Tuesday Tidbits...

Well, the day many of us have dreaded is finally here...Election Day.
Never though I'd hear myself say that, but there it is.
Lesser of two evils time for sure...
Our Hoosierland weather for today will bring us mostly cloudy skies, light gusty winds, temps rising to around 60 degrees, and rain moving into our area by afternoon . Not the best day to stand in line to vote, but no one said this one would be a cake-walk, did they?
So, what say we get a stiff drink to start the day (we are surely going to need it), as we see what's been going on elsewhere, hmm?
*** First to the polling place is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
NOVEMBER 8 -

---Today is Election Day (vote early, vote often, JUST like the dumbocrats usually do)

---It's also National Cappucino Day (it's the drink - not the monkey)

---It's National Parents as Teachers Day (bet many of them can't cut the muster)

- It's also National STEM/STEAM Day (it's a student-science-math-art kinda thing)

---And, it's National Harvey Wallbanger Day (sure as hell picked the right day for THAT! Make mine a DOUBLE!)
*** Next, and since it's Tuesday, let's read about ALL the police calls that the media seemed to ignore, becasue they were busy chasing the crazy-ass world of national politics.

Go get 'em, Chuck!

SHOTS FIRED ((113)) / ARMED ROBBERY ((53)) CALLS - 10/31 - 11/06
((23,113 - vandalism by gunfire))
=======================================
OCT 31 -
16F149258 10/31/2016 01:17am 113 SHOTS FIRED 4500 SPATZ AVE
16F149271 10/31/2016 03:42am 113 SHOTS FIRED 4400 SOUTHPARK DR & CONGRESS AVE
16F149543 10/31/2016 05:29pm 58 SHOOTING 4500 REED ST
((NO armed robberies))
NOV 1 -
16F149703 11/01/2016 12:12am 113 SHOTS FIRED 400 BERRY ST E
16F150055 11/01/2016 06:53pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 6100 KENT RD
16F150065 11/01/2016 07:17pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2000 PETTIT AVE E & PLAZA DR
16F150084 11/01/2016 07:53pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 500 PUTNAM ST & SHORT ST
16F150106 11/01/2016 08:25pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 800 LOUISEDALE DR
16F150118 11/01/2016 08:55pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 1100 IRENE AVE
16F150128 11/01/2016 09:12pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 600 SENATE AVE
16F150141 11/01/2016 09:43pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2000 SENIOR DR
16F150147 11/01/2016 09:51pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 3500 SCHELE AVE
16F150178 11/01/2016 11:19pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 900 TENNESSEE AVE & ST JOE BLVD
16F150191 11/01/2016 11:53pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2400 CAPITOL AVE
16F150193 11/01/2016 11:54pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 4100 HESSEN CASSEL RD & MCKINNIE
16F149708 11/01/2016 12:25am 53 ARMED ROB 1500 WELLS ST
16F149735 11/01/2016 03:02am 53 ARMED ROB 1200 STATE BLVD E
16F150069 11/01/2016 07:24pm 53 ARMED ROB 700 HAMILTON AVE & WEISSER PK AV
NOV 2 -
16F150549 11/02/2016 07:16pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2200 HENSCH ST & STATE BLVD W
16F150558 11/02/2016 07:28pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 1100 CAPITOL AVE & OLIVER ST
16F150563 11/02/2016 07:39pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 3200 BROADWAY & PACKARD AVE W
16F150580 11/02/2016 08:16pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2400 GAY ST
16F150598 11/02/2016 08:42pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 4600 GAYWOOD DR
16F150624 11/02/2016 09:58pm 53 ARMED ROB 400 COLISEUM BLVD W
NOV 3 -
16F150689 11/03/2016 12:51am 113 SHOTS FIRED 5200 FOREST AVE
16F150688 11/03/2016 12:55am 113 SHOTS FIRED 900 NUTTMAN AVE
16F150693 11/03/2016 12:57am 113 SHOTS FIRED 2600 GARDEN PARK DR  
16F150696 11/03/2016 01:00am 113 SHOTS FIRED 4700 IMPERIAL PARK DR
16F150695 11/03/2016 01:00am 113 SHOTS FIRED 3000 WEBSTER ST
16F150732 11/03/2016 04:26am 113 SHOTS FIRED 5700 ALLENDALE DR
16F150756 11/03/2016 06:53am 113 SHOTS FIRED 2100 EDEN ST & GREENE ST
16F151090 11/03/2016 09:46pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2400 GAY ST
16F151093 11/03/2016 09:52pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2300 JOHN ST
16F151095 11/03/2016 09:52pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 4200 HANNA ST S & MCKINNIE AVE
16F151104 11/03/2016 10:09pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2800 HOLTON AVE
16F150703 11/03/2016 01:24am 53 ARMED ROB 5100 OLIVER ST MOUNT 
16F150723 11/03/2016 03:14am 53 ARMED ROB 3400 MCKINNIE AVE
16F150982 11/03/2016 05:10pm 58 SHOOTING
NOV 4 -
16F151381 11/04/2016 03:04pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 200 ESMOND ST & BARR ST S
16F151561 11/04/2016 09:29pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 1200 KINSMOOR AVE
((NO armed robberies))
NOV 5 -
16F151644 11/05/2016 01:34am 113 SHOTS FIRED 400 CREIGHTON AVE W
16F151645 11/05/2016 01:35am 113 SHOTS FIRED 800 POPLAR ST
16F151646 11/05/2016 01:35am 113 SHOTS FIRED 800 DEWALD ST W
16F151905 11/05/2016 04:45pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 6200 CATBIRD AVE
16F151988 11/05/2016 07:27pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 1100 KENSINGTON BLVD
16F151998 11/05/2016 08:03pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 4400 CALHOUN ST S
16F151999 11/05/2016 08:04pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 4700 WEISSER PARK AV  
16F152051 11/05/2016 10:24pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 6500 SALGE DR & EVARD RD
16F151784 11/05/2016 11:50am 23,113 3000 ABBOTT ST
16F151951 11/05/2016 06:09pm 23,113 2400 GAY ST
((NO armed robberies))
NOV 6 -
16F152093 11/06/2016 12:43am 113 SHOTS FIRED 1500 RUDISILL BLVD E D
16F152115 11/06/2016 01:53am 113 SHOTS FIRED 5700 CALHOUN ST S & PAULDING RD E
16F152116 11/06/2016 01:53am 113 SHOTS FIRED 400 PAULDING RD W & BUELL DR
16F152145 11/06/2016 02:50am 113 SHOTS FIRED 6500 HANNA ST S
16F152282 11/06/2016 01:04pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 9300 MANOR WOODS RD
16F152245 11/06/2016 11:05am 23,113 400 PAULDING RD W
16F152502 11/06/2016 09:31pm 23,113 1900 WEBSTER ST
16F152117 11/06/2016 01:55am 53 ARMED ROB 900 VANCE AVE
=============================================
And we STILL have a few assholes that managed to scrounge up some pyrotechnics.
===========================

FIREWORKS CALLS 10/31 - 11/06
============================
NOV 1 -
16F150050 11/01/2016 06:41pm 44FW 1300 WOODBINE PL
NOV 2 -
16F150569 11/02/2016 07:58pm 44FW 7300 ST JOE RD & WINDING WAY DR
NOV 3 -
16F150686 11/03/2016 12:51am 44FW 3500 WALDEN RUN
16F150692 11/03/2016 12:56am 44FW 4300 WINDING WAY DR
NOV 4 -
16F151551 11/04/2016 08:54pm 44FW 4700 MANISTEE DR
NOV 5 -
16F152022 11/05/2016 08:02pm 44FW 6500 HILLSIDE OAKS DR
==============================
*** Next up, our king, Mayor Tom Henry has undergone heart bypass surgery,
Here's the story link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/Henry-has-bypass--doing-well-16197355

Now, I want to wish him well, because I'm not THAT much of a sonuvabitch, but it does make some sense.
Our king has had heart "problems" for some time (as did his predecessors). Must come with the job...OR maybe it's because their OWN agenda supersedes the needs of an entire quadrant of our city and it's decline.
His heart (and much of his soul) has bypassed the SOUTH side of the city since he became mayor, so perhaps this surgery bears out our initial suspicions...just saying.
*** Next up, I watched a program on one of the History Channels last evening entitled "Abandoned" - all about (where else?) DETROIT.

You have to admit it was depressing as hell to see what was the nation's FIFTH largest city devolve into what in many parts looks like a damn third world country that has been bombed numerous times.

The Packard Automobile Plant alone is enough to make you sick at the way it has been left to rot (and makes you think you're not in America).
We often talk about how jobs leave our country, and in some cases they actually DO move away from our shores and seek a foreign nation, taking all the jobs with them (like Carrier), but there is another reason for this "job exodus", and one which has been in place since the 1970s (if not a tad sooner) - ROBOTICS!

Don't believe me? Read this article in Sunday's paper:
http://www.journalgazette.net/business/Robots--not-trade--behind-factory-job-loss-16098403
Now, any small degree of automation can be beneficial to business, The simple assembly line proved that much, especially during the high output days of World War 2, but it always came down to the worker...at least it used to.

Robotics do have a lot of "upsides", (for the owners of such companies) not the least of which is cost-effectiveness.
Don't have to pay a robot an hourly wage (you can just lease it, in fact), No health care to worry about, or absenteeism, either. And robots never go on strike OR on vacation (not yet anyway...heh).
The trade aspect is just the icing on the cake, as it were...adds insult to injury.
How long before the machines are running US, I wonder?
In some respects, I think they already ARE.
*** Next up, I noticed a white cat that has been near the house.

Seen it in our back yard twice, but it's not willing to get near any human...took off when I tried to call it and feed it.
Another smaller cat (tortoise shell color) was on the table eating the food I place out for Hobo (if he ever comes back), and this cat was ALSO skittish as hell, and took off when I went outside and tried to coax it to stay and eat some more food.
Now, THESE cats I would call feral...a far cry from my little furry buddy that used to hang about every day for the brief time we knew him.

Just makes being without a cat a bit harder for me. Just what I need, right?
*** Next...yes, it IS Election Day...finally this freakshow will be over...and then the OTHER sideshow will commence. (could it become a house of horrors?).
Can we stand the strain?

We can HOPE, can't we?

And, more importantly, are we at the place where we will be more willing to sacrifice our freedoms for a higher level of security?

Have we arrived at the point where we'd rather allow big government to get even bigger, in the "hope" we can all attend to our electronic addictions and forego our responsibility to each other, and our country?
Time will most certainly tell on this, will it not?

"Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones, but you still have to choose." 
(Peter Capaldi as Doctor Who)
Well, I choose to sit this one out, and that's from someone who has been called a patriot (among other things, both good and bad).
I think that STILL gives me a damn good reason to bitch, though.
I feel that since I didn't ask for any of THESE candidate, my choice is to NOT choose any of them.
And I can live with that choice.

Call it case of ELECTILE DYSFUNCTION on my part...lol.
But, I will be able to sleep well enough with that choice...can everyone else say the same thing?
*** Last back to the voting booth...whether people want to believe it or not, this country IS at a crossroads.

Hope we didn't burn any bridges behind us. We may need them.

And there aren't many ways to proceed that will insure a modicum of protection from the evils of the world.

Got a LOT of cracks showing these days.

Hell, we've got plenty of divisiveness right here in our OWN country, thanks to liberal factions who have seen fit to tear this nation down, in order to rebuild it into their OWN vision of what we SHOULD become. Sorry, not MY vision.
We need not succumb to such rhetoric or plans...not if we want to continue as this nation was intended.
People in other lands used to view us with envy...now it's more scorn than anything else.
That needs to change, and not by rewriting our own doctrines to suit fringe groups who would seek to change what our country was founded upon.
We need to hold fast to OUR principles...OUR values, and what that meant to generations who went before us, in order to procure and sustain our nation in the manner in which it was founded.
The alternative to that, is something we might not want to entertain.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.