Sleepless in Midland

Let's stop begrudging court rulings that favor taxpayers over tax collectors

Apparently oil companies have been paying a Texas sales tax on certain items which they claim should be exempt. Sounds like a legitimate enough issue for the courts and an appropriate issue for a newspaper article. See Midland driller’s lawsuit could cost Texas billions in tax refunds which is a reproduction of a New York Times' partner, Texas Tribune, article a day earlier.

My issue is with the treatment given by the reporter. He calls the potential taxpayer refund a "cost," and that seems to mischaracterize the transaction.

If a business collected money for a product that was never delivered and then had to return the money, is that a "cost" to that business? There is probably a word for it, but "cost" doesn't seem consistent with ordinary meaning.

"Cost" is the word one uses when one is a fan of the notion that property and money really belong to the government -- whatever you get to keep is at the pleasure of the government. And if the the taxpayer dutifully paid the government through a misinterpretation of the statute, and the government is forced by a court to return it -- God forbid! -- that's not a cost. That is merely returning money to the rightful owner. That's justice.

Is Hillary Clinton above the law? The U.S. needs its own Magna Carta

Magna Carta Day is still four and a half months away, but it might not be too early to start shopping for a pint of celebratory ale to avoid the rush. Just kidding about the rush. But events of the day could easily drive a person to drink.

The more we learn about Hillary Clinton's emails the more frightening it becomes. Apparently, the highly secret information put into her easily hacked private system were too damaging to national security to release under any circumstances. What ever it was, our enemies have long since purloined it, digested it, and adapted their own strategic plans accordingly.

The question on many of our minds now is whether the Department of Justice will do anything to punish Hillary Clinton. Or is she really too big to jail? This brings us to the Magna Carta.

Way back in the year 1215 a bunch of British barons revolted against King John. The outcome was the signing of the Magna Carta on June 15 of that year. And the enduring principle to emerge from that historic document was that no one was above the law. That principle has been carried forth to most democracies, and especially the United States.

But this time is different. If Hillary Clinton really is too big to jail, then it might be time for another Magna Carta event.

New Trump reality show -- Supreme Court Justice Apprentice

Yesterday we talked about Hillary Clinton's response to the question of whether she would appoint Barack Obama to the Supreme Court. But there was also this among Clinton's remarks:

At a campaign event in Iowa Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton told the crowd the next president may have to appoint up to three Supreme Court justices.

Donald Trump is riding high right now, and let's extrapolate the polls and say he becomes President, and those three Supreme Court slots do open up.

Until he became a Republican candidate, Trump's views were not much different from those of the typical Democrat. We heard how he praised eminent domain, and in particular, the ruling in Kelo v. City of New London. We've heard him brag about how he could make deals with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Given that, Mitch McConnell would probably be a push over.

Donald Trump may not be inclined to appoint Obama, but otherwise, would his appointees be that much different from Hillary's?

Many Republican primary voters will factor that in. But to many of people filling the arena for Trump's appearances the idea of sticking a thumb in the eye of the Republican establishment is so intoxicating that any currently unknown consequence of a Trump administration is merely part of the ticket price.

Three Supreme Court justices -- that's one third of the Supreme Court.

Hillary Clinton flirts with idea of appointing Barack Obama to Supreme Court

Sometimes the jokes write themselves. But stranger things have happened. So it's useful to keep this in mind: Hillary Clinton ‘loves’ the idea of appointing Obama to Supreme Court. Excerpt:

“Wow, what a great idea. No one has ever suggested that to me, I love that, wow,” Mrs. Clinton said. ... “I mean, he’s brilliant, he can set forth an argument and he was a law professor,” she added.

"Law professor." Ha! Let's see what others have said about that particular claim:

Among the lies about himself Obama consistently repeats is that he was a constitutional law professor. 

Lie one:  Obama was never a professor; he was a lecturer.  He did not have the qualifications to be a professor. ...

Lie two: Obama did not specialize in the Constitution.  Obama cared about and taught only one subject: race.

But knowledge of the Constitution or any of the cases decided by the Supreme Court isn't important to a proponent of the "living constitution" theory, which as Randy Barnett said recently on C-Span, is whatever the believer in a "living constitution" wants the Constitution to mean.

But here's the really, really, important part of Clinton's remarks:

At a campaign event in Iowa Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton told the crowd the next president may have to appoint up to three Supreme Court justices.

A sobering thought that should give Republican primary voters something to chew on.

Midland needs a cartographer who can map the city's neighborhoods with accurate yet satirical labels

Map making used to be a profession that employed a lot of talented people in the energy exploration business. Maybe it still is, but a computer has probably replaced the drafting table, and technology has probably replaced the tools and labor involved in the practice.

In any event, there are probably some cartographers in town who could accomplish what someone did in Austin. Seems that some poor Austin city employee used an unauthorized map in a presentation and got put on admin leave for the effort. See Tolerant Austin, TX will not tolerate being made fun of. Check it out:

Midland needs a map like that -- a city map with labels that describe the people in those neighborhoods. After all, there's a universal tendency of people to congregate in communities and neighborhoods comprised of people like them. But forget ethnic labels -- that's so last century, and it's not worth the aggravation.

For starters, here are a few suggestions for neighborhood labels:

Old money
Wannabe ranchers
Cowboy boot camp
Industry bosses
Jet Rink land
Teacherville
The help
Roughneck country
Cookie cutters
Smart houses -- (smarter than the owners?)
Oil company camp town
Paid too much
Tomorrow land -- (the hanger where the Xcor mockup is stored)

Surely there is a draftsman who can produce something accurate enough to get a laugh. We'll show Austin how to take a joke.

Do voters want a third Obama term? Probably not, but don't tell Hillary.

Not too long ago President Obama was boasting that he would win a third term if he could run. Now he's singing a different tune. He's complaining about the toll his presidency has taken on him, and he wouldn't want to run again. He must have seen the polls.

I ran across this one while scrolling through a list of links I saved to read later. 65 Percent of Americans Would Not Vote for Obama Again

But what about Hillary? At times she seems to want to run as an Obama surrogate -- to serve an Obama third term. She must have polling that says her potential voters want that third term, they just don't want Obama. They want the third term with a new face.

It just goes to show that votes are placed more on personality than substance. [And when we think personality, we think Hillary. Ha ha! I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. -- Robo-ed]

The ban Trump Parliamentary debate -- no mention of a ban on Hillary

Hillary Clinton's emails have newsies' attention these day. But the whole business of the Clinton Foundation and the shady deals that were made and the huge donations they produced seems to have been forgotten. However, if Donald Trump's big mouth is enough to trigger a debate to get him banned from Britain, Hillary's sneaky deals should get her some attention, too.

But no. They wouldn't touch that. This is the classic dog-that-didn't-bark story. She and they are one and the same.

Shot Show 2016 -- oh, Trump was there too

The annual Shot Show could be the most premier gun show in the country. But unfortunately, it's not open to ordinary shooters. So when you see statements like the following, it's a good reminder that journalists don't generally know a lot about guns, gun shows, and the like. To wit:

Separate from the awards ceremony, the SHOT show annually draws thousands of attendees ranging from typical gun owners looking to see the latest firearms to hit the market, to manufacturers attempting to stand out among the competition.

It's basically a trade show for makers to show retailers their wares. All the "typical gun owners" get are tantalizing glimpses from someone who was actually allowed in. Hey, what do you know? Here's one right here.

 
I like this cute little 6 shot Kimber you see above. But as the "world’s lightest small-frame six-round .357 Magnum revolver," shooting more than a few rounds through it might be a bit hard on the hands.

Oh, almost forgot. Donald Trump made an appearance there, too.

What's the difference between socialists and Democrats?

The answer is easy enough.

According to Merriam-Webster, socialism means the following:

a way of organizing a society in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies

The difference is that Democrats believe major industries can be owned by individual people and companies, but they should be controlled by government. See the difference?

However, both Hillary Clinton and Debbie Wasserman Schultz dodge the question. Would the answer scare voters? Seems they think it will. So they continue to come up with new phrases, like progressive Democrat, to describe themselves. There. Problem solved and commoners mollified.

Americans: People should have the freedom to make their own mistakes.

Democrats: No. We should be able to make the mistakes for you.

Samuel Jackson wants to know what's in my wallet, William Devane wants to know what's in my safe -- hey guys, none of your damn bees' wax

Samuel Jackson wants us to do something with credit cards. Get one, charge more, buy more on credit. William Devane wants us to prep for financial breakdown by buying commodities. One wants to know what's in my wallet. The other wants to know what's in my safe. So go the TV commercials featuring these two.

Interest rates might be going up, due to the Fed's recent hike. Or they might go down due to fear we are heading back into a recession. But in either instance, who needs more credit card debt?

Commodities are in a free fall, and aren't likely to rise during any recession that may be coming. As for a real calamity, such as a blackout from a man-caused electrical grid breakdown, gold and silver may not be worth all that much. Food, water, fuel, medicine and bullets will be in high demand, and those gold coins would be worth only as much as someone wants to discount them for some future value in a better economy.

So both these guys are selling something we don't necessarily need right now. But as long as companies are willing to pay those actors, then more power to them. Best to think of them as mere entertainment. Not as good as the Geico ads, but entertainment nonetheless.

Donated blood -- what the phlebotomist said

I gave blood today, and in the departure briefing, the phlebotomist cautioned against certain activities: heavy lifting, exertion, and things like that.

While listing all the bad things she remarked that if I consumed alcohol it would go straight to my head. Wait a minute. That's a bad thing? Who says there's no benefit to giving blood?

So anyway, I've got that going for me.

Update. False alarm. Apparently there's a window of opportunity for that alcohol-straight-to-the-head result, and I waited too late. Don't make the same mistake. Seize the day before it seizes you.

123456 holds onto 1st place as most used password

It's always fun to see the list of most common passwords gleaned from published lists of purloined passwords. The most recent top 25 can be found at teamsid.com.

The top two maintained their positions on the list: "123456" and "password." And here's a new one on the list at #24: "passw0rd." Get it? Very clever. They used a zero instead of an o. The program probably required at least one number or character other than letters. Problem solved!

Of course, most of the stuff we have to seal with a password isn't worth stealing anyway. But it's like locking a car door. There may be nothing in there, but the idea of a thief browsing around in our personal space can be disturbing -- even more so knowing they can change the lock.

Via Washingtonpost.com which contained an easily copied HTML list of those 25, to wit:

1) 123456
2) password
3) 12345678
4) qwerty
5) 12345
6) 123456789
7) football
8) 1234
9) 1234567
10) baseball
11) welcome
12) 1234567890
13) abc123
14) 111111
15) 1qaz2wsx
16) dragon
17) master
18) monkey
19) letmein
20) login
21) princess
22) qwertyuiop
23) solo
24) passw0rd (using zero)
25) starwars

I had to look up letmein. Sounded foreign. Nope. Let me in. Doh!

Thank you MLK -- BHO, you can't take that away

Contrary to the song from "South Pacific," you don't have to be carefully taught that people who looked different were in fact different. It was simply a way of life. It was how things were. You had to be taught to change that attitude. And Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., opened a lot of hearts and minds.

Many of us who grew up prior to the civil rights movement were enlightened by King's famous speech. Don't judge a person by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Yes, indeed.

Barack Obama, Democrats, and the Black Lives Matter crowd are trying to undo that fundamental principle. They are not going to succeed.

Democrat Wendy Davis explains the mental gymnastics that go into the making of a lie to get votes

That a politician might lie is not exactly a revelation, but it's interesting to read a Democrat's own words on the subject.

Texas voters remember Wendy Davis as the pink sneakered filibusterer who stalled the Texas Legislature over an abortion vote and who was catapulted into the gubernatorial election because of it.

She didn't gain a lot of traction during the campaign, but the highlight was when she came out in favor of open gun carry legislation. Maybe some voters believed her at the time, nonetheless, Gregg Abbott beat her soundly.

Anyway, she later explained why she did that. She wanted the votes it might have brought. See Why I Caved on Guns When I Ran for Governor of Texas where she explained that the bill she favored was so watered down she thought it would never pass through the legislature. If it did but some of the restrictions she favored didn't make it to the final version then she had an easy out.

Some of us in Texas heard her say she favored open-carry back then, and we assumed it was a blatant lie. Shows how wrong we were. It was a fine tuned political calculation based on a presumption of what someone else would do. That's something to remember whenever we hear a politician take a position that seems contrary to what would be expected of them. The politician him/herself may actually believe it at the time. So in their own eyes, it isn't really a lie. Voters, however, should trust their own common sense.

Post Script. The Democrats running for their party's nomination for president are busy attacking each other over which one has the strongest anti-gun credentials. We have to wonder if, in light of the huge surge in private gun ownership across the nation, the eventual nominee will sound almost pro-gun during his/her campaign for president. If so, let's not forget Wendy Davis.

Politicians need to stop playing the 9/11 card, it's getting a bit frayed at the edges and makes New York Values look rather thin

Hillary Clinton played the 9/11 card a few weeks ago when Bernie Sanders brought up her big payday from Goldman Sachs. Clinton came back with feigned righteous indignation because, by golly, she felt that pain when those Twin Towers came down and those heroic first responders lost their lives. It was hard to make the connection between the Clinton cash and the Twin Towers. But the emotion of the 9/11 memories was so overwhelming that it didn't matter.

Donald Trump took a page out of Hillary's book when he did the same thing the other night when Ted Cruz accused trump of having "New York Values." Again, the two didn't have much of a connection. Oh sure, New Yorkers showed certain values with their response and sympathies to that horrific event. But so did everyone else. There were people thousands of miles away lining up at the blood banks wanting to help.

But here's something to keep in mind. The main stream media have headquarters or main offices in or near New York City. And when some of the best reporters, writers, and commentators apply their talents and emotion to a particular event then it will be seared in the minds of the general population for years to come.

That didn't happen after a bomb blew up the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. That was simply a news event outside the region. Reporters didn't wear rubble on their clothes for TV appearances hours after the explosion like they did in New York City after 9/11. While the Oklahoma City bomb affected everyone in OKC, the folks in NYC took it in stride. There are your New York Values, Mr. Trump.

P.S. For a little added indicia of value, let's also remember that the state of New York elected Hillary Clinton to be their Senator.

I hope El Chapo doesn't have Sean Penn and the soap actress whacked for their botched effort to make him look like a Mexican Robin Hood

Those cartel bosses may be sometimes remembered for an occasional free dinner, but more often than not their reputations were formed by brutality -- retribution, especially.

Let's hope El Chapo isn't so mad about being recaptured that he tries to take it out on Sean Penn and/or Kate del Castillo since their clumsy attempts to get him in the pictures got him picked up by the federalies.

Say, you know what? Now that Sean and Kate are part of the story they are probably more exited about a movie than ever.

 

If Trump gets elected pres then Megyn Kelly could write her own ticket at any lefty media outlet

Megyn Kelly is the toast of lefties not so much for her tough handling of Donald Trump but for her status as target of Trump's barbs. They see Trump as sexist, for example: 'Who the hell wants to woo her!': Donald Trump renews attacks on Megyn Kelly ahead of Fox News debate -- which makes Kelly a victim in their eyes.

She's currently working at Fox News with her own show. But if Trump actually ends up at the White House then she can write her own ticket. Expect her to exit Fox and land at NBC or one of the other Democrat friendly media outlets.

Meanwhile a lefty finds a friend: Ed Schultz Nabs Nightly Show on Kremlin-Backed Cable Channel.

A glue that conducts electricity could replace solder

For the occasional solderer who's a little bit on the sloppy side -- cough, like me, cough -- this could be a real godsend.

It's a glue that conducts electricity. It was developed by Hanchen Huang, a professor at Northeastern University, and two students, according to the article informing us about this product. See Researchers’ Metallic Glue may Stick it to Soldering and Welding. Here's a how-it-works excerpt:

“It’s like welding or sol­dering but without the heat,” says Huang, who is pro­fessor and chair in the Depart­ment of Mechan­ical and Indus­trial Engineering.

“Both ‘metal’ and ‘glue’ are familiar terms to most people, but their com­bi­na­tion is new and made pos­sible by unique prop­er­ties of metallic nanorods–infinitesimally small rods with metal cores that we have coated with the ele­ment indium on one side and galium on the other. These coated rods are arranged along a sub­strate like angled teeth on a comb: There is a bottom ‘comb’ and a top ‘comb.’ We then inter­lace the ‘teeth.’ When indium and galium touch each other, they form a liquid. The metal core of the rods acts to turn that liquid into a solid. The resulting glue pro­vides the strength and thermal/electrical con­duc­tance of a metal bond. We recently received a new pro­vi­sional patent for this devel­op­ment through North­eastern University.”

It's not clear how they get the nanorods lined up just right so that they interlace, but hopefully they do it without requiring much user involvement in the process.

Meanwhile, here's a link to their company: mesoglue.com. And here's a link to their introductory video.

If it works the way they say it will this would indeed be a Super Glue.

Obama identifies his threshold for addressing problems -- if it threatens our national existence

President Obama is stuck in the pre-2008 election days. We've all heard Democrats' complaint about the war in Iraq that Iraq had not attacked the U.S. and that war should be reserved for those who do.

Never mind that preventative action can eliminate problems that could have escalated to a national threat. But the isolationist attitude is to wait until the problem is knocking on the door. This brings us to President Obama's State of the Union speech last night.

The TV shows this morning highlighted this passage:

But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks, twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages -- they pose an enormous danger to civilians; they have to be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence. (Applause.) That is the story ISIL wants to tell. That’s the kind of propaganda they use to recruit.

There's his threshold which also happens to be the threshold may Democrats have as well.

BTW, when a world power feels threatened by "masses of fighters," the only circumstance in which that's a recruitment tool is when they know that world power lacks the willpower to do anything about it.

Enhanced Human Operations -- put it to use on football players

Even non-football fans couldn't avoid hearing about the slug fest that took place between the Bengals and the Steelers last week end. No one wants to see players get hurt, whether intentionally or not, and the helmets in use these days are probably as good as current technology will allow.

But there may be more work to be done with body protection. DARPA is working on what they call Enhanced Human Operations for military use. So why not apply some of that technology to pro-football?

Put them in Iron Man suits and let them go at it.

NFL -- when MMA is not enough.

e-cigarette aren't as bad as they told us

Late last year an article titled Cases tied e-cigarettes to lug injuries, pneumonia said that a study found that diacetyl, a chemical that can cause lung damage, was found in e-cigarettes. That news went viral and likely scared the dickens out of many e-cigarette users.

But wait just a minute. Guy Bentley has been all over this with several articles at Dailycaller.com refuting that finding and questioning the motive of those promoting that theory.

See, for example, Media Bias Exposed: ‘Popcorn Lung’ Chemical 750 Times Greater In Tobacco Vs. E-Cigarettes:

But according to Dr. Michael Siegel, a Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at Boston University School of Public Health, the Harvard study has several “glaring omissions,” and the level of diacetyl exposure from vaping compared with smoking differs by “orders of magnitude.”

And this: Scientist Debunks Latest Claim That E-Cigarettes Are As Dangerous As Tobacco:

In a statement sent to The Daily Caller News Foundation, Siegel said, “this study confirms previous findings that e-cigarette vapor can cause damage to epithelial cell lines in culture, and that the damage caused by e-cigarette vapor is much lower than that caused by tobacco smoke. ... In particular, the dose at which e-cigarette vapor was found to have an adverse effect was much higher than the actual dose that a vapor receives. ”

Furthermore, Professor Warns War On E-Cigarettes Protects Big Tobacco And Kills Smokers:

Adjunct professor of law at the University of Ottowa and special lecturer with the division of epidemiology and public health at the University of Nottingham, David Sweanor spent more than 30 years fighting tobacco. ... But now, Sweanor has split from many in the anti-smoking movement because he supports e-cigarettes.

“There’s a very strong abstinence-only part of what’s going on in the anti-smoking movement. I think it’s one of the most counter-productive things that we’ve ever seen,” Sweanor told Regulator Watch Saturday.

“We’ve known for decades people smoke for the nicotine, they die from the tar, they die from the smoke. That the nicotine itself, that the dosage level somebody’s looking for is not particularly hazardous so it can be usefully compared to caffeine.”

So puff away, my vaping friends. And keep thinking critically.

The White Man's Burden

Rudyard Kipling's poem reads today as if it is sarcasm, directed at conquerors, chiding them for the idea that they are better than those they've taken over and assigning them the duty of improving their manner of civilized behavior.

It wasn't sarcasm then, and it certainly has some application now as savage immigrants invade civilized nations and attempt to downgrade behavior to a level that shocks sophisticated Westerners.

I'm speaking of the rape culture that Arab and African immigrants want to import to Western Europe. See Migrant rape fears spread across Europe: Women told not to go out at night alone after assaults carried out in Sweden, Finland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland amid warnings gangs are co-ordinating attacks.

They seem to be implying that a woman going out alone deserves what she gets. The government is off the hook. The people simply need to adapt to their new visitors instead of the other way around. There needs to be some adapting, all right.

Meanwhile:

Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child
Take up the White Man’s burden
In patience to abide
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;

From The White Man’s Burden.

As evidence of illegality accumulates against Hillary Clinton, the perfect defense is obvious -- Affluenza

Hillary Clinton is facing some serious charges. But there's hope.

Her story is one of rags to riches. She left the White House dead broke, in her own words. But just a few years later she and her husband had parlayed his popularity and influence and her position as Secretary of State into millions of dollars. A success story many would like to claim.

But extreme riches and power can corrupt someone not accustomed to it. And those afflicted have little control of their behavior. They may know the difference between right and wrong, therefore they are not insane. But they have no will power.

Simply put, it's the mental condition known as Affluenza.

Hillary, there's your defense right there. You would pay a D.C. lawyer thousands of dollars for that kind of advice, but there it is free of charge.

Obama makes his gun control move

Refreshed from his taxpayer funded vacation, but brought to tears by the drama of his own presentation, President Obama presented his long awaited gun control measures. They were just vague enough to almost sound harmless. Almost, but not quite:

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is making clear that it doesn’t matter where you conduct your business—from a store, at gun shows, or over the Internet: If you’re in the business of selling firearms, you must get a license and conduct background checks.

The ATF writes its own rules, and currently up in the air is the issue of how many guns can an individual sell and not be considered a "business." However, Freebeacon.com reports that “It can be as few as one or two depending upon the circumstances under which the person sells the gun" -- circumstances such as selling it/them in its/their original packaging. Tip: throw away the box before selling.

Anyway, the go-to guy for gun laws and statistics is John Lott. He says Obama could get what he wants through Congress if he would only include these common sense recommendations:

1) Don’t burden the gun buyers with the cost.
2) Fix the system so it stops falsely flagging law-abiding people.
3) Stop using background checks as de facto registration.

Here's a link to Lott's article: Obama’s Gun-Control Order Is Dictatorial, and It Won’t Work.

This is why Obama is pushing gun control

Yesterday President Obama addressed his audience with tears in his eyes. And what was the topic? Gun control. Why gun control?

Ben Shapiro says he’s trying to mobilize his hard-core base. See Want to Know The Real Reason Obama's Pushing Gun Control? Here It Is. To wit:

This, in other words, is a calculated pander to culturally blue women, whom they hope to turn out in droves for Hillary. Which is why Hillary Clinton has jumped on the Obama gun control bandwagon with both feet, even though the issue isn’t hot button or popular with most Americans.

The Democratic strategy isn’t going to be to win the middle. It’s going to be turnout among women and minorities, just like 2012.

It seems ironic that Obama would make a move against gun ownership just as the MSM report a huge increase in citizen gun purchases. One thing Obama's move will do is motivate present and prospective gun owners to gravitate to some candidate other than a Democrat for president in November, most likely Donald Trump. Is this part of Obama's plan? Possibly.

First the good news -- Sinaloa farmers' profits on marijuana off by 70% due to marijuana legalization in U.S. ...

The bad news is that Americans' appetite for heroin and meth is growing. And the cartels are more than happy to satisfy that need for smack and speed.

One of the anticipated benefits of marijuana legalization was the blow against the Mexican drug cartels since a legal product would certainly hurt a business that depended on tunnels, mules, hidden compartments, high speed boats, lots of workers willing to risk capture, and a complicated detection avoidance system. Also, the quality of the domestic pot is reportedly better than Mexican weed.

It was also easy to anticipate an increased emphasis by the cartels on drugs that were still illegal. LATimes.com: "High demand for heroin in the U.S. has been driving up prices, and there is little chance it will be legal any time soon."

"High demand for heroin" is never a good trend, and reducing that demand would be a good thing for everyone. Ah, but that's the problem, isn't it? Some people need a way to escape their own minds. But for those people there's no escape from the problems created by some of the choices they make.

Open carry is a bigger deal to the media than to Texas gun owners

This morning a radio news program* pointed to the difference between the recently enacted gun laws in Texas and California. The laws taking effect this year in Texas are much more friendly to gun owners than the new laws in California. Maybe both states are reflecting the attitude residents in those states have toward their neighbors.

In Texas concealed handgun license laws have been in place for several years, and statistics show that CHL holders as a group have a low incidence of law breaking. While there are some bad people out there, as a general rule there is no reason to distrust Texans who own or carry firearms. The idea that anyone who owns a gun is a mere traffic jam, missed cigarette break, or dirty look away from murdering someone is a misguided myth somehow incorporated into the liberal belief system.

The state of California has new laws which increase government's control over guns and gun owners. It seems that Californians don't trust each other enough to allow them to own deadly weapons. Is that distrust realistic? I don't know, but whether it is or isn't, it does suggest a dysfunction in societal relationships.

Anyway, today is day four of Texas' open carry law, and we would like to express a sarcastic "Thank you" to the morning paper for keeping us safe. They've been relentless in their scolding, preenish, lectures about gun responsibility and open carry. Every damn day it's a fresh set of opinion pieces saying the same thing. The streets would have run red with blood but for their nagging. As my mom used to say, don't break your arm patting yourself on the back.

And all of that distrust in California I talked about? Add certain media elements in Texas to that category. You know the folks at MRT.com are itching for an opportunity to photograph someone carrying a handgun openly here in Midland, Texas. Any wonder why CHL holders may be reluctant to carry openly?

*(Your browser has to accept the SoundCloud tracker in order to listen to or download the MP3 of that broadcast.)

Google's Trump filter protects delicate users from news about the Donald

Internet filters have been available for years for parents seeking to protect their little ones from pornography. But political filters?

Google long ago started tampering with the search results the user sees. So political manipulation isn't anything new. What's new about this one is that it's optional. At least in this case they are letting the user decide for him/her self whether to filter out items about Donald Trump. That's a start.

Source: Sick of seeing Donald Trump on the Internet? Google has a solution for that. Excerpt:

“Eliminate Donald Trump from all your web browsing without leaving the Internet,” a description for Trump Filter boasts. “In a political atmosphere where ascendance can be manufactured through attention, the only way to deflate Trump’s political star is through suffocation. Trump can only lose if we turn off the TV.

“Thus, the Trump Filter is presented as part of the antidote for this toxic candidacy. This Chrome extension will identify parts of a web page likely to contain Donald Trump and erase them from the Internet. Share with your friends and eliminate the only currency Trump can spend to win: brand recognition,” the description reads.

The extension launched on Christmas Eve and was developed by Rob Spectre, a self-described “punk rock technolologist.”

This is for you if you need protection from "this toxic candidacy."

Defending Bill Cosby

With public opinion piling on, Bill Cosby's attorneys and publicists have a big job. But it's not too hard to figure out a course of action.

At the time Cosby's transactions were alleged to occur women were thought to be a little bit smarter when it came to men than they are now. If a man asked a woman to take a bunch of pills and drink a bunch of wine, she was thought to be smart enough to figure out what he was up to. Not now, apparently. But the current standards are being applied.

Surely Cosby's reputation among single females must have been a clue to his alleged victims as to what he might do. No one knew, you say? Well, one of his alleged victims is fond of saying that no one believed her. So she had to have told someone. And while the recipients of this information may not have wanted to get on Cosby's bad side, surely they gossiped about it behind his back. It's hard to imagine that word didn't spread like wildfire.

There's another factor here. According to a damning editorial at WaPo, "Mr. Cosby’s own words in a deposition in a civil suit brought by Ms. Constand damn him; he acknowledged securing drugs with the aim of giving them to young women he wanted to have sex with." It isn't too far fetched to think that some women might consent to sex in exchange for drugs. Nor is it far fetched to think they may be faced later with either admitting that or saving face and claiming rape.

The upcoming trial(s) could be very revealing.

Finally, we saw how some black Americans cheered when O.J. Simpson was found not guilty. More recently we watched as some black Americans made heroes/martyrs out of the likes of Michael Brown. Where are they now?

In any event, Cosby's attorneys and publicists are set to have a big payday. And the rest of us are set to watch a salacious show.

So can't a governor tie one one every once in a while?

Republican Governor Susana Martinez of New Mexico was in the news recently after someone called in a disturbance complaint about a hotel room party in which the governor was in attendance.

OK, maybe she was drunk. But is that so wrong? Yeah, maybe she tried to throw her weight around, and that's a bit harder to take. The thing seems to have blown over, but being a Republican means carrying around baggage that Democrats seem able to shed like falling leaves.

New Mexico has enough new problems with that massive snow storm, and the Governor stepped up to the plate to try to handle the situation. So maybe the voters will let this one slide.

Meanwhile, just in case there's a next time, here are some suggestions for curing a hangover.

Happy New Year everyone!