Between Posts

  DEAR PROGRESSIVE, LIBERAL, SOCIALIST DEMOCRATS: Please Read the Following, then try to connect this story to your personal political rendition of "keeping the law." "In the late 1920's the Texas Rangers and the Texas National Guard were deployed to Borger, Texas. The Texas Rangers acted as a paramilitary police force, raiding gambling halls, destroying stills, and arresting fugitives, but they could not fully uproot the entrenched corruption in the local government and police force. When the violence climaxed with the assassination of District Attorney John A. Holmes on September 18, 1929, Governor Dan Moody escalated the response by sending in what has been described as a "full military occupation force," consisting mostly of the Texas National Guard. Martial Law was declared. Under martial law, the National Guard effectively took over the town. They disarmed local deputies, forced the resignation of the corrupt mayor and police chief, and established a ...

THIS ONE HITS CLOSE TO HOME. I was relieved to discover that given the opportunity to steal $450 million of federal taxpayer dollars, the Houston-Galveston Area Council (HGAC) decided to steal "only" $25 million to purchase new busses for the city of The Woodlands. And only then because the HGAC slush fund might be in jeopardy if they did not do something—anything!—with some of the slush-fund money. So, the HGAC has accumulated unspent Federal funds to the tune of nearly 1/2 of a BILLION dollars, and their biggest worry is how to hold on to it, because they obviously don't really need it, but they will not, or cannot, give it back. Now, this is just one slush fund from one Federal agency in one American City. Multiply that by slush funds for dozens of other government agencies and programs and it all adds up to a tidy sum of Swamp-bucks. Altogether, these DOT slush funds alone across the country must add up to tens of billions of dollars (probably more). Where is DOGE whe...

During Donald Trump's 2019 State of the Union address, he made the following statement: "Here in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence, not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country." I voted for Mr. Trump twice, both times with reservations. The second time I voted for him, I had no reservation greater than the one that resulted from the quote above. Was President Trump's declaration of the United States as a socialist-free (or socialist-resistant) nation the result of someone who was completely ignorant of history; or someone who was incapable of contrasting and comparing the present-day government to the government of the founding fathers; or someone who was merely a wishful thinker? I believe it was a combination of "all of the above." I think M...

  And you will find yourself reacting with "that's not what I meant" or "Stupid AI!" All kinds of training course offers on "AI for everyday people" are popping up all over the Internet. But here's the problem: Many of the people who sign up for those courses are either functionally illiterate or semi-literate. One of the critical keys to using AI is the user's ability to form grammatically-correct questions. I liken an AI inquiry to a spreadsheet formula. If all you are capable of doing is forming a simple spreadsheet formula, you aren't nearly as productive as someone who can form a complex formula. If you are not capable of forming a complex question using impeccable grammar, you are going to get in return a bunch of "I don't understand" or "Did you mean..." or "I cannot return an answer because..." results.  I remember sometime back in the 1980's or '90's reading an article about a new techn...