You Can't Silence Us

Fair Share

The refrain from the left is that the “rich” need to pay their “fair share” as if they aren’t paying taxes. Let’s take a look at what that means.

The top 1 percent of taxpayers pay nearly double the income taxes than the bottom 90 percent. The top 1 percent of taxpayers paid more than $1 trillion in income taxes while the bottom 90 percent paid $531 billion.

The share of income taxes paid by the top 1 percent increased from 33.2 percent in 2001 to 45.8 percent in 2021. Over the same period, the share paid by the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers fell from 4.9 percent to just over 2.3 percent in 2021.

That’s right- the lowest 50% of wage earners paid just 2.3% of all income taxes, while the top 25% of wage earners pay 89.3% of them.

So just how much do you have to make to be in that upper 50%, or upper 25%? To be in the top 50%, a taxpayer must earn at least $46,637 per year. In order to be in the top 25%, a taxpayer would need to make $94,440. The top 25% isn’t all that rich- there are tons of people like nurses, firefighters, restaurant managers, electricians, and auto mechanics who fall into that top 25% category. The top 10% of wage earners? Those are people making $169,800 or more. Those are your doctors, chiropractors, accountants, lawyers, and many entrepreneurs. Successful, to be sure, but hardly evil people playing the part of Ebenezer Scrooge.

The left claims that they are only going to raise taxes on people making more than $400,000 per year. That is the top 3% of all wage earners, a group that is already paying more than 24% of their income on taxes, and who are already paying 60% of all Federal income taxes.

Even if we were to confiscate every penny made by the top 5% of earners, the government would only get $6.1 trillion. Since the government spends more than $6.2 trillion a year, that amount wouldn’t even be enough to run the government for the year, and I guarantee you that those wage earners wouldn’t be there to fleece next year.

No, when the left tells you that they want to increase taxes, they mean for everyone. Of course that won’t affect them, because they are getting a cut for themselves. You didn’t think that those billions going to Ukraine were all for beating Russia, did you?

People who have read this post: 337
By Divemedic, ago

Society’s Purpose

The purpose of society, and in particular of government, is to protect the rights of others. Even more specifically, to protect those who cannot protect themselves. The person commenting from Live Oak, Florida, a commenter that I am calling Odd Poster, has been advocating sex with minors.

Yet 100 years later with better nutrition human brains are maturing more slowly now? How did that number of 10-12 get picked by the legislatures, were the majority of American voters in 1880 all pedophiles? Today some 16 and 17 year olds are more physically developed than 25 year old women, but their brain development doesn’t keep pace with their body development? Does that make medical sense?

wikipedia: Restricted by age difference: younger partner is deemed able to consent to having sex with an older one as long as their age difference does not exceed a specified amount.

Today that age is 14 in Indiana, and 13 in some other states. Because the “child” does not have a child’s immature brain if she picks another high school age person as a partner? Or you’re less pregnant if the father is under 18? Gee that makes sense.

Rule 1 of posting on this blog:

The owner of this blog (me) has the final say on what you can and cannot post. It’s my house, I make the rules. Content here is moderated, and I will not be approving any comments that I find, in my sole judgement, to be unworthy. 

Then there is also Rule 10:

These rules can change with no notice, and rules may or may not apply retroactively. That’s up to me. See rule #1.

I try to support the free exchange of ideas on this website, but I cannot support people advocating sex with children as young as 12 years old. Accordingly, I am banning the entire IP address 71.29.27.11 because I will not allow comments that defend preying on children.

I do so as the owner of this blog. You want to diddle children? You aren’t going to do it on this blog, or on this server, nor will you advocate for that. The last thing I need is more of a spotlight on this blog by the Feds, especially not for pedophiles. Anyone who has a problem with that, there is the door- Go do that shit somewhere else.

My son testified in court against his best friend, a kid we had both known since he was 8 years old, because that friend was screwing children, filming it, and posting the film on the Internet. That friend is currently serving 30 years in Federal Prison, and I fully support that. I would do the same thing my son did in a heartbeat.

People who have read this post: 359
By Divemedic, ago

Government

Man, I am on a roll today with the number of posts.

Normally, I don’t believe that government is the answer. However, in cases where the government has created the problem, we need to call on government to make adjustments to fix the problem that they created. Case in point:

Fake service dogs are only possible because government has made it a crime to discriminate against those with service animals, and have made it a crime to even ask them to prove that the animal is, in fact, a service animal. This is where the law needs a tweak. Service dogs cost thousands of dollars. Adding the requirement that the owners who have a service animal have a government issued ID for the service animal, proving that the animal in question is actually a service animal, would keep people like this blue haired freak from faking it to be a pain in the ass.

People who have read this post: 304
By Divemedic, ago

Feminism: The End of Women’s Sports

Women’s sports were set up exactly because women aren’t as strong as men. Now there are many feminist women who will tell you that women are just as strong and capable as men, and you are a sexist misogynist for claiming otherwise. Of course, we know this to be false, or else the NFL and NBA would have female athletes and save money in the process, because we all know that women make 20% less than men.

Mediocre male athletes who aren’t good enough to compete against other men are taking advantage of these feminist morons by declaring themselves to be women in order to gain access to some of that sweet, sweet scholarship cash.

The left, who is busy destroying women’s sports in favor of tranny sports, is not going to let this go without a fight:

Women’s sports is now pointless. Men who can’t compete can simply declare themselves to be women, and thereby eliminate the entire field of women’s sports. Pretty soon, all women’s sports will consist of “women” sporting beards and playing the game.

People who have read this post: 178
By Divemedic, ago

White People Don’t Deserve Opportunity

In a move that somehow simultaneously supports racism, sexism, Communism, and vote buying, Kamala Harris announced her “Opportunity Agenda,” (pdf alert) which is (in part) to make one million forgivable loans in the amount of $20,000 available only to black men. The agenda has the following goals:

  • Providing 1 million loans that are fully forgivable to Black entrepreneurs and others to start a business.
  • Championing education, training, and mentorship programs that help Black men get good-paying jobs in high-demand industries and lead their communities, including pathways to become teachers.
  • Supporting a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency and other digital assets so Black men who invest in and own these assets are protected.
  • Launching a National Health Equity Initiative focused on Black Men that addresses sickle cell disease, diabetes, mental health, prostate cancer, and other health challenges that disproportionately impact them.
  • Legalizing recreational marijuana and creating opportunities for Black Americans to succeed in this new industry.

Kamala hates America. Listen to her speech from yesterday:

But just to clear this up:

Trump paying for a woman’s groceries is vote buying, and Trump should be tossed in jail for it. Harris promising tax money to black male voters so they can take their drug dealing legit is brave and courageous, and she should be commended. Got it.

People who have read this post: 180
By Divemedic, ago

ED in the Aftermath

Hospitals have a hurricane plan in Florida. The employees of the hospital are split into two teams: Team A, and Team B. Team A reports to work about six hours before the storm begins and remains at work until the storm has passed. Team A is divided into a day and a night shift, and they sleep in unused rooms of the hospital for the duration. Team B reports to work once the storm has passed, and works shift work until the hospital returns to normal operation. Team B gets to go home when they are not actually working.

There are benefits to both teams. Team A gets paid for the entire time they are there, and even though the rate of pay is lower while you are sleeping, you ARE still getting paid to sleep. Even when Team A is actually working, there isn’t really much work to do, as no one comes into the emergency department during the storm. During Hurricane Milton, there were 98 nurses on Team A, and they had a total of 12 patients.

Team B gets to go home when their shift is over, but your home may not have power, and the hospital is usually really busy. You definitely earn your money. There are no mid shifts on the hurricane teams- there is only Day shift (7 am to 7 pm) and Night shift (7 pm to 7 am).

The team you are on is up to you. In March of each year, they ask everyone what team they would like to be on for that hurricane season. I would rather be home caring for my wife during the storm, so I always select team B.

Team A reported to work at 7 am on Wednesday. They stayed at work until Friday morning at 7 am. That’s when Team B came in. I was on Team B days for Hurricane Milton. I was assigned to the Red zone, and I got the three lowest numbered rooms: room 4, 5, and 6. Since they are the lowest numbered rooms, you have two jobs- you support the nurse assigned to the three trauma rooms and take care of the sickest patients.

Let me tell you, there was a lot of sick people in the aftermath of Milton. On day one, every sedentary 50-something year old man who was trying to clear storm debris found out whether or not his heart was healthy. I had a parade of middle aged men who reported the same complaints- “I was working outside, cleaning up, when all of a sudden, I got dizzy, cold, and broke out in a sweat, then my chest and left arm started hurting.”

I sent half a dozen patients to the PCU on day one. I was slammed with unstable cardiac patients with high troponin levels who had to be Heparinized. The very first patient of the day had been clearing storm debris and felt tired, so went inside the house to lie down. There was a generator running in the garage. When the wife went inside, she found him lying on the floor, gasping like a fish. He didn’t make it. His CO levels in his blood weren’t really elevated, so it looks like a heart attack from exertion. Hurricane related death.

I went home exhausted, got home at about 8 o’clock, and was in bed asleep by 8:45.

Then came day two. That day was stroke and sepsis day, on top of the heart attacks. Some of the high points:

  • I had one patient who was on four different drugs for the heart attack she was having, and I took her to the ICU with a central line, heparin, amiodarone, and pressors running. I was glad to get rid of her, she was taking a lot of effort to care for.
  • Then there was the nursing home patient who pulled out his G tube during the hurricane.
  • There was a woman who came in complaining of a headache, dizziness, and vomiting since Wednesday night. At first I wondered why triage sent her to my rooms, but they must have had a hunch. Her head CT showed a large area of infarct (dead brain) in the rear of her brain. She had a stroke during the hurricane, but didn’t come in until it was to late to give her TPA. The damage is permanent.
  • A guy who was working in his yard when his 4 pit bulls who were overstimulated from all of the activity decided to use him as a chew toy. He had over 40 puncture wounds, including his cheek being ripped open to the point where you could see his teeth while his mouth was closed. They also tore off his right ear, and tore a 3 inch gash in his right thigh. The man’s brother came in an hour later to tell my patient that he had shot all 4 dogs because he couldn’t get them under control.

Most of the day, our 100 room department had only 30 or 40 patients. So, at 3:30, admin decided to send a quarter of the nursing staff home to save money. I took over one of the trauma rooms, so that I had Trauma 3, 4, 5, and 6 as my rooms. At 4 o’clock, all hell broke loose. I went from having 2 patients to having 4 in less than 15 minutes- with one of them being my sickest of the day:

A woman who was in septic shock that came to me unresponsive with a Lactic acid level of 3.4 and a white blood count of 24. Her blood pressure kept dropping- at one point to as low as 72/50. Her rectal temperature was 96.4 degF. Cold sepsis as it is called, is a very ominous sign. Patients in cold sepsis are frequently on death’s door, especially when they have a low blood pressure. She got three IV lines, 3 liters of lactated ringers, as well as the antibiotics Vancomycin and Rocephin.

I got her stabilized, but then she started shitting watery diarrhea every 5 minutes. I had to stay late to help night shift clean her up. I also earned points with the night shift by inserting the Flexi Seal for them. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a plastic tube you stick up a person’s ass, and it directs fecal matter into a bag. Ah, the glamorous side of nursing that no one tells you about.

So I got home from day two at about 9 pm, and was in bed by 9:30. I slept in on Sunday.

That’s it for my work journey from Hurricane Milton.

People who have read this post: 174
By Divemedic, ago

Not Murder in My Book

A man kidnaps and rapes a 14 year old girl. He is arrested and released on bond. A condition of the bond was that the man was to have no contact with the victim or her family.

That same night, the girl is again found to be missing at 1 am. The police and the girl’s father were looking for her. The father found her first. In a truck. In a park. With her rapist.

An argument ensued, shots rang out, and the rapist was dead.

The cops arrested the dad for first degree murder, and the dad is now out on bond. The cops said that there was no reason to shoot the man, because they were on the case.

“This guy that preyed upon their daughter was released on bond, and we had stopped him that night and got him with her,” the Sheriff said. “That bond would have been revoked. He would have never got out of jail. None of the bond companies would have let him out. We wouldn’t let him out.”

The mother of the child said that she and her husband were in fear that the man was going to murder their daughter.

“We absolutely called 911 during the entire event,” she wrote. “We had no idea this man was in contact with our child again. He was waiting 6-9 felonies for what he did, not 2. He was looking at the rest of his pathetic life in jail, and our daughter was the only witness.”

“Some things we will never know, but we know that the police department afforded this predator privacy they did not give our family,” she wrote. “I’m deeply offended by the way this was handled by the county sheriff’s office.”

The prosecutor has not yet filed any charges. Gofundme is not permitting the father to raise money for his defense, because they claim to not allow collections for legal defense of an alleged violent crime.

The child’s mother claims to know why the police are so determined to arrest her husband: the dead rapist was a retired police chief and former school resource officer from Indiana:

[The mother] said the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office’s actions are proof that the sheriff “supports predators” and that he will prosecute those who are trying to protect their families.

I am not sure you will be able to assemble a jury that will find him guilty, unless the court wants to cheat the system and prevent the defense from mentioning the events that led up to the shooting.

I do know that in Florida, the law says that you can use lethal force to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony, which includes sexual battery and kidnapping. Of course that won’t stop a crooked cop or politically motivated prosecutor from charging you anyhow, leaving you penniless. Ask George Zimmerman how that works.

People who have read this post: 951
By Divemedic, ago

No More Qualified Immunity

Why? Because you need an ID to lie on a park bench, but you don’t need one to vote.

It’s time for qualified immunity to go. As a health care professional, I have to carry a million dollars in malpractice insurance. It’s time we make cops do the same.

Can we here in Florida get a petition to have this added to next year’s election as a State Constitutional Amendment?

Facts of this case:

On June 7, 2019, Keokuk, Iowa Police Officer Tanner Walden responded to a report that someone was sleeping in a park. Walden found Land, who was watching the sunset on a park bench. Land told Walden that he had not been sleeping and was not in distress. Walden asked for identification, and Land refused. Walden arrested Land for misdemeanor interference with official acts. During a search, officers found drug paraphernalia and added a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. The incident was captured on Walden’s body-worn camera.

On August 27, 2019, a judge dismissed the charges against Land because the pretext for the stop was improper.

On June 6, 2021, Land filed a federal lawsuit against the city and Walden, claiming violations of his rights under the Fourth Amendment.

On September 20, 2021, the city claimed that Walden “exercised all due care to comply with the law and is entitled to qualified immunity” and also (in October 2022) that Walden had reasonable suspicion as required by Terry v Ohio and probable cause to arrest Land.

On October 26, 2022, the judge disagreed when he ruled that Walden’s contact with Land should have ended when it became clear that Land was not sleeping in the park or in need of assistance, and that the city was not responsible for Walden’s actions.

On November 22, 2022, the city settled the lawsuit for $30,000.

People who have read this post: 346
By Divemedic, ago

Incident Debrief

Milton was a pretty smooth incident here in Sector Ocho, at least as far as disasters can go. I post this in the hope that others can learn from my trials and tribulations, as well as using this as a means of remembering what I need to do next time. Each disaster only helps us to improve for the next one.

The power went out late Wednesday night. We were without power until Saturday afternoon.

Some key things we learned from the incident:

Records, Food and Water, Medical:

Records, Food and Water, and Medical saw no issues, and they will not be addressed here.

Energy:

The solar system worked great. I overreacted a bit on shutting down the water heater because it was cloudy the day after the storm. I needn’t have bothered- our Powerwalls never went below 64% on Thursday, and it was sunny on Friday and Saturday, so the batteries fully recharged to 100% on those days.

It was suggested that we add a connection to the system for connecting a generator, but that would again make us dependent upon a fuel supply. I don’t want to do that because the scarcity of fuel is one of the reasons why I went with solar in the first place.

I am going to replace the water heater with a heat pump water heater. That will reduce our power requirements by 10 KWh per day, which is almost the same as adding another Powerwall, but at a fraction of the cost. (They hold 13.5 KWh each, with about 13 of that being useable).

Even though the Powerwalls kick in less than half a second after the lights go out, the loss of electricity is long enough to cause the modem to reboot. That meant a loss of Internet for about 30 seconds. More an annoyance than a problem, but still one I will address. I am going to put the modem on a UPS, but need to get one that is physically small enough to fit inside of the QI panel.

Shelter:

We sat in the living room during the storm and watched as the sliding glass doors bowed into the house with the wind. I was sure that they would break under the strain. For that reason, I made the declaration that we had to wear hard soled shoes and locked the cats in the safe room, just in case we suddenly had broken glass to deal with. I am going to do some research on some fabric hurricane shields like these. I figure it will cost $3,000 or so to get all of the windows done. They look easier to store and put up than things like plywood or even plastic shutters. Some research is definitely needed.

Security:

I also learned that the people in the area were kind, and all pitched in to help each other- we formed a working party and moved from house to house, cutting up fallen trees and stacking the wood. One of them, as it turns out, is even a prepper. Living in a small town is amazing.

At one point, I was in a swampy area, helping recover things that had blown out into the swamp. One of the guys with me said “Watch out, there are snakes and alligators out there.” I replied by lifting my shirt to show him my M&P45. He said, “Cool,” and that was it. Having electric power meant that the neighbors asked me to allow them to charge their cell phones, and the fact that I had a chainsaw and a pot of coffee ready for offering a cuppa made me the most popular guy on the street.

About 14 hours after the power went out, we lost Internet. I’m guessing that they had the system on a UPS whose batteries finally went dead. Trying to use our contingency of using cell phones as hotspots didn’t work- there were so many people trying to do the same thing that they were effectively non functional. To address this, I think I am going to get a Starlink and just not subscribe to it until I need to use it. We had power, and it was nice to make coffee and all, but no TV or Internet is something that needs to be taken care of.

Miscellaneous:

One funny thing happened during one of my outside patrols. I put on a rain slicker and walked the outside of the house every couple of hours as the winds would allow. When I went out at around 3 am, a squirrel that had taken refuge on my back porch but was unseen by me decided to jump down and land on my head. I almost shit myself. My wife thought that it was hilarious.

Conclusion:

Things went about as smoothly as they could have. I felt comfortable leaving my wife home alone on Friday and Saturday, so that I could go to work at the hospital. Good neighbors, secure, sturdy house, and lots of supplies made that an easy choice.

That concludes the preparedness for Hurricane Milton. Now I get to put the house back in order. The good news here is that the summer heat is usually broken by a late season hurricane, and this year is no exception. It is now in the 60s here at Sector Ocho, and it feels wonderful.

There will be another post detailing how the emergency room did, and that will come later.

People who have read this post: 212
By Divemedic, ago