Tag: Government

Dead But Not Forgotten, Alas

Bad News, Politics

Oh fer gawd’s sake.  Here we go with the John McCain Image Rehabilitation Project:

Cindy McCain marked the one-year anniversary of her husband John McCain’s death with a string of rebukes to Donald Trump and his leadership of the Republican Party.
She told ABC News there is no one in the GOP to carry on her husband’s mantle and be a ‘voice of reason’ for the Republican Party.

I have great respect for the fact that she’s McCain’s widow and therefore loyal to his memory.  Unfortunately, my memories of her late husband are not so rosy, e.g. when he had the deciding vote on legislation which would have killed ObamaCare, he voted against it, thus:

 

I will also never forgive nor forget the many times McCain stabbed Republicans in the back — including especially Bush 43, to whom he had lost in the 2000 primaries — simply so that he could curry favor with the fucking Democrats and the media [lots of overlap].

The hell with him, and  his nonexistent “voice of reason”.  “Spiteful” describes the late senator from Arizona better than any other adjective.  (Feel free to add your  suggested adjectives in Comments.)

Go Boris!

Crime, Good Stuff, Gummint

When I saw this sentence from BritPM Boris Johnson, my heart sank:

You can’t just arrest your way out of a problem.

Then he redeemed himself:

It certainly helps, but it is only part of the answer. You need to tackle all the causes and incentives that are encouraging the criminal mentality, and that means first of all exploding any sense that the law is weak, or that criminals can get away with it. When the police catch a violent criminal, it is vital they get the sentence they deserve.
At present, there are too many serious violent or sexual offenders who are coming out of prison long before they should.
In the past five years, we have seen literally hundreds of convicted rapists who have come out of prison commit another sexual offence. There are thousands of ‘super prolifics’ – criminals with more than 50 convictions to their name – who are being spared jail altogether.
This cannot go on. I am afraid that as a society we have no choice but to insist on tougher sentencing laws for serious sexual and violent offenders, and for those who carry knives.
Our first duty is to protect the public in the most basic way – and that means taking such people off the streets.

[pause to let the applause and cheering die down]

Of course, policies like “stop and search” are going to cause palpitations amongst the liberals and criminal-symps [lots of overlap], but the plain fact is that when the police can do their job — i.e. try to prevent crime before it happens — and the justice system is allowed to work — i.e. impose jail sentences that keep criminals off the streets — society as a whole improves.

Just ask the denizens of NYFC when Mayor Giuliani and Police Chief Bratton did just that, back in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  And if it made it worked there, it can make it work anywhere.

And to let the BritPM have the last word:

Yes, in the short term it will mean more pressure on our jails, and that is why today I am also announcing that we are creating another 10,000 spaces in our prisons. The Chancellor, Sajid Javid, has agreed to invest up to £2.5 billion to deliver this commitment.

Get going, Boris.

When “Free” Becomes Rationed

Gummint, Health

Yet another horror story from Britishland’s NHS:

The absurdity is part of the recent NHS drive to limit the number of pricey, unnecessary operations.
GPs must apply to a body of health chiefs – called the Procedures of Limited Clinical Effectiveness panel, or PoLCE – before they can refer patients for certain procedures.
But what began as a sensible process to stop people getting breast enhancements and eyelifts on the NHS has snowballed into a deliberate ploy to deny genuine patients essential treatment.
It seems a the NHS is doing everything it can to stop doctors giving treatment that we know works.

Why are these opaque and unelected assholes doing this?  Here’s all you need to know:

Another local authority approved just 46 of the 1,162 hernia operations requested last year, according to NHS figures.

You don’t have to be a cost accountant to see the savings involved in denying over eleven hundred surgeries per annum — and that’s just for hernias.  Apply this ratio to all the other types of medical procedures, and the “savings” would add up to billions.

And screw the pain-wracked patients.  They’re just an annoyance to government employees, and their problems are just a line in the budget.

Remember:  whenever you’re faced with some tool who advocates “single-payer” medical care, kick them in the ass.  Hard.  Wear boots.

Giving In To The Commies

Elections, Politics, The Gun Thing

Dear President Trump,

“Doing something about guns” according to the wishes of the media would be an even grosser betrayal of your 2016 supporters than not building a wall along the southern border has been.

We all — even the media — know that “doing something” in this regard means, in essence, increasing control over law-abiding gun owners which will do nothing to solve crime of any sort.

I, and most gun owners who voted for you back in 2016, know that your efforts to build a wall were undercut by the Establishment Republicans and Democrats in Congress.  More ineffectual gun control legislation and the concomitant assaults on our Constitutional rights, however, will place at risk not only your chances of reelection in 2020, it will place the electoral success of the Republican senators and House legislators in a similar situation.

We are not fooled, and we will not be fooled, by the current demands to “do something”.  Try to convince us that you won’t be fooled either.

And yes, this is a warning.

Sincerely,

Kim du Toit

Third World Adventure

Behind Enemy Lines, Gummint

I once knew a German professional photographer (let’s call him Georg) who, along with a fellow German photographer (“Klaus”), decided to do one of those photo safaris — driving from Cairo to Cape Town, snapping pics along the way — that sounds so good back in Hamburg, but is completely foolish in reality.  Anyway, driving a mil-surp G-Wagen (not a bad choice, BTW), they set off and made it through Egypt without incident.  At the border, they had to get a “passing through” visa to get across the Sudan, which essentially allowed them to be in the country for three days.  When they got to Sudan’s southern border, however, the sole guard at the border post (just a hut) wouldn’t let them leave the country because they had the “wrong visa” — and they’d have to drive back to Khartoum (a two-day drive) to get the right one.  When Georg pointed out that their existing visa would expire en route and they would, in essence, be in the country illegally and imprisoned if caught, the guard just shrugged.  Not his problem.

I told you that story so I could tell you this one.  Last week, faced with a looming legal deadline, I had to fly up to Chicago to get a legal document out of the Cook County Court archives.  (Why I was unable to access the document online, or even manage to talk to someone in the County Clerk’s office to send me the document is a story all by itself.)  Anyway, after having had my 5am flight canceled (thank you, American), I made the 7am flight only by dint of paying the full fare (don’t ask) and arrived at the Cook County courthouse (2nd District in Skokie) at about 11am, with all the data needed for the request on my trusty laptop..

Of course, there’s TSA-type security at all these places these days, which is where I had a Sudan-type encounter of my own.  Reason?  No laptops allowed in the courthouse by members of the public.  I know, it’s inexplicable but hey, Cook County.  I looked around for any storage lockers:  none.

“So where can I store my laptop?”
“You’ll just have to take it back to your car.”
“I don’t have a car;  I just flew in from Dallas.  So what can I do?”
Like the Sudanese border guard, the fucking security guard just shrugged.  “Not my problem.”

At this juncture, I should point out that every single glass window and door at the courthouse has one of those idiotic little “No Handgun” stickers displayed.

I’m not saying that I would have shot someone — in fact, I absolutely would not have, even if I’d been able to bring the 1911 with me — but let me tell you, after a day which had begun at 3am, experienced a canceled flight and a massive fare surcharge along with all the other hassles of modern-day travel (full flight, idiots with too-large bags, crowded train from the airport into the city etc.), only to be faced with indifferent bovine officialdom at the end of it, I can quite believe that some other guy  might  have dropped the hammer.

Which, by the way, is what Klaus did at the Sudanese border.  He told the guard that he had the correct visa back in the car, fetched his gun instead and shot the guard dead.  Then he and Georg got in their G-Wagen and raced off into Uganda.  A real African tale, that one.

And now, the rest of my  story. Read more

Copyright Maze

Legal Stuff, Two-Minute Hate

It appears that the U.S. Senate is getting serious about people using stuff they found on the Intarwebs:

A bi-partisan bill working its way through Congress could drastically change how copyright claims are processed, and would create a system to impose up to $30,000 in fines on anyone who shares protected material online.
In other words, the Congress wants to make it easier to sue people who send a meme or post images that they didn’t create themselves, essentially a giveaway to lawyers who sue unsuspecting suckers for a living.

…and once more, a little more of life’s pleasures is sucked dry by the lawyers and politicians.

One of these days, I can see people going to a party sued by the studios (especially the godless Disney Corporation) just for wearing a character’s costume without prior approval from an attorney at Bloodsucker, Lamprey and Leech LLP.

Having recently been sued (and forced to settle out of court) by some cocksucker and his copyright huckster attorney for using an old photograph (which can be found all over the Internet and which had no attribution when I found it, so copyright was impossible to establish in the first place), I know exactly what’s involved here.  (And if he or his shyster butt-buddy should chance to read this:  by not identifying you or the work involved, I’m not breaking the terms of our agreement, you money-grabbing motherfuckers.  It’s the principle  I’m talking about — not that either of you would even begin to comprehend the word.  FOAD.)

So as of today, expect to see only memes and such created by myself (e.g. see below), unless linked to the site of origin.

And that goes for the lawyers’ little lickspittles in the Senate as well.  FOAD all of you, too.