous (and not really THAT humorous actually).

We spent a good amount of time in Madison Saturday and did a bunch of grocery shopping at HyVee. We had a little container of donuts from their bakery and as we were about to check out there was a table full of containers of pastry from the Greenbush bakery. We stopped, looked at them, and said  "ooooo those look awesome".  So I took my little container of little donuts and placed them on the table . . . . . with all the other containers from other people switching out the HyVee bakery for the Greenbush bakery.

They might have to change the strategy on that one. LOL

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While in the area we had a gift certificate that we purchased for ourselves ($10 off) and went to the Olive Garden.  While there I saw a few people at tables with their baseball caps on.  I'm not one for manners and etiquette but I was taught hats off inside.  Well, for me hats off AT LEAST in a restaurant sitting at a table.  It's just rude and according to some publications I have read on body language and so forth it's a sign of lower self esteem. Like you are hiding behind the bill of your cap which when you think about it makes perfect sense.

WELL, I mentioned this on Face book as a "personal pet peeve" and many people agreed on how it irritates them but one guy JUST WENT OFF ON ME!  Seriously, 22+ comments and arguments about "who ever said wearing a baseball cap at a restaurant was bad manners" and am "I just making shit up on it being bad etiquette". Really?  Then it quickly zoomed into Columbus government corruption and THEN it went downhill from there.

YIKES!  THAT was fun.!  I do like poking bears at times but I didn't even know there was a controversy on baseball cap wearing in a restaurant. I THOUGHT it was just common sense.

https://youtu.be/Hqp1bGuiHHs

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In Columbus a new restaurant opened (caps in bars or sports bars or booths are fine in my book, sitting at a table being waited on with white linen and a wait staff that dresses up is not - BUT - I'm a senior so what do I know.)

Did I just say I was a senior?  OMG!

ANYWAY - The Chef's Corner has had a soft opening.  The old Fireman's Tap is now the Chef's Corner run by Alex, the original GOOD cook from Hydro Street and a real Chef.  Remember when Hydro had good food?  This is him.

So the Golden 100 yards now has Bistro Racian, La Tolteca and The Chef's Corner. Three REAL good restaurants.  

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In City Government - Mayor Crombie will be stepping down from Mayorship and will be the first Mayor in the last 300 years to voluntarily step down as Mayor after a record run of two terms.

Running in his place will be Michael Thom,  Also running and currently in office is the always delightful and cheery Regan Hendrickson and holding down the right flank on council will be Trina Reid.  New comer and lumberjack look alike, Matt Kenny (currently on CDA) will be running for Thom's chair.

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DJ and I were talking about what romantic place we would like to see New Years Eve and Paris was the choice.  But that would mean a long long trip so I said how about Montreal as a friend who has traveled the world said it was one of his favorite places to visit.

WELL - we can do one better - an article in the Daily Citizen said  Beaver Dam was the Paris of Dodge County . . .so . . I guess you know where we will be next New Years!!

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Did you know

Terrorism in Europe is MUCH MUCH lower now then 30 years ago when they had repeated bombings from the IRA, ETA, Red Brigade, Japanese Red Army and Baader-Meinhoff Group and in the US between 2005 and 2015 there were only 24 deaths from Islamist Terrorists.

You are 12,000 times more likely to be accidentally killed by an American with a gun.  In fact you are more likely to be shot by a toddler with a gun then a terrorist.  Just sayin'.

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Got a computerized call from   I ...R...S   Friday saying I was hiding fraud and I needed to call them back ASAP or go to jail.  I quickly ran to Walgreens and purchased $150,000 in iTune cards so I would not go to jail  WHEW - that was close.

I wish I knew how to put a voicemail on a blog!

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The Milwaukee Bucks’ Mediocre Record Is Hiding A Dangerous Team - an article talks about the elite teams of the NBA and then says this

"Then there are the 18-16 Milwaukee Bucks, who, bizarre as it sounds, are quietly building a case for inclusion onto that short list of the league’s best teams." “Positionless basketball” they call the Bucks.

COOL!!

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Nuff said

Garbage and cannabis studies

Soooo - schools are closed and the roads are perfect - way to mess every ones lives up. Why would they close schools - do they not look at weather forecasts?  It's above freezing the roads are wet.

I remember when I was a child . . . . . . .

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Garbage collection - seems to have good smoothly (???).  You know you live in a small town when a new garbage collection company is exciting.

Gov. Walker says - don't look at what I have done in the past 6 years - look at what I will try to do in the future.  DON'T LOOK BEHIND THAT CURTAIN. What a buffoon.

And don't get me started on the Congressional Ethic board that the House is trying to abolish - Even Trump blasted them for being sneaky.

Then there is Obamacare and the GOP - like a dog that chases a car and all of a sudden he catches it. What will the GOP do to Obamacare now that they can delete it.  They already made sure it would fail by making sure insurance rates would rise AND THEN blaming it on Obamacare.

Insurance companies hate risk AND hate paying out claims.  So when ACA was established, like Bush's Medicare drug plan the government would help pay for claims from people with existing health issues. The insurance companies were fine with that, in fact they embraced Oamacare.

So what did the GOP Congress do?  After ACA started they voted to only give insurance companies 12% of what they were promised.  Insurance companies raised rates because teh GOP cut their funding and BAM - the GOP could blame Obamacare as failing.

SO - now they can do what they want . . . but they have zero idea how to do it.  Glad I'm not in their shoes. I expect nothing but chaos with health care industry for the next 4 years.

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A new image of Sophie

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My x-wife from many many years ago had osteogenesis imperfecta a degenerative bone disease.  She had pain 24/7. We tried all sort of pain relief from electric stimulation to acupuncture and so many different prescription drugs it was crazy. The ONLY thing that helped was cannabis which, was illegal. That is why I get on this cannabis kick from time to time. I have first hand knowledge of just what this vile weed can do to improve your life.  

Thus - ever since Colorado went pro cannabis I have tried to read every article on the subject - bad AND good. Their forward looking government has down an outstanding job. When a problem comes up - they fix it without years of committees and bickering.  Even their govonor who was against it has said he was wrong.

WELL

A number of studies have come out lately on cannabis.  One is that with 28 states now with legal medical cannabis they have found that auto deaths in each one of those states have dropped by about 10%.

Another monthly study by the Census buero (Bureau)  found there is a modest but statistically significant decline in workplace absences due to sickness (after controlling for race, marital status, age, and education level).  This is just another study that contradicts the Tavern Leagues fake news that Cannabis is a vile weed and "adds to a growing number of studies that point to favorable associations between the implementation of medical cannabis laws and positive societal outcomes. These include a decrease in alcohol consumption and traffic fatalities, as well as suicides"

Yet another study found that medical cannabis is making prescription drug use drop like a rock

"On average, states with legal medical cannabis saw 1,826 fewer daily doses of prescription pain medications filled each year per physician. This is what you would expect if medical cannabis serves as an alternative or a supplement to traditional prescription pain medications. "

Of course the pharmaceutical is VERY opposed to cannabis.

One study about teen use. 45,000 teens are annually surveyed.  Cannabis, alcohol and other drug use is dropping in schools from 2015 to 2106.  Cannabis use in 8th to 10th graders has dropped significantly.  The fears that more cannabis will lead to more school stoners is not happening.  In fact teen cannabis use is at it's lowest since 1993. One reason is that it's harder to find.  Like the alcohol prohibition. If you make it legal there is less black market booze and it's harder to get.    

A cohort study in the UK over the last 20 years has shown cannabis use does not lower IQ long term. It's a tough study as cigarette smoking and alcohol have to be factored into the mix as those two do lower IQ over the long run.

"In fact, when researchers analyzed data only from those who had never smoked cannabis before, they found a significant negative association between cigarette use and IQ and educational attainment".  

This DOES NOT mean it's OK to smoke pot when young, absolutely not.  it just shows that there are so many other factors you can not blame one thing.

That was the cliff notes - here is the article

Cannabis Does Not Lower your IQ 

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My newest image of Sophie