11th hour crap…

Posted on by September 22, 2023

AGAIN!!!

No CR, no budget, and no ‘guarantee’ of continuation of pay… except for the congresscritters…

Folks in the military can’t afford to miss paydays. There is never enough ‘extra’ money at the end of the pay period to carry one through, unless the spouse has a GOOD job. And with recruitment/reenlistments down, the last thing needed is to wonder if they will get paid.

Lawmakers are prepping plans to guarantee paychecks for troops and in case of a government shutdown next month, arguing that jeopardizing military family finances could hurt national security.

If successful, the moves would blunt some of the potential impact of shuttering of federal services by ensuring that servicemembers’ pay — including members of the Coast Guard — would continue uninterrupted. But Congress has only a week to adopt the legislation in order to head off any military paycheck problems.

Full article, HERE from Military Times.

Under Carter, there were ‘hints’ that we might not get paid, and I don’t honestly remember if we discussed not coming in to work. In 1976, I think, there was also talk of ‘unionization’ of the military due to dissatisfaction over pay and allowances. I think that is the only reason we got the pay raises we did in 79.

 

Dual tier justice again???

Posted on by September 21, 2023

This one kinda ‘slipped through the cracks’, as they say…

He was originally charged with criminal vehicular homicide, but ‘admitted’ he ran over the kid because he was a Republican… But not charged as a hate crime.

After the uproar, the charge was upgraded to a AA Felony for murder, with life without parole as one possibility.

Now, less than a year later,  in May, we get this…

A man who confessed to killing a teenager he falsely accused of being associated with a “Republican extremist group” got a slap-on-the-wrist prison sentence after his murder charge was downgraded to manslaughter in the high-profile North Dakota case.

Earlier this month, 42-year-old Shannon Joseph Brandt was sentenced to just five years behind bars for the Sept. 18, 2022, slaying of 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson. District Court Judge Bradley A. Cruff handed Brandt the punishment on Sept. 8 after he pleaded guilty to the reduced manslaughter charge, a Class B felony that carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison.

Full article, HERE.

This, to me, just proves there are two tiers of justice, one for their side, and one for our side. And guess which one gets the ‘worse’ end of the stick???

And then there is this ‘gem’ from Chuck U Schumer…

Can you say Brownshirts? I knew you could…

Anybody wanna bet on which way their ‘justice’ is going to go???

 

 

And here we go!!!

Posted on by September 20, 2023

This is going to be interesting to watch!

A collection of bestselling authors, including Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin and legal drama writer John Grisham, has sued ChatGPT developer OpenAI for using their writing to train the artificial intelligence without paying.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday by the writer’s advocacy group known as the Authors Guild, claims that the chatbot uses the works of famous authors to train its answers without providing sufficient compensation for the creators. It’s the latest action by creators worldwide to ensure proper compensation as more and more people adopt generative tools like ChatGPT.

Full article, HERE from the Washington Examiner!

When you add these to the suits against the ‘art’ AI people, they whole AI thing ‘could’ collapse if they win in court, because of the massive copyright violations on these systems to ‘train’ the AIs.

I’ma need more popcorn…

 

Huh, that’s…odd…

Posted on by September 19, 2023

Looks like Ray Epps is ‘finally’ getting charged…

Ray Epps was charged with one misdemeanor count of “Disorderly or Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1752(a)(2)” according to a charging document filed on Monday and made public on Tuesday. 

Signed by United States Attorney Matthew Graves, the charging document is brief in its explanation.

Full article, HERE from Townhall.

I can’t help but wonder if the left is finally throwing him under the bus, now that his usefulness is done…

We’ve got weather moving in, so I’m going to quit here and shut the computer down. Y’all go read the folks on the sidebar, and I’ll hopefully be able to comment this morning.

Here we go…

Posted on by September 18, 2023

Again…

The LAST time a budget was actually passed on time was…wait for it…

1996!

House Republicans will try again this week to advance their funding outline for the Defense Department in fiscal 2024, just a few days after far-right lawmakers derailed leadership’s plans to move ahead on the budget measure.

The chamber was set to vote on the $826 billion plan last week, but Republican leaders shelved the legislation after members of the GOP’s right-of-right Freedom Caucus indicated they would not support the bill without promises of additional cuts to non-defense spending. That left the appropriations measure without enough backing to pass, since Democrats have already raised objections to the Republicans’ proposed limits on abortion access for troops and other social issues in the measure.

Full article, HERE from the Federal Times.

This is going to end up with another CR, and dire warnings about delayed, cancelled military pay, retiree pay, Social Security, etc. but you NEVER hear about any possible delays to entitlements…

Gah! It’s LONG past time for term limits, because Congress is nothing more than an old folks home now, with idiots up there who cannot function but are being told how to vote by the unelected bureaucrats that hide behind the scenes!

And now the Senate is ‘modifying’ their dress code, HERE, to cater to Fetterman, so he can come on the Senate floor in shorts, a hoodie, and showershoes!

Really??? The supposedly ‘most august’ body can now come to work dressed however they want? Pajamas? Curlers in their hair? Will they try to top Wallyworld???

 

Back in battery…

Posted on by September 17, 2023

Home from P-Con, fun was had, saw a lot of friends, hopefully made a few, and did a bunch of panels.

Bravo Zulu to the organizers for putting on a nice little con for the first time!

Made the obligatory visit to the Krasnovian Embassy too!

My only complaint is one that I make after every con… Too little time to actually sit and chat with folks! Dang it! As usual, I’m brain fried from actually having to ‘think’ from two days… LOL

Thanks to those that bought copies of my books, and hopefully they will leave a review or two!!!

Chiraq…

Posted on by September 16, 2023

Is only getting worse…

When Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) ran for office, he was propelled to victory by a growing socialist movement allied with the Democratic Party.  The Socialist movement has elected a record number of socialists in Congress. However, Johnson now has one of the largest American cities to implement such policies with the support of the far left teacher’s union. Years ago, I wrote how a delegation of the union went to Venezuela and heaped praise on the murderous regime’s “progress.” Now Johnson appears to be moving toward a pilot program with great significance for socialist supporters: state-run grocery stores.

Full article HERE!

This isn’t going to end well, but ‘we’ know that. Of course they ARE getting what they voted for!

Sigh…

On the road again…

Posted on by September 13, 2023

Down in DFW for P-Con, my last con of the year, link HERE.

We’ll be at the The Westin Dallas Fort Worth Airport

4545 W. John Carpenter Freeway, Irving, Texas

My schedule!

Friday
Reading 3:00 PM Pecan
No Shit, There I Was 10:00 PM Main Events Stories from military, law enforcement and EMT’s. Adults Only
Saturday
Cross-Discipline Collaboration 11:00 AM Post Oak Why Having Friends in Multiple Fields Can Make Your Writing Better
The Other 98% of the Military 12:00 PM Post Oak Support, Logistics and Engineering. How do they work and how can they show up in fiction?
Future Weapons 3:00 PM Post Oak A discussion on what weapons will look like in the future.
Cussing in Sci Fi and Fantasy 5:00 PM Post Oak What makes a good curse word and which are our favorites? What’s the purpose of cussing?
Sunday
Why do I Write? Pt 2 10:00 AM Post Oak Panelists get together to talk about what got them started and why they keep going.
My Favorite Monster 12:00 PM Post Oak Panelists discuss their favorite monsters
SF Inspiration 2:00 PM Trinity III How has Science Fiction inspired your work?

 

If you’re in the area, drop by and say hi!

Getting old sucks…

Posted on by September 13, 2023

Lost another friend day before yesterday…

Granted, that is the price we pay for getting old, and a lot of us got rode hard and put up wet while we were on active duty. Not all of us made it to retirement, and we always remembered those who left us early.

But lately, it seems like we’re losing one a week or so…

Thinking back, I met Jonesy 45 years ago when I was an instructor in VP-30 and he was one of the ‘new kids’ going through the FRS. Inquisitive, hard worker, and always laughing.

After Hunt for Red October came out, we joked that we had the ‘real’ Jonesy! And it wasn’t a joke. I know some sonar techs that learned a few things from him.

He was truly one of the best analysts that I worked with over the years, multiposition qualified, and always willing to take a det, or sit down with the ‘kids’ to teach them how to do ASW.

After he retired, he continued working for the Navy, continuing teaching the ‘kids’ in trainers and as an SME for both Hawaii and Whidbey Island.

He was quite the professional, told great sea stories, had a witty and dry sense of humor, and was a friend. I saw him in Hawaii for the last time in 2016, took him to lunch, and had a great time reminiscing about people and places. His body had ‘eaten’ his lungs a few years earlier, and he’d gotten two new ones via transplant, but was starting to have some issues with the transplants. Apparently, that was what took him day before yesterday. Prayers for his wife, and the kids.

Rest in peace my friend, your ‘kids’ have the watch…

Another one bites the dust…

Posted on by September 12, 2023

In Portland…

And this one is a biggie!

Nike is based in Beaverton, Oregon, which is a substantial inner-ring suburb of Portland. It is the fourth-largest employer in the area and only one out of two large employers that is not a health care system.

So it was a big deal when the corporation temporarily closed its flagship store due to safety concerns. It was a huge symbolic hit to the reputation of the city and an economic hit to the neighborhood in which it was based.

And now it’s permanently closed! HERE.

Get woke, go broke… Or in Portland’s case, kowtow to the left and go broke…

Along with Seattle, SFO, Chiraq, Bal’more, DC, and Philly. And NYC is catching up due to their ‘sanctuary city’ BS, now that they are having to actually DO some support…

LA is pretty much a lost cause, between the CA gov’t initiatives, city policies, and being overrun with homeless/illegals.

I’m SO glad I’m in Tiny Town, Texas, west of the Mississippi, and well away from both coasts and the idjits in charge out there.

Oh, and on a positive note, my new eyeball is ‘looking good’ according to the eye doc that poked and prodded it and shined bright lights in it yesterday… WHY does that #@%#%# light have to be SO bright???