Why didn't I answer this dispatch??

I'm a paramedic with a volunteer rescue squad in a rural VA county. At almost 80 years old, I have slowed down mainly because I no longer trust myself wrestling a stretcher with patient onboard across the cluttered living room, out the door, across the deck in the rain, down the slippery outside stairs, dodge a couple of family dogs, across the gravel driveway to the ambulance. Still, I am on duty 24 hours each Wednesday and the rest of the week I respond to dispatches that are within a mile or so of my home as well as responding when the crew on the scene calls for more help.

This afternoon my squad was dispatched for a XX yr-old female possible cardiac arrest -- possible cardiac arrest requires pretty much all hands on deck. I recognized the neighborhood because I know two couples who live there, though I did not recognize the address. Four other medics -- one who lives in the same neighborhood as the dispatch address -- and two drivers answered and I felt they did not need me.

Now I have just learned the lady did not survive and she is a good friend from our local Democratic Party. I know the survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is under 10% but still I feel so bad, so very bad. It's almost 9:00 PM here but I'm headed over to the house to see her husband . . . I know he will be lost without her.

Thank you for listening.

Trump Organization GUILTY o all counts in NY case

Source: CNN

Jury found Trump Org guilty of all counts of tax fraud, bank fraud, insurance fraud. Trump himself not guilty; only Weisselberg guilty, facing jail time. Organization facing up to $1.6 million in fines.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/06/politics/trump-organization-fraud-trial-verdict/index.html

Future of the GOP: One man's opinion

I am a long-time member (12 years) of my county Electoral Board in a red, rural VA county. The Board is comprised to two Republicans and one Democrat (I'm the Dem).

Today we completed our canvass of the Nov 8 election, preparing official results to go to the State Dept of Elections. After completing a mountain of confusing paperwork, we each got a cup of coffee and relaxed.

With no prompting from anyone, one of the Republicans said "The Republican Party is history." This guy reads a lot of history and often cites historical examples for his opinions. He likened today's situation for the GOP to the situation in 1912.

-- Teddy Roosevelt had served one term, succeeded by Taft.
-- TR wanted to be the Republican nominee for the 1912 election, however, the GOP nominated Taft.
-- TR split with the GOP and formed his own party, the Bull Moose Party.
-- TR and Taft split the GOP vote thereby enabling Woodrow Wilson to waltz into the White House by winning 40 states.

He cited the condition of our County Republican Committee and that of two neighboring counties as typical of GOP organizations from counties up to the national party:
-- About 1/3 "normal" Republicans
-- About 1/3 "wackjob patriots" and "old Tea Partiers."
-- About 1/3 Trumpsters

My Republican friend is convinced that:
-- Trump will split the GOP by not winning the nomination, forming a third party, or running as an Independent with no party support but taking 20-30% of voters with him.
-- The GOP will collapse and eventually will emerge as a serious political party, meanwhile, Democrats will control Congress and the White House for a decade.

Just one man's opinion from a sleepy, rural VA county -- but he may be on to something.

OFF-TOP[IC: If you have not upgraded to Windows 11 . . .

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!

I left one of my two laptops turned one a couple of weeks ago and when I discovered it, it had upgraded to Win 11. Now I find out I cannot roll back to Win 10 after 10 days.

I have tried and tried to use Win11 to no avail. I have found that I can buy a laptop from Amazon that has Win10. Just ordered it. The one with Win11 is going with me to the end of my dock and it will rest on the bottom of the Potomac River. Win 11 is that bad.

Trump sends message to AG Garland:

Speechless.

5:49 PM Eastern time. CNN just showed an outtake from the 77 minute video of the Uvalda cops and a bunch of other fucking cowards standing around in the school hallway with their thumbs up their asses while children were murdered.

Every damn one of them had on kevlar vests and was armed with their own AR AND THEY JUST WANDERED AROUND WITH THEIR HEADS UP THEIR ASSES. ONE OF THEM PLAYING WITH HIS PHONE

Where is their command authority? Where are the sergeants taking command?

GODDAMMIT I'm an old soldier with two tours in Vietnam in the bush where it seems like I was in a gunfight every day. My son lost an arm in Iraq. Both of us RAN INTO THE FIRE . . . charged toward people shooting at us. And these lardassed muthahfukahs just milled around.

Sorry. I'm outta here before I get banned.

The shooter should have been dead in under five minutes.

The US is moving rapidly down the same path taken by Germany in the 1920's-30's . . .

. . . with the same outcome awaiting us:
-- Marginalization, even violence, against "them"
-- A "re-educated" judiciary
-- Brown Shirts roving the streets, breaking up non-MAGA meetings, attacking election officials
-- Elections turned into a farce with the outcome pre-determined
-- No regulations on corporations
-- Labor unions outlawed

We are sleepwalking into fascism and we have only ourselves to blame:
-- We ignored the Powell Memo
-- We thought Newt's "Language: A Key Mechanism of Control" was silly
-- And we are still practicing reaching across the aisle, compromising with the Devils

Our new passports were delivered last week. Because of my Swiss ancestry, we are visiting the Swiss Embassy/Consulate in DC next week to investigate moving for our last years.

Mike Pence and the Secret Service driver

Maybe I'm being too damn paranoid, however, after listening to all three public hearings, after reading books about Jan 6 by Schiff and Raskin, I have reason to be paranoid.

So -- the VP has Secret Service protection 24/7 by a selected SS team. The VP and his/her family get to know the SS team quite well.

When the Capitol was breached, Pence's SS guys snatched him out of the Senate chamber and took Pence, Ms. Pence, and staff down a secret tunnel to a loading dock under the Capitol where they were met by a small convoy of SS vehicles. Pence's SS team leader told him to get in so he could be taken to a secret, secure location.

Pence refused saying to the head of his SS team: "Tim, I know you and I trust you. I don't know the driver."

Pence and company spent hours in the loading dock area, finally returning to the Senate chamber to finish his Constitutional duty.

Did Pence sense that the SS driver and SS guys in the convoy were working for Trump and would kidnap him or . . . . ???

See, I told you I'm too damn paranoid.

Where is Siswan when we need her?!?!?!?

Not only did I watch the Jan 6 hearing Thursday night, I recorded it and watched it again, the second time in the company of my friend, Jack Daniels.

After watching this the first of several hearings, I am cranked up, upset, angry, ready to march on Mar-A-Largo and drag him out . . . .

I really, really need some pics of kitties to help me calm down!!!!!!

First they came for the women . . . .

The nation is all a-twitter about the Supreme Court's decision to destroy the right of women to manage their own bodies.  Comments on the overturning of Roe are now worried about the likelihood of the Court overturning other rights:  the right to use contraception (Griswold v. Connecticut); same-gender marriage (Obergefell v. Hodges); the right to marry a person of another race (Loving v. Virginia); and every other right not in the Constitution as it was originally approved in 1788. 

This move by the Court to destroy Roe -- buttressed by three "justices" who lied in their confirmation hearings -- makes it clear that many of the rights we take for granted are in danger.

I'm reminded of the words of Reverend Martin Niemöller.

Niemöller (1892–1984) was a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany. He emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. He is perhaps best remembered for his postwar words,

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.