Sunday 26 July 2020

How 'Compound' Neighborhoods Work

Looking at the Seattle, Portland, LA, and San Francisco environment....homelessness....drug activity....police defunding...it's difficult to see the current home situation continuing 'as is'.  In ten to twenty years, it wouldn't surprise if new neighborhood rise up out of the 'ashes', and become compound neighborhoods like you see in South Africa.

The way these work?

You leave the main road and go down a street where a guard post exists....typically with two or three armed guys. Behind the gate will be two jeep-like vehicles with two guys in each vehicle.....heavily armed.

You flash your entry badge and the gate rises.  You go down the guarded street to your home....feeling safe and secure.  You enter the home to find a gun locker near the front-door. 

The regional laws are written in a way that should anyone cross the wire and enter the area....the guard crews can react with deadly force. 

In South Africa, this is the accepted form of security.  You as the resident....pay the neighborhood 'company' to survey the fence-line, monitor cameras, and control entry to the neighborhood.  The police?  They are not part of your security, and generally.....there's enough laws to make them more or less....the clean-up crew after the private security folks have done the job necessary.

All of this is coming to the west coast and probably Minneapolis....over the next twenty years.  People will laugh about the first big secure neighborhood put up and the crew hired to protect people and property.  But eventually.....everyone who makes 'real' money....will buy into such neighborhoods.

Consulate Discussion

For the record, because news organization never ask these questions....up until last week, there were five Chinese consulates in the US.  With the Houston facility 'closed'.....there are now four left:

1.  LA
2.  SF
3. Chicago
4.  New York

The Chinese reaction by the forced closure?  They picked the US facility in Chengdu to close.

The rumor that the Chinese will shut down the US consulate in Hong Kong?  Just a rumor.  The Chinese would have to calculate that one of their consulates on the US west coast would then be picked for the next closure. 

West Coast of Wasington

For 13 months, I was stationed and lived in the Tacoma area of Washington state in the early 1980s.

For years after I left, I had this 'desire' to return and live there.  I'd call it more of an enchantment than anything else.

First, there was the weather.  It was never truly hot in the summer, or bitter-cold in the winter.  Total snowfall for that period there....just over 1.5 inches. I admit....it rained two-hundred-odd days out of the year (usually a 30-minute passing of showers).

Second, within a six-hour drive, you had probably fifty-different state or national parks/forest areas.  If you just wanted to go to a beach and watch the sun go down....it was the perfect place.

Third, at least in that era of the early 1980s, you could go anywhere in the region and feel fairly safe.  Even downtown Seattle, was this hub of no activity. 

I think a lot of military people passed through the region and felt the same way.  It had charm and character.  It was quiet, and had all this landscape.  Today?  I'm not so sure about the charm or character. 

The Thing About Gun Safety

I noticed in the news this morning....one of these protest events....in Louisville, Kentucky, resulted in some BLM armed militia group making a 'show'. 

The thing about the past BLM armed militia 'shows'....they seem to be dressed up for the occasion (cammo gear), and look remarkably 'fake' (like actors). 

From this event in Louisville, an interesting thing happen.  Somewhere in the handling of the weapons, one of the guys had the weapon of 'fire' instead of 'safety'.  The weapon went off....couple of rounds...wounding three of his associates.

The comment by militia head guy?  "Things like this happen". 

In general, you have to rely on folks around handling their weapon properly.  So the bothersome piece of this event is that you get the impression that some of these folks have never held a gun in their life, and never received true gun safety classes in their life.  Yet here they are.....some might be true militia folks.....some might be actors for the day and holding guns.

So this brings me to the Barney-moment. Andy allows took away all of Barney's bullets, giving one single bullet for his pocket.  It was good gun-safety that Andy applied.  I look at the militia folks and think they might want to go the same way.  Hand an empty clip to the guy to parade around in, and then hand him a filled clip for his pocket (should it be required). 

The three wounded folks?  No one says much, but I would imagine that their wives are asking some serious questions about where they were, and what they were doing yesterday.