Back in 1980, I was stationed up in Tacoma, Washington. One of the folks I associated with in the barracks....had a early-70s Ford Pinto. He'd bought it used for around $300.
I rode with him on maybe a dozen occasions.
Everything about the car....said 'failure'.
It had a v-6 engine and burned an entire tank of fuel every five to six days, yet this guy was just driving around the base and maybe a mile or two off-base. I doubt that he got more than eight or nine miles per gallon.
The engine burned oil....probably a can every three weeks.
The backside of the car, at least near the muffler....had this smell. It was somewhere between a dead possum smell (Alabama folks know this scent) or a burnt rubber scent. He felt it had something that came off the muffler.
The steering was marginal.
If you applied the brakes....it generally pulled to the driver's side. He'd wasted two trips to the mechanics....trying to have this resolved, and then finally gave up.
On the rear, rust was already starting to develop (6 year old car).
The seats had issues and he had a cushion there on each to make up for lack of comfort.
I brought it up one day....shouldn't you just dispose of it and give up on the $200 a month that you were spending on maintenance or repairs (on average)? He liked that idea, but didn't have the cash to afford anything that was better.
I kinda look at theses riots, the Antifa folks, and the looting, and see them as a 1974 Ford Pinto....loser mentality and nothing to attract me to their cause. The problem for them......probably 75-percent of the general public think the same thing. They aren't attracting folks....they are repelling them.
The folks sticking to the Antifa/Pinto deal? They just don't see an alternate situation.
Tuesday, 16 June 2020
A Dangerous Game
There was a poll done in the past week with truckers (an odd group, I will admit). Basically, 79-percent said they wouldn't go into cities with riots, or cities without police.
Now, you have to lean back and think over this.
Lets say that the city of Portland (population of 653k) made this decision. What would happen? Some truckers would continue to make the route into the city....without police, but this would only last sixty to ninety days. After that....most of this small group would then suggest a fee for each trip into a lawless area....maybe in the range of $1k per trip.
So to supply grocery operations? Some groceries would go and hire ex-Army or ex-Marines, and just fund convoy operations (bringing in 20 trucks, with five to eight military-type vehicles). Naturally, your grocery cost would go up.....probably 50-percent on a typical weekly bill of $125.
Eventually, grocery operations would cease within the city limits, and you'd see border towns with mega operations....which had a regular police force, and controlled riots.
The BIG hurt? Well....sales taxes. There's millions per week that Portland would normally collect. Without that money.....the city government and it's operations would quickly cease.
So imagine forty US mega cities conducting the same thing, and border cities getting the tax money while cities like Minneapolis or Chicago failed.
Then go and imagine telling this story to some idiot French or German guy.....that you can't buy groceries in Seattle or Portland, because of truckers refusing to participate in the whole 'joke'.
Now, you have to lean back and think over this.
Lets say that the city of Portland (population of 653k) made this decision. What would happen? Some truckers would continue to make the route into the city....without police, but this would only last sixty to ninety days. After that....most of this small group would then suggest a fee for each trip into a lawless area....maybe in the range of $1k per trip.
So to supply grocery operations? Some groceries would go and hire ex-Army or ex-Marines, and just fund convoy operations (bringing in 20 trucks, with five to eight military-type vehicles). Naturally, your grocery cost would go up.....probably 50-percent on a typical weekly bill of $125.
Eventually, grocery operations would cease within the city limits, and you'd see border towns with mega operations....which had a regular police force, and controlled riots.
The BIG hurt? Well....sales taxes. There's millions per week that Portland would normally collect. Without that money.....the city government and it's operations would quickly cease.
So imagine forty US mega cities conducting the same thing, and border cities getting the tax money while cities like Minneapolis or Chicago failed.
Then go and imagine telling this story to some idiot French or German guy.....that you can't buy groceries in Seattle or Portland, because of truckers refusing to participate in the whole 'joke'.
Bogus Perception
Here's the problem, we are at a point where 5-percent of the US population would readily believe something like this, and mention it to neighbors and associates. Just because some social media item passes it along or CNN reports something....doesn't make it factual. Think about things.
The Drowning Story
It's an odd statistic, and I would have thought bogus, except the WaPo brought this up.
On average....400 blacks (male and female) die each year in drowning episodes. If you use 2019 as the model....15 unarmed (note, meaning no knife or gun on them) blacks were killed by police.....then you as a black guy or gal....ARE 26 TIMEs more likely to drown than get shot by a cop (if unarmed).
I sat and paused over this.
Drownings, if you ever follow the stories....always circle back around to three causes: (1) drinking or drugs, (2) inability to swim, and (3) panic. In the case of inability to swim....this is where most kids end up being dead.
So all these hyped-up folks burning down buildings and staging looting....really doing nothing about the the key method of blacks being dead? Yeah....more or less.
Just something to sit there and be amused about death and how folks can't assemble facts.
On average....400 blacks (male and female) die each year in drowning episodes. If you use 2019 as the model....15 unarmed (note, meaning no knife or gun on them) blacks were killed by police.....then you as a black guy or gal....ARE 26 TIMEs more likely to drown than get shot by a cop (if unarmed).
I sat and paused over this.
Drownings, if you ever follow the stories....always circle back around to three causes: (1) drinking or drugs, (2) inability to swim, and (3) panic. In the case of inability to swim....this is where most kids end up being dead.
So all these hyped-up folks burning down buildings and staging looting....really doing nothing about the the key method of blacks being dead? Yeah....more or less.
Just something to sit there and be amused about death and how folks can't assemble facts.
Resolving This DWI Crap
DWI's used to be handled (at least in rural or small towns) with the cop testing the guy, and if drunk....taking them in the back seat of the car to their home. That 'gimmick' probably stopped in the 1980s, and it became popular to just detain the guy, charge them with the DWI, and settle up with a hefty fine, loss of the license for a while, and a couple of days in some city jail.
In some medium-sized cities today, I'd take a guess that half-a-million in DWI fines float through the city every month.
In California, it's a minimum of $1,400 and possibly up to $2,600 for a DWI, with 4 days in jail as the minimum (if you caused injuries or hefty damage, this jail-time there goes up to six months).
In Alabama, it's a minimum of $600 in fines, but could go up to $2,100. The loss of the license? Oh, that's 90 days.
In Indiana, depending on how much damage you do....it's a max fine of $5k, and a minimum of 60 days of jail-time.
After watching this Atlanta event unfold, I have a general suggestion.
After you (the cop) confirm the driver is drunk....you go and put a locking device on his wheels, then call the wrecker guys to come and tow it. The towed vehicle? It's city property once a judge assesses the test values. You lose the vehicle. Once the city sells the car.....some amount is deferred to you (maybe 10-percent....maybe 30-percent), but you only get that money after you go and spend a minimum of ten days in the city jail. If you don't want to spend the days in jail....fine, no cash from the sale of your car.
The odds of this guy finding some credit company to handle the purchase of another car? It diminishes a good bit.
This would take the cop basically out of the DWI business, and remove the fines as city revenue.
In some medium-sized cities today, I'd take a guess that half-a-million in DWI fines float through the city every month.
In California, it's a minimum of $1,400 and possibly up to $2,600 for a DWI, with 4 days in jail as the minimum (if you caused injuries or hefty damage, this jail-time there goes up to six months).
In Alabama, it's a minimum of $600 in fines, but could go up to $2,100. The loss of the license? Oh, that's 90 days.
In Indiana, depending on how much damage you do....it's a max fine of $5k, and a minimum of 60 days of jail-time.
After watching this Atlanta event unfold, I have a general suggestion.
After you (the cop) confirm the driver is drunk....you go and put a locking device on his wheels, then call the wrecker guys to come and tow it. The towed vehicle? It's city property once a judge assesses the test values. You lose the vehicle. Once the city sells the car.....some amount is deferred to you (maybe 10-percent....maybe 30-percent), but you only get that money after you go and spend a minimum of ten days in the city jail. If you don't want to spend the days in jail....fine, no cash from the sale of your car.
The odds of this guy finding some credit company to handle the purchase of another car? It diminishes a good bit.
This would take the cop basically out of the DWI business, and remove the fines as city revenue.
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