Not your daddy’s car

While her Ford Flex is having prangs worked on and a door replaced, my wife got an insurance-company-paid rental. She got a cute little Buick.**

The car is small. Not what used to be called “economy car” small, but much smaller inside than her Flex. This morning when we were going out, my wife had the trunk lid open by the time I got to the car. She said, “I think your walker will have to ride in the back seat.” I looked at the trunk space, She was right.

I folded the walker and put it in the back seat, closed the door and got in the passenger seat. It was too close to the dash. I found the seat adjustment control and pushed it for “More Back.” There was none. The seat was as far back as specified by the manufacturer. My knees were not exactly touching the dash, but  were not exactly level, either.

At the VA clinic, where I was scheduled for a shingles vaccine, I opened the door and began the process of getting my legs out. I commented, “People who design these things should have to ride in them.”

After the VA visit, we went to IHOP for a late breakfast. As she parked the Buick, Priscilla said, “Can’t open the door unless the car is in Park.”

“Really?”

“Nope.”

I said, “What if you need to shove somebody out the passenger door?”

“Nope.”

“What if you’ve been kidnapped and you’re in the passenger seat and the kidnapper slows down at a curve and you need to open the door and roll out?”

“Nope,” she said. ”You’ll have to wait until your kidnapper comes to a complete stop and puts the transmission in Park.”

I tell you what. Car designers are not making it easy for those of us who just want to go from here to there and back home. Apparently  designers believe any one of us is likely to be grabbed by a small terrorist and stuffed in a car made for people under 5’6”.

(** Before today, I never thought I would use the words “cute” and “little” in conjunction with “Buick.” Used to be, when things American dominated, foreign potentates rode in big black Buicks. Arab sheiks? Big black Buicks. Latin American dictators? Big black Buicks. Soviet Communist Politburo members? Russian copies of big black Buicks. Then something happened and medium-size Mercedes became the symbol for sheiks, dictators, and other authoritarian rulers. Russians still make copies of big black Buicks, and are not likely to copy Nazi-looking Mercedes. At least some things haven’t changed.)   

Maud City Hall bureaucrats respond to 'Move out' order

By Bob Merriman

Independent Internet Reporter

On Nov. 3, the City of Maud, Texas, told resident Patti Chisum that the death of her father negated a verbal agreement with the city, and that Ms. Chisum has until Nov. 16 to move from a recreational vehicle in which she had been living for three years in order to take care of her sick father.

Doyle Chisum died Oct. 29 and was buried on Nov. 1.

The city letter states: “Per Mayor Jimmy Clary you have to move out of camper trailer at *** Red Oak by Nov. 16, 2021. He had given you permission to take care of your sick father.” /s/ Betty Pemberton. Betty Pemberton is listed on Maud city pages as utilities secretary.

Mayor Clary was not available for comment Monday morning, but two other City Hall officials – Ms. Pemberton and a woman identified as Darla -- cited city ordinances as cause of the letter. To many people, issuing a move letter to a resident two days following the funeral of the resident’s father seems more than abrupt or simply bad manners, but as of Monday morning the city is sticking by its decision.

The decision to send the letter was made by the mayor, Ms. Pemberton said. She also said, “The letter does not say she has to move from the property, but that she has to disconnect from city utilities, that there is no authorization for her to be connected to city utilities.”

As quoted above and in a Saturday post on this site, the letter makes no mention of city utilities, but says “you must move out of (the) camper trailer…”

When asked if the RV is connected to city utilities, Ms. Pemberton said she was “unsure about that.”

A City Hall caller identified as Darla said, “There is a city ordinance on our web page that explains all that.”

Also, she said there is correspondence “of personal information,” and the city will not “give out any other information.” She added, “There is more to that than what you’ve got.”

When asked what that other information might be, she replied, “This has been talked to with Ms. Chisum in the past. You will have to talk to Ms. Chisum about that.”

Like Ms. Pemberton, Darla said she was “unsure” if Ms. Chisum’s RV was connected to city utilities.

Regardless, Darla said, “it is a violation of city ordinances for her to take up residence in a travel trailer” within the city limits.

Sounds like obfuscation, as well as falling behind well-intentioned privacy laws, often used by city officials when it is to their advantage to do so.

The thing to remember is, the city’s letter makes no mention of city utilities, nor of the city ordinance banning residence in recreational vehicles. The letter says, “Move.”

Audience agrees with ‘the Brandon administration’

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/11/03/florida-governor-ron-desantis-audience-cheers-lets-go-brandon/

 

 

 

Armed citizen takes out shooter

Another life-saving event gun grabbers say never happens.

From Gun Free Zone

“There was a moron politician mentioned in the news this week, commenting something about no armed civilians actually stopped any violent criminals.

“They do need to make shit up to support their grabbing for power or they come up with stories so they don’t scare themselves silly at the possibility somebody may actually firmly disagree when they go Stalin.”

https://gunfreezone.net/armed-citizen-stops-spree-shooter-carjacker/

 

 

 

Biden 85-vehicle caravan disproves climate change, global warming

From Flopping Aces

"The truth? There is no climate crisis. Period. These people do not act as though there is a crisis. Perhaps we should say that there is no crisis for the bourgeoise, only for the proletariat. Not one of these uber-wealthy miscreants would suffer for anything enacted around the world. While you might find gasoline prohibitively expensive they will always be able to afford it. The goal is to burden you with the nonsensical demands of 'green' energy while the cloud dwellers party like it’s 2099."

https://www.floppingaces.net/2021/11/02/there-is-no-climate-crisis-none-zero-nada/

I have maintained for some time that those people talk only to each other and smile at each other and agree with each other because they are the same. Those people say the same things to news cameras, repeat the same lies because lying is the only way in which to keep each other convinced and keep us in our proper place.

 

 

 

 

Yeah, your dad died. Get out

Three years ago, one of my sister-in-law’s sisters got permission from the mayor of Maud, Texas, to move her RV onto her father’s land in order to give everyday care to her father. Both her father and her step-mother were unable to take care of Doyle’s needs.

As another sister noted on Facebook, “Our Dad passed away October 29th, and was laid to rest November 1st. Please notice the date on this letter of eviction, November 3rd...they waited all of 3 days to mail out this eviction notice and she has less than 2 weeks to find another place to live, not even enough time to grieve the loss of our father, much less find a decent place to live. I'm thoroughly disappointed in the way this was handled. My Dad was a long-time resident of this town and his daughter deserved to be treated better than just an eviction notice consisting of 2 lines!”

The letter states: “Per Mayor Jimmy Clary you have to move out of camper trailer at *** Red Oak by Nov. 16, 2021. He had given you permission to take care of your sick father.” /s/ Betty Pemberton. (Note: Betty Pemberton is listed on Maud city pages as utilities secretary.)

So. Woman takes care of father for three years. Father dies, and is buried on November 1. The eviction letter was sent two days after the father was put into the ground. Friendly place, that Maud, Texas.

Maud has a population of around 1,100. The city bills itself as “the perfect place to put down roots and enjoy rural living in the Texarkana area.” City Hall telephone number is 903-585-2294. I will be giving them a call Monday morning.

 

The Cherokee princes jeweler

While on lunch break at Walmart in 1997, I heard a woman associate comment on another woman’s bracelet. “Thank you,” said the second woman. “A friend gave it to me. It was made by a Cherokee princes.” 

Seldom allowing a historical inaccuracy to go unanswered, I asked, “Was her father a king?”

“Pardon?” the woman said.

I said, “I wondered if her father was a king. If a girl is a princess, doesn’t that mean her father was a king? I don’t recall the Cherokee having a royal system.”

That was smart-ass me. I do not like historical inaccuracies. Most are spoken by people who are assured of their own knowledge, that what they know exceeds any other person’s.

The “Cherokee princess” is one of those phrases that is not spoken as often as in past years. Used to be when one spoke of Indian ancestry, the forbearer was Cherokee and a woman, often labeled “a princess.” The phrasing followed that sequence, that pattern, because one did not want a savage man, a dark man, as an ancestor, but a noble woman. The ancestor was never spoken of as “warrior” or even “chief.” The statement usually was “My great-great-grandmother was a Cherokee.” And to maintain a class not found in the white or black person making the claim, “a Cherokee princess.”

Why the distinction? White people of the 20th century considered Cherokee sort of white, and for some reason more white than other Indian tribes. Cherokee, like others in the Five Civilized Tribes, owned black slaves and allied with the Confederacy in the 1861-65 war. Black people who claimed partial Cherokee ancestry could, in their own estimation, stand a step above other slave descendants and even above some whites, by claiming, “My great-great-grandmother was a Cherokee princess.”