I Have The Fix!

I have been watching a Bunch of Briefings, a Gaggle of Speeches, a Plethora of Poking of Holes in the Air with Collective Fingers (I bet all of you can you guess where that was happening) and all of a sudden The Fix for a major source of this country’s problems hit me like a Flock of Bricks.

One of the doctors I heard speaking pointed out that Children Are Not Susceptible to the Coronavirus. 

That’s It! Don’t You See It? You say you don’t see it. Allow me to get out my Bullet Points and explain it to you…

Ø There are 535 Members in our Congress.

Ø Yes they are the Poking Holes in the Air People referred to above (I’m sure you already knew that).

Ø They have been cooperating with each other all weekend and we found out today that they have failed to pass the Coronavirus Relief Salvation Make It All Go Away Bill.

They failed when they were cooperating with each other. No wonder they get so little accomplished because we all know they have not cooperated with each other for many years. Now we find out that while cooperating they get as much done as when they are not cooperating.

Let’s back to The Fix…

Ø We need to replace the current 535 Members of Congress with 535 children aged 7 to 12 years old.

Ø Since they are 7 to 12 years of age they will not be getting the Coronavirus and having to self-quarantine themselves.

Ø This past weekend has proven that the 7 to 12 year old population in the Good Ole USofA is probably smarter than our current Congress.

OK, again many of you think I have gone off the deep end with this Silly Proposal. I have one arrow left in my quiver that will make you see the logic and viability of The Fix…

Because of their young ages none of these Members of our New Congress will be Lawyers!

I knew you would come around to seeing my Foolish Logic. 😃

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

A Needle In A Hay Stack Is A Piece of Cake Compared To Trying To Find Good News About Coronavirus That Isn’t Followed By A Series of “Ya, Buts…”

Have you ever heard of or do you remember Al Capp? He wrote the comic strip Li’l Abner from 1934 till 1977. Al Capp was famous for a long time, the merchandising sales that spun off from his comic strips made millions of dollars and he was acknowledged to be a Comic Strip Genius.

Today I am going to imitate Al Capp in writing this Blog Posting. He was known to say he was an Expert on Nothing with an Opinion on Everything. (I tried to verify him saying this about himself on the Internet and found that a Drag Queen Insult Comic named Bianca Del Rio has taken over what I just said Al Capp said about himself for herself). 

I am not going to be so bold to say I am an expert on the Coronavirus but in regards to this “Ya But…” I am going to claim to have an opinion that no one could disagree with…Or could they?

************

A few days ago there was a dramatic announcement about a drug that showed great promise of being a cure for the Coronavirus…

Ø The drug is Chloroquine and is also called Hydroxychloroquine.

Ø It has been used as a treatment drug for Malaria for about 55 years.

Ø Chloroquine was first discovered in 1934 by Hans Andersag while he was working for Bayer AG.

Ø It has also been used to fight Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus Erythematosus. 

The Bottom Line is this is a well established and long used drug that any doctor can prescribe to his patients. It Does Not Kill People.

************

The very next day after the news about Chloroquine became public, further information about Chloroquine was found in Small Headlined Articles below many much bigger the World is Coming to an End Headlined Articles.

By the third day it was difficult to find anything about Chloroquine and, when you did, the article you found was full of, “Ya Buts…”.

I am going to limit this Blog Posting to one particular “Ya But”…

Ø Here is the headline that caught my eye, “Virus Drug Touted by Trump, Musk Can Kill In Just Two Grams”.

Ø How many readers of this headline (who, as usual, did not read the whole article) said to their collective selves, “I ain’t gonna take that killer drug!”

The facts behind the Killer Headline are…

Ø The recommended dosage is 1 Gram a Day.

Ø It is true that, if one takes 2 Grams instead of 1 Gram, it can be fatal.

Ø This can probably be said for many drugs…If you double the recommended dosage you might get the hiccups, you might get a rash, you might start dressing up as Bianca Del Rio or you might die.

Ø It is also true that, if you double the recommended amount of Paprika in your Goulash, you could end up with Goulash that would make you gag.
>>>We do not see warning labels on Paprika cans saying, “Do not double the recommended amount of Paprika or you will gag!”

************

I also saw this “proof” of the Dangers of Chloroquine...

A woman in Wuhan proved how lethal Chloroquine can be when it’s taken beyond the recommended dose. On Feb. 25, Shanghai-based The Paper reported that she took 1.8 grams of the drug she ordered online after suspecting she had the Coronavirus. She did not, but the drug caused her to develop malignant cardiac arrhythmia, which can cause sudden death, and she was admitted to the intensive care unit. 

To panic about the above paragraph the panicer (Ludwig, I know that’s not a word) has to…

Ø Not be too smart.

Ø Determine that she has the Coronavirus without consulting her doctor.

Ø Order the drug on the Internet without consulting her doctor.

Ø Not know about the recommended daily dosage (which she might have known about if she had consulted her doctor).

Ø Taken almost double the recommended daily dosage without consulting her doctor.

Ø There is a good chance she took the 1.8 grams all at one time. Since she had not consulted her doctor, she did not know that the recommended 1 gram per day is recommended by doctor people to be taken in 2 doses of 500 mg.

There are other “Ya Buts…” I could peck out for you but I am tired of pecking and you are tired of reading this blog, so the Blog Posting and I are now coming to an abrupt end.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: There are several graduates of my High School (Jesuit High School) reading this blog. If you don’t know, you are about to know that Al Capp created the Fighting Blue Jay Mascot figure you know so well…

 

Yea, I know the Toronto Blue Jays ripped us off and came up with this silly looking mascot thingy…

What Does a Radio Sports Talking Head Talk About When There Are No Sports to Talk About?

Yesterday I was listening to a Sports Talk Show Radio Station as I was in my park trying to keep my heart from attacking me. It was interesting to hear the Talking Sports Heads talking on and on about nothing.

There are no games to talk about because there are no games being played. They were desperate to find something to talk about. How long can a Talking Sports Head be expected to talk about nothing?

One of them came up with the following Sports Talk About Something Topic For Discussion…

Which Athlete Will Be Able To Turn This Shutdown To His Own Advantage?

Ø The talking sports head who came up with the Topic For Discussion then offered his answer to his Topic for Discussion. He said it would be LaBron James because he is 35 years old and he could have used a rest if and when the season resumes for his playoff run. He said it was obvious last year LaBron was getting tired as the season drew to a close.

Ø Then it was his Co-Host Talking Sports Head’s turn to take a crack at the Topic for Discussion. She said it would be LaBron James because he is 35 years old and he could have used a rest if and when the season resumes for his playoff run. She said it was obvious last year LaBron was getting tired as the season drew to a close.

Ø Then it was the First Caller of the Day’s turn to take a crack at the Topic for Discussion. He said it would be LaBron James because he is 35 years old and he could have used a rest if and when the season resumes for his playoff run. He said it was obvious last year LaBron was getting tired as the season drew to a close.

Ø Then it was the Second Caller of the Day’s turn to take a crack at the question but I changed the station because somehow I had the feeling that I knew what he was going to say.

I’ve got an idea. We ought to cancel the Radio Sports Talk Shows until something new comes bouncing their way.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

I Keep Asking This Question. I Keep Not Getting Any Good Answers. You Will See In This Blog Posting That Even The Answer I Gave To Myself Is Not A Good Answer.

Read the article reproduced from the WSJ below, if you want to.

To me the important points are highlighted in bold by none other than me.

It begs the question, “How do they know all these numbers are true?”

I have included a short Blog Posting of mine from October 2009 at the bottom of this Blog Posting.

Way back then I was already asking the question, “How do they know all of this Specific, Exacting and Minutely Detailed Information?”

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

·         OPINION 

·          COMMENTARY

Young Voters Outgrow Bernie Sanders

Millennials in their 30s, four years older than in 2016, have been far less likely to support him.

By 

Allysia Finley

March 16, 2020 6:38 pm ET

Supporters of Bernie Sanders at a rally in St. Louis, March 9.

Photo: Sid Hastings/Shutterstock

Democrats started down the road to socialism, then took an abrupt U-turn in South Carolina and have been speeding away ever since. One reason is that young voters haven’t shown up for Bernie Sanders in the numbers he’d hoped.

True, Mr. Sanders won 74% of those under 30 in last week’s Michigan primary, according to exit polls. But that was down from 81% in 2016. Their share of the electorate also declined, to 15% from 19%. Voters over 45 made up 63% of the Michigan electorate this year, compared with 55% in 2016. They overwhelmingly favored Joe Biden.

Other states show similar patterns. Under-30 voters still heavily favor Mr. Sanders, but his support in this age group fell by 36 percentage points in New Hampshire, 17 in Nevada, 14 points in Massachusetts and Virginia, and 15 in North Carolina. These states all voted before the field narrowed to Messrs. Sanders and Biden, but that wasn’t enough for Mr. Sanders to carry Michigan, as he did in 2016.

Exit polls show voters under 30 made up a smaller share of the Democratic electorate this year than in 2016 in New Hampshire (6 percentage points), South Carolina (4), Alabama (4) North Carolina (4), Tennessee (4), Texas (5), and Virginia (3). Voters over 65 increased their share by 8 points in New Hampshire, 10 in South Carolina, and 7 in Massachusetts, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Young Democrats also appear to be aging out of their enthusiasm for Mr. Sanders as they mature and start making money. Wages for young workers are rising faster than for any other age group, which may have diminished the salience of his populist economic message. Mr. Sanders’s support this year among millennials in their 30s has been considerably lower than among those in their 20s. In Michigan, he won 53% of voters 30 to 39 compared with 74% of those under 30. In Iowa, 86% of voters under 25 in Iowa supported Mr. Sanders in 2016. This year only 55% of those 25 to 29 did.

It’s an old story. In 1972, when 18-year-olds voted for the first time, baby boomers were far likelier than older generations to support George McGovern. Today’s radical young voters are tomorrow’s cautious older ones.

************

October 2012

Exit Polling

I could understand...

• 55% say they voted for this guy.
• 45% say they voted for that guy.

It is the Specific, Exacting and Minute Detail that I don't understand...

• 42% of the white voters, who went to two years of college, who were left-handed carpenters, voted for this guy.
• 63% of fallen-away Catholics, who have been married three times, where the first and third marriages were to the same person, voted for that guy.
• 54% of those who voted in the 1992 election, but did not vote in the 1996, nor the 2000 election, but returned to the voting booth in the 2004, 2008 & 2012 elections, voted for this guy.

Oh well, so much for Secret Balloting.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: Here is a Tongue-In-Cheek Answer I myself gave to this ongoing question back in November 2009…

How Do “They” Know That?

I have been told by my radio that the following is fact…

In The Last Year 82,000,000 Americans Contemplated Suicide

I ask you, How Do “They” Know That?

“They” would probably give me the standard response, “Researchers” told us.

Did “they” ask 82,000,000 people if they had contemplated suicide?

Ok, I know what “they” did. “They” asked a smaller number and extrapolated that smaller number into a larger number…

• If “they” asked 39 people and 10 said they had contemplated suicide, this would be 25.625%.
• There are about 320,000,000 people in the country at this time.
• 320,000,000 times 25.625% equals 82,000,000 suicide contemplating people.

That’s it! That is how “they” got to their number. I should have known that “they” would not give us a bum steer (whatever that means).

If this satisfies your curiosity, you can consider the matter closed and I encourage you to go do something constructive with your time.

Coronavirus Is the Only News

I have often been amazed how we can be covered up with a certain news story by our National News Media and we know (because we are told) that this news story is the Absolute Most Important Happening Happening in the world around us and then some other news story happens and the First Most Important News Happening completely disappears and we are covered up with the New Absolute Most Important News Happening. (Yes, I know the prior sentence was too long but it had to be because it was about Absolute Most Important Stuff.)

It has happened time and again and one of the agains was when the Good Ole USofA was being threatened back in the 1980s by Muammar Gaddafi of Libya with Dire Major Consequences (dire major consequences is a lot more dire and major than dire consequences or major consequences as stand-alone consequences) if we dared to cross his Line of Death in his Gulf of Sidra. Every day we were being told that we were required to worry about Qaddafi and his Line and his Gulf and his Consequences.

Then the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded 73 seconds into its launch and Qaddafi and his Line and his Gulf and his Consequences completely disappeared from the news.

************

Have you heard of the Coronavirus? Have you heard of anything other than the Coronavirus since the Coronavirus Exploded onto the World Stage?

The Consequences of the Coronavirus are not just the disease and the deaths related to the Coronavirus. The Economic Consequences are going to throttle this county and its citizens for a long time to come.

If you close Mom and Pop’s Really Good Sandwich Shop it means a lot more than Tom, Dick and Harry can’t get their Really Good Corned Beef Sandwich. The employees of Mom and Pop’s Really Good Sandwich Shop lose their jobs. Losing their jobs does not mean they go home and wait for their pay check to come it the mail. The mail may come but it will bring no pay check.

My Dear Readers, we are talking about an awful lot of Shops and Lost Jobs and Pay Checks that are Never Going to Arrive.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

The Late George Carlin Is a Friend of Mine

The above Subject is a Fella Lie. Ole George might be a friend of mine if he knew who I was but, since he never visits me while I am writing my blogs like the late Paul Harvey does, he will very likely never become my friend.

As for me, I very much would like to be his friend because I enjoy being around anyone who plays with words like he does did.

************

This Is A Confusing Menu!

Your options are…

Ø Shrimp Medium Small

Ø Shrimp Medium Large

Ø Shrimp Large Small

Ø Shrimp Large Large

The Late George Carlin loved to eat at restaurants like this. He would have confused the waiter about his restaurant’s confusing menu with this question, “My good man, I see you have Jumbo Shrimp on your menu. Can you tell me if this entree is composed of Large Shrimp or Small Jumbos?”

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Am I Very Smart? If I Am Very Smart, I’m Going To Dumb Down Myself As Quickly As I Can.

Most of you know I’m not that smart. “Smartfella” came about as a play around with not wanting to be uncovered as the publisher of my Foolishness…Or Is It Blog while at the same time being famous for publishing my Blog. 

Am I starting to lose you? Hang with me a little longer and I’ll try and find you and bring you back.

When I started I had visions being famous for my Blog but actually doing it in secret so I could go about my daily routines anonymously. That part of my vision came together in fine fashion because I have never been asked for my autograph.

Being Sly Cunning and Alert I came up with the idea of calling myself Smart Alex (because my name was Alex) but since that might give away my anonymity, I came up with Smartfella (see how smart I can be when I put my mind to it).

There is a lot wrong with the above plan of action. Not least of which is I did not become very famous. Proof of that is I published a book of some of my blog postings and I sold less than a hundred of copies of the book. I would not have flirted with the hundred number except for that fact that a number of my relatives felt obligated to buy a book.

I called my book the World’s Greatest Bathroom Book but, since I sold less than a hundred of them, I probably should have called it A Bathroom Book.

Mao Zedong wrote The Little Red Book (some sources claim 6.5 billion copies have been distributed). My book is green so I could have called it The Little Green Book (but Muammar Gaddafi did that one). Time has proven The Little Read Book would have proven more appropriate.

************

Today I found out that I really don’t want to be the smartest man of all time. The smartest man that we know of led an awful life.

No, his name was not Einstein (IQ estimated to be 160). His name was William James Sidis (IQ fell somewhere between 250 and 300). 

Read the link below to come to an understanding of how smart I am to not want to be as smart as he was…
https://www.quora.com/Who-was-the-smartest-person-of-all-time

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

TinyHandsGate

ESPN ran a story headlined…

JOE BURROW MEASURED WITH 9-INCH HANDS AT THE NFL COMBINE

Most people probably looked at this headline and wondered whether 9-Inch Hands were Good or Bad.

ESPN tried to make it sound Worst than Bad until the Sporting World started laughing at them and then they tried to back away from their “shocking” scoop but it was too late.

Was it Forrest Gump who first said, “Silly is as Silly is”?

Here is the kind of Silliness that made ESPN look Silly…

ESPN’s Adam Schefter could hardly contain himself when he said on the air, “The combine’s all about picking apart players and finding flaws. We have found a flaw in Joe Burrow before the combine really gets under way”.

To back up their big story ESPN threw out some “Damning Numbers”…

• Burrow’s hands were now officially a half-inch shorter than last year’s Number 1 Quarterback Draft Pick, Kyler Murray (9.5-inch hands).
  >>>The not silly people said, “Doesn’t anyone at ESPN have a ruler handy? A half inch ain’t that much”. 
• ESPN came back with a Yea But and offered up that Burrow’s hands were even shorter than the Number 1 Quarterback Draft Pick from 2 years ago revealing that Baker Mayfield’s hands were 9.25-inches big.
  >>>The Not Silly people pointed out that 9.25-inches was even less than 9.5-inches and 9.5-inches was already established in the above bullet as being a Silly Little Bit Bigger than Burrow’s 9-inch hands.
• Before ESPN could muster up another Yea But they were hit in their collective Silly Faces by the fact that this year’s Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Quarterback, Patrick Mahomes has 9.25-inch hands.

At this point ESPN saw the Silly in their Foolish Position and cranked up their word processors to publish this turnaround headline…

WHY THE NFL COMBINE BUILT A MYTH AROUND QB HAND SIZE. IT IS A MEASUREMENT THAT DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING.

I guess the Devil (Combine) Made Them Do It.

Unless the Cincinnati Bengals prove to be Stupider than ESPN is Silly they are going to pick Joe Burrow as the Number 1 Pick in the NFL Draft. If Cincinnati can have a season that is half as big a turn around as the above ESPN headline, they will have had their best season in a long time.

Fella is not very far out on a limb by making the above statement because the Cincinnati Bengals have not won a playoff game since 1990 which is 6 years before Joe Burrow was born.

Cincinnati will take a chance on Joe Tiny Hands Burreaux and pick him #1. Besides Tigers don’t have hands anyway. They got Paws!

Would I kid u?
Smartfella

Lagniappe: If I were to list all the records Joe Burrow had set in his 2 years at LSU I would surpass the Elastic Limit of my Blog. Come to think of it there is no way Joe Burrow using his 9” Tiny Hands could possibly have set all those records, therefore, the records he did set are hereby declared Null and Void and he officially did not do what he did do.

Adapting To The Coronavirus Panic

Just in case you are planning to head out to Walmart or Target or the Grocery Store in the morning to stock up on Hand Sanitizer I am here to help you find the exact location inside the store used for stocking your life-saving Hand Sanitizer.


There are 2 things that will show you where to go as soon as you enter the store…

• Start looking around the store for a large crowd of people. It won’t take long because the large crowd of people will be very large.
• The shelf that the large crowd is gathered around is certain to be the location where the store displays their offering of Hand Sanitizer.

I will give you 2 other hints that you have found the right location…

• Not one single bottle of Hand sanitizer will be on the shelves.
• The Large Crowd staring at the empty shelves will be Weeping and Gnashing their teeth.

Prepare yourself. It is going to be an awful sight to behold.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella


Lagniappe: There is hope. As you leave the store you will have a chance to buy a $.98 bottle of Hand Sanitizer from an Early Bird Entrepreneurial Shopper for $10. Yes, he will be smiling.

I've Had It With Election Up To Here! If You Figure Out Where "Here" Is, Go Up Higher!

Fuggedaboutit!

In the Good Ole USofA we are always having elections. It’s one of the pain-in-the-butt things we have to put up with because we live in a Democratic Country. I do not want to change that but the Politicians keep making us shout, “Aghhhh!” while they run for office.

They take advantage of us because we have a propensity to believe what they tell us during their campaigns for office because we want to believe what they tell us during their campaigns for office.

I once heard a leader of one of our political parties say, ‘Yea, Yea Politicians Say A Lot of Things When They Run for Office’. (I used single quotes because the quote is not exact but it is the essence of what she said.)

She gave this response when asked about something one of her elected party members was doing in office that was in contradiction to what he had said he was going to do before he was elected. 

The saddest part is she laughed when she said it. Watching her laugh made me feel Gullible and a Bit Silly that I had believed her guy.

************

While running for election one of our New State Governors promised to, “Fix the Damn Roads”. When she said, “Fix the Damn Roads” during a debate it was suggested that to do that she would need to raise gas taxes by $0.20 a gallon. She labeled this contention as “ridiculous”. 

After being elected her first budget proposal contained an increase in the gasoline tax of $0.45 a gallon.

She then admitted that much of her new tax to fix those roads wasn’t going to be used for fixing those roads.

The slogan to “Fix the Damn Roads” was effective. It is sad that, all too often, we vote for slogans and, all too often, we end up feeling Gullible and a Bit Silly.

************

This Blog Posting could have ended with the word “Silly” above but this horse ain’t dead yet.

Recently a politician was found keeping his campaign promises and he came in for criticism because he was actually keeping his Campaign Promises. His opposition actually said (single quotes again)…

'The only reason he is doing this is to keep a Campaign Promise'

Keeping a Campaign Promise sounds like a good reason to do something after you are elected because you made Campaign Promises to get elected but what do I know I’m Gullible and a Bit Silly.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

The News You Won’t See On The News

Recently a parishioner in a church stood up with a shotgun and started killing other parishioners. Within 6 seconds of the Killer Parishioner starting to kill other parishioners a Good Guy with a Gun Parishioner stood up and killed the Killer Parishioner. That’s very fast action on the part of the Good Guy with a Gun Parishioner but not fast enough to save 2 parishioners who the Killer Parishioner had already killed.

After this had happened a Presidential Candidate said that the Good Guy with a Gun Parishioner who killed the Killer Parishioner before he could kill more parishioners should not have been allowed to have a gun in his possession in such a crowded place.

The Presidential Candidate explained that the police should have been called and hopefully they would have gotten to the church in time to stop the Killer Parishioner before he could kill more parishioners.

(It is important to note that the Killer Parishioner had 7 more rounds in his shotgun and 3 more rounds in his pocket at the time that the Good Guy with a Gun Parishioner made him dead. Also we should not forget that in November 2017 a gunman killed 26 people at a Texas Baptist church.)

The Presidential Candidate said this…

“Somebody in the congregation had their own gun and killed the person who murdered two other people, but it is the job of law enforcement to have guns and to decide when to shoot. You just do not want the average citizen carrying a gun in a crowded place.”

When Fella heard what the Presidential Candidate had said Fella said this…

 “Everyone is entitled to his own stupid opinion”.

************

This whole church shooting incident, of course, made the National News. As part of this Blog Posting I am including 3 pages from American Rifleman Magazine. Pages such as these do not make the National News…

No matter what a Presidential Candidate says there are those who are paid to cover for them. In this case the Presidential Candidate’s Campaign Manager stepped up to do what he is paid to do. I wonder if, before he said this, he thought to himself, “Am I really going to say this?” and after he said this did he think to himself, “Did I really say that?”

The Presidential Candidate’s Campaign Manager then dug his hole deeper by saying in an appearance on TV: “My Candidate supports his right to carry a gun. We salute him. But the question is should anyone who is criminally insane be able to get a gun? I would say no”.

Fella thinks to himself, Mr. Campaign Manager, the Good Guy with a Gun Parishioner who killed the Killer Parishioner while he was in the act of killing other parishioners thanks you for your “salute” but who said anything about the Criminally Insane? Certainly, your Presidential Candidate didn’t”.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

A Rule Meant To Shield Officials From Frivolous Lawsuits Now Protects Unconstitutional Conduct

Shaniz West was rushing to register one of her children for school when she found five local police officers surrounding her house in Caldwell, Idaho. They were looking for her ex-boyfriend, who was wanted on firearms charges. Ms. West told them she didn’t think he was in the house—he wasn’t supposed to be—but she said they could go inside to check. She handed over her keys and left.


The officers didn’t go inside to check. They called in the SWAT team and launched an hour’s long siege, repeatedly using shotguns to blast tear-gas grenades into every living space in the home. Afterward, the place was a wreck. There were broken windows, holes in the walls and ceilings, and a sticky yellow film that covered all of Ms. West’s possessions. The ex-boyfriend was nowhere in sight. The police had spent the day bombarding a house that was empty except for Ms. West’s dog, Blue.


The home was uninhabitable, and Ms. West and her children spent the next two months homeless. She sued the officers responsible, arguing that the warrantless destruction of her home violated her Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.

************

Of course, Shaniz West won the law suit. She has used the significant monetary judgment to buy a much nicer house in a much nicer neighborhood. She, her children and their dog have put this awful episode behind them and have moved on with their lives.


The above paragraph above is a Fella Fabrication. No such outcome has come out. This saga got worse and worse and went on and on.

************

The officers’ defense was that they didn’t need a warrant because they had Ms. West’s consent: When she said it was OK to enter the house, they argued, that was the end of things: Once a person gives consent to enter a home they “cannot limit the tactical plan and safety precautions used by police officers to conduct the consent search”.


No judge has held that what the officers did to Ms. West was legal. 


Go back and read the above sentence again and push your bulging eyes back into their empty sockets so you can read on.

************

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected her claim. Ms. West lost because of a rule called Qualified Immunity: A government official can be held liable for civil-rights violations only if the constitutional rule he broke was “clearly established”.


It seems unfair to punish someone for breaking a rule he could not have known about. But the earlier standard also required that the official’s action be objectively reasonable. And judges often apply an absurd level of precision in defining the rule before asking if it is “clearly established”.


Take Ms. West’s case. Nobody seriously believes that consent to enter a home is permission to lob grenades into it. But no court has ever decided the question because this is the first time anybody has made the argument. Since no court has considered it, Qualified Immunity means Ms. West loses. As long as an official’s conduct is Uniquely Outrageous, it’s impossible to hold him liable for it.


Yes, my dear readers, the law makes a distinction between “outrageous” and “uniquely outrageous”.

************

I have been sitting here at my silly computer trying to come up with a bit of Foolishness to close out this Blog Posting but I am stumped. If you have been waiting for the day when Fella was speechless, your wait is over.


Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: Wait…Wait…I have come up with a Bit of Foolishness after all. Has anyone determined that it is permissible under the law to Sue a Judge for being Uniquely Outrageous?

It All Started With Us Being Told That We Did Not “Own” Our Dogs Any Longer

Be careful when you are presented with a Bright Idea. Check out the source. The Bright Idea may have come from a Dimwit.

It is not a Giant Leap for Mankind to say that the person who bought a professional sports team is not the owner of the professional sports team he bought but that’s what “they” are saying.

I hope that one day “they” will be brought under control but right now “they” are having their way with us.

***************

The first time I heard, “The Owner Does Not Own That Team”, it did not come from a disgruntled player but, instead, it came out of the mouth of the Commissioner of the National Basketball Association.

Changing the word from “Owner” to “Guardian” (or “Custodian” or “Keeper”) does not convey anything other than Foolishness to this Fella.

The Owner (now called “Guardian”) paid Millions of Dollars for a Sports Franchise and he has also acquired the right to make or lose a lot of money. It also means he now has many new responsibilities…

• He pays the rent on the Stadium where his team plays.
• He pays the player’s salaries that play in the stadium he rents for his players to play in.
• He pays for the clothing the players wear when they play the games.
• He pays for the Travel Expenses (air fare, lodging, food) when they go out of town to play games.
• When the players get hurt he pays for their medical treatment.
• When they do not play because they are hurt he continues to pay their salaries.

I’ve mentioned in one of my earlier Blog Postings that at the Surrender Ceremony at Yorktown the British Army Band played The World Turned Upside Down. The way things are going, this song just might become #1 on the TV Show Your Hit Parade (if we still had a TV Show Your Hit Parade).

***************

Today everything is Changing and/or under attack to Change…

• There is a dramatic rise in Divorce and Cohabitation rather than Marriage.
• Some retail clothing stores are no longer selling Blue Clothing for Male Babies and Pink Clothing for Female Babies.
• We are holding panel discussions about whether or not there are such things as Males and Females.
• The percentage of Americans who Don’t Identify With Any Religious Group is up to 26% from 10% in 2010.
• In Africa Christians are being brutally slaughtered by the tens of thousands and no one is taking notice.
  >>>There is always the hope that we will take notice, except during Football Season…Or will we?
• Candidates for the Presidency of the United States are saying that money is owed by people who never owned slaves to people who never were salves.
• People are suing because they ate a peanut, smelled a peanut or saw a person eat a peanut.
  >>>Each year in the Good Ole USofA about 100 people die because they ate a Peanut.
  >>>We ought to ban the Peanut!
  >>>Each year about 100 people die because of Forklift Truck Accidents.
  >>>We ought to ban the Forklift Truck!
  

• People are falling to the ground because they bumped into things, tripped over things or walked into fountains in malls while they were looking down at their cell phones and then getting up and staggering away while looking down at their cell phones.
• People all over the Good Ole USofA are championing the Health Benefits of Marijuana and people who are against the spread of Marijuana are being labeled Out of Touch with Reality. (Actually a lot of people are questioning whether Reality is Real.)
• People are not paying attention to driving while driving cars…
  >>>They drive with dogs in their laps.
  >>>They drive while talking on their cell phones.
  >>>They drive while eating.
  >>>I was stopped at a light a few years ago watching a lady stopped at a light to my right. She had a dog going nuts in her lap because it was excited about something or other. She was talking on her cell phone with one hand. As she pulled away from the light she reached up with her other hand and took a bite out of a sub sandwich.
  >>>You might say she got the Hat Trick. (The term "hat trick" as it relates to sports actually originated in British cricket. A bowler who retired three batsmen with three consecutive balls was entitled to a new hat at the expense of the club to commemorate this feat.)
•  Waiters are walking around our restaurants covered with Tattoos…
  >>>One of these waiters told me he paid $1,700 for the single arm he had tattooed.
  >>>Does waiting tables pay this much?
  >>>Fella Side Note: My Dermatologist told me that Tattooed Skin is hard to diagnose for Skin Cancer.
  >>>When lists are published naming the Top 10 Richest People in the Good Ole USofA we now see that 5 of them are Tattoo Artist. (Did you just shout at your computer, “Fella, you made that up!” OK, I admit I did make that up…Or did I?)
• Politicians who propose to Lower Taxes are being labeled Evil and politicians who propose to raise taxes are being called Champions of the People.
• Dogs are leading people around retail stores that used to have signs on the front door saying... "No Dogs Allowed".
• As I stagger around my local park trying to keep my heart from attacking me, it is not uncommon for me to see other parkers being pulled around by 4 to 5 to as many as 6 dogs.
  >>>To be perfectly honest, the 6 dogged people were 2 people (3 dogs each).
  >>>I actually got into a discussion about marriage with one of the two 6 dog people and he told me the only reason he got married was so he could have someone to handle the other 3 dogs. (I did see 2 people being pulled by 6 dogs but I made up the part about their marriage arrangement…Or did I?)

***************

From watching TV Commercials we are all now aware that Dogs Can Talk. How long will it be before the dogs will be telling us what to do?

I think they would not dare to tell us what to do if we owned them instead of just standing guard over them.

We used to have Guard Dogs but now we have Guard People.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: In preparing this Foolishness I DuckDuckGoed “expensive cell phones”. I was looking to see if there were any phones costing more than the $1,400 phone I read about the other day. The answer is yes there are! How much higher? If I told you they can cost into the millions of dollars, you would think I was kidding you. Click below to see if I was kidding you… https://www.wonderslist.com/10-most-expensive-mobile-phones-in-the-world/

No AttaGirls For These Awful Creatures!

The University of Montana asked students, staff and community members to participate in an essay contest on the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. When the school released the results last month, Montana students and race activists across the country stood up and gave the 4 winning female essayist a hardy round of applause.

What’s wrong with the above paragraph? What’s wrong with it is Fella falsified the last 14 words. Here is the full paragraph without the last 14 falsified words…

The University of Montana asked students, staff and community members to participate in an essay contest on the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. When the school released the results last month, Montana students and race activists across the country accused university officials of racism and disrespect. That’s because all four winners were white. Turns out some would rather the school had honored King by judging entrants on the color of their skin rather than the content of their submissions.

***************

Here in Bullet Point Format are the Key Points of the Rest of the Story (yes, the late Paul Harvey is helping me assemble this bit of Foolishness)…

• The four contest winners started receiving threats.
• The African-American studies program, which had sponsored the contest, removed their photos and essays from its website. 
• A central fact—no black students had even submitted an essay—failed to defuse the racism charge.
• Critics blasted “shameful” university officials for holding a contest at all. 
• A lecturer on the college race circuit admonished the University for thinking that “there is a universality around writing an essay,” when in reality blacks express themselves “completely different.” 
• One black student sniffed that participating would have been a “sellout/compromise.”  “Having grown up in all white spaces,” he posted on Facebook, “I often avoided events such as this because I knew the purpose was a performative gesture from the administration.” (How the student determines when events are not “performative gestures” was left unspecified.)

Fella’s Educational Insertion

Performativity is a complex concept that can be thought of as a language which functions as a form of social action and has the effect of change. The concept has multiple applications in diverse fields such as anthropology, social and cultural geography, economics, gender studies, law, linguistics, performance studies, and history, philosophy. (Source: Wikipedia)

Now don’t you feel smarter? I know I don’t.

• The African-American studies program was denounced for not canceling the competition when the organizers realized the skin color of the six entrants. 
• “I cannot understand how anyone would think remembering the legacy of MLK Jr. is achieved by giving four white girls a shout out,” wrote a critic.
• Outraged observers accused the contest committee of not specifically soliciting submissions from black students. 
• In fact, the committee, whose majority consisted of “persons of color,” including the presidents of the Black Student Union and the Latino Student Union, had asked members of the Black Student Union to participate. 
• The students’ failure to do so, despite a $250 first prize, was nonetheless deemed the university’s fault and another instance of the university silencing minority voices. 
• Woke white students declared that they would never presume to write about MLK and racism, since doing so would be an example of “speaking OVER black voices.” 
• If no white students had submitted an essay that too would have demonstrated campus bigotry.

(Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.)

• The demographics of the University of Montana student body and faculty were cited as evidence for the white supremacy charge. The undergraduate population is 79% white and 1% black; the faculty is nearly 90% white. (Never mentioned was the state’s demographics: 89% white and 0.6% black.)
• The university has been predictably repentant, calling the criticism “fair.” Yet its Facebook page also notes, with a hint of exasperation, that a student’s skin color does not preclude him from submitting an essay or working toward equality.

***************

All of this would make Martin Luther King sad because his colorblind ideal has been thoroughly repudiated: whites who write about implementing Dr. King’s legacy today are threatened, rather than welcomed to the cause.

Rodney Glen King would be sad also. During the riots, on May 1, 1992, Rodney made a television appearance in which he said...

I just want to say – you know – can we all get along? Can we, can we get along? Can we stop making it horrible for the older people and the kids? And ... I mean we've got enough smog in Los Angeles let alone to deal with setting these fires and things ... It's just not right. It's not right and it's not going to change anything. We'll get our justice. They've won the battle, but they haven't won the war. We'll get our day in court and that's all we want. And, just, uh, I love – I'm neutral. I love every – I love people of color. I'm not like they're making me out to be. We've got to quit. We've got to quit; I mean after all, I could understand the first – upset for the first two hours after the verdict, but to go on, to keep going on like this and to see the security guard shot on the ground – it's just not right. It's just not right, because those people will never go home to their families again. And uh, I mean please, we can, we can get along here. We all can get along. We just gotta. We gotta. I mean, we're all stuck here for a while. Let's, you know, let's try to work it out. Let's try to beat it, you know. Let's try to work it out.

Fella to Rodney…The final chapter is yet to be written so there is still hope but, at this point in time, it appears we can’t all get along.

(I did not write the bulk of the above. This material came from an article in the Wall Street Journal by Heather Mac Donald and it was published on Feb. 6, 2020.)

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: There is a lot of sad above but probably the saddest sad is this bullet… “The four contest winners started receiving threats.”

Lagniappe More: The University sort of defended itself in a Facebook Post but it did more groveling than defending.

This part of their “defense” was especially interesting: 

The committee members who judged the essays were both white and people of color, and the process of judging included removing the authors’ names and identifying information from the essays, also called “blind judging.”

Read it, if you want… https://www.facebook.com/umontana/posts/10159172552917646?__tn__=K-R&mod=article_inline