Good morning all-

As many of you know we here in Texas suffered some serious weather for the second weekend in a row last weekend. While we didn’t get near the amount of rain we did the week before the fact we did get copious amounts the previous weekend made what we did receive extremely problematic as the water table was so high in many places it couldn’t simply couldn’t hold anymore. That my friends is when the fun of widespread flooding starts. Doppler radar and automated rain gauges indicated that over 12 hours (roughly 10 PM Friday to 10 Am Saturday) 6 to 10 inches of rainfall had fallen over portions of eastern Harris County/N.W. Houston where I live.

As if that wouldn’t be enough fun as it is, the area had moderate to high winds, a few tornados, one about 80 miles from us with a sense of humor apparently:

That folks is the remnants of a house trailer picked up at a nearby trailer park and deposited on the roof of the Holiday Inn where the former residents of the trailer, probably in the short term, now reside. As you can see it wasn’t nearly as capricious and whimsical elsewhere in the town it hit:

Here at Casa del Cascarrabias (House of the Curmudgeon) fortunately we only had several small short lived Dust Devils come down the alley right outside my home office window. A Dust Devil for you who have never seen one is “a small whirlwind or air vortex over land, visible as a column of dust and debris.” These were between 2 & 4 foot in diameter and 8 to 12 feet tall. While the first brought mostly pine needles from the Lodge Pole Pines all around me. The second one battered my new windows with some large twigs from them as you can see here:

The second twig is partially hidden under the pine needles since that area tends to pond up. Needless to say while not in the tornado category, suddenly having such objects suddenly and repeatedly bounced off your windows for about 15 to 20 seconds then deposited in front of it while you’re hard at work less than 5 feet away (I took that photo from my desk) is a bit surprising and unnerving. Even Ninja Kitty Clan Mistress SC, who had been keeping watch out that particular window on the insidious leaves, birds and squirrels who threaten her fiefdom found it necessary and wise to immediately relocate to a safer window to keep watch.

We got our last hurrah Sunday night around 5 PM when it started raining again fairly steadily for about an hour before going full on fire hose for about twenty minutes then slowly tapering off to a stop. From this we picked up roughly another quarter inch of rain making out weekend total somewhere around six inches according to the recording sight at Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Now tomorrow the cycle is slated to start all over, our 3 weekend in a row of heavy rain events. We’re expected to receive another one to three inches between Thursday afternoon and Saturday evening.

OK enough chitchat, lets get to it shall we?

My old mug was a gift from one of Molly’s Aunts who was touched at the lengths I went to to save Clan Mistress SC who was a pregnant stray when I found her, even though it was Molly who first made friends with her was well as the devotion of the cat we had at the time to me.

It’s served me well for almost 10 years of near constant daily use (I’ll admit to switching to a thermal mug during the coldest part of the year) and hold a leprechaun’s thirst sized amount of coffee.  As you can see its showing serious signs of wear along the rim and bottom where the glazing was worn away. I’d have kept using it but lately when I fill it I get a slight soapy taste despite Molly’s vagarious rinsing after washing.  I’ve also heard a click/pop/snap/ting sort of sound several times, once when I was lifting it off the counter post refill and felt it in the handle 16oz of hot coffee sweetener and half & half all over the floor or carpet I don’t need so it’s getting retired and relegated to pen & pencil duty on my desk.

Meet my new daily use cup which arrived Friday. While it doesn’t hold quite what the old one did (about 4 oz. less) its much heavier. One of the major drawbacks with the old one was that it was very thin and didn’t posses enough thermal mass in relation to the amount of liquid it held to keep it warm until all the coffee was consumed. Even when the cup was preheated/warmed the last third of the cup was always ice cold.

I use a coffee maker with a 12 cup thermal carafe. To keep my Joe hot I first run 6 to 8 cups of water though the coffee maker to preheat the thermal carafe. I let this sit while I load the coffee maker then I fill my cup with hot water from the carafe before emptying the rest and making my coffee. This insures I have hot coffee for at least 8 hours post brew and usually more like 10.

Test have already shown that this cup will keep the coffee piping hot through out the whole cup when doing this. Additionally the smaller size will force me to get up more frequently and walk out to get a refill, something that I’m encouraged to do for my legs.

While I made a couple tests cups/runs with it, I didn’t fully deploy it until Saturday evening during the 4th quarter of the Notre Dame – Temple game when it looked like they might loose.

I’m happy to report my wearing of my Notre Dame Hat and drinking of Diet Pepsi out of the cup along with some rather inventive Irish invectives uttered after several plays turned the game around and we did narrowly win.

Now if you’ll excuse me, new cup is empty and I need a refill desperately.

Ode to Coffee (sung to the tune “Ode to Joy”)

Coffee, coffee, we adore thee!
Java glory, java love.
Brains awake like flowers before thee.
Raise our mugs to God above.

Melt the fog of sleepy stumbling;
drive the dark of night away.
Giver of immortal gladness,
caffeinate us for the day!

[The following took place last Saturday  at 10 AM in the Dragon Residence as I understand it. I was not there but managed to piece this together from separate recounts and debriefings after the fact –L.L.]

Impish, exhausted from his nonstop Disney adventure and very happy to be back home in his own bed, has been face down busily sawing pillow wood since Tuesday night when he returned. He’s been vaguely aware of the passage of some days when he feels someone shaking him in an ill advised attempt to disturb his beauty sleep for which he has marked off the remainder of the week on his personal calendar.

“Dad! Dad wake up! There are people outside!”

(groaning and pulling a pillow over his head) “Go away! And tell my adoring fans to go away too. I’m not here, I’m not me and I’m not back to work officially until Saturday morning when I present the issue. Today and tomorrow were officially canceled due to a lack of visual. I’ll get back to everyone about Friday later when I roll over.”

“‘A lack of visual?’ Dad what does that even mean? Can’t you see?!”

“What I can’t see is myself getting out of this bed before dinner time Friday and then only for dinner time. If whoever they are won’t go the hell away you have my permission to try out your Ninja skills on them. Just don’t tell Mom, get caught or arrested.”

“Uh Dad…it IS Saturday. Don’t worry about the issue, Uncle Lethal did most of the hard work for you and set it up to auto post in the conference room since it was raining and your field was muddy. There people outside, they have Body Armor, Guns and them silver clubs like Uncle Lapthal’s.”

A bleary bloodshot eye snaps opens and regards the dragonette momentarily. “If this is some ruse to get me up to drive you and your friends someplace, so help me Izzy…you kids just don’t know when to quit while you’re ahead do you?”

“Seriously Dad I’m scared! They wouldn’t let me out of the house even to get the paper! Please? I brought coffee, see?” She gestures to a large igloo style drink cooler with the spigot replaced with a gate valve and hose a top a rolling stool.

Impish grunts rolls on his side and opens his maw. Izzy inserts about 2 feet of hose then opens the gate valve. Rapid glugging noises are heard then begin to slow. Then the bloody shot eyeball reopens it looks a little more with it and stares at the cooler.

Getting the message Izzy loosens the top to relieve the vacuum that is forming and slowing Impish’s emergency coffee delivery system down. The rapid glugging sound resumes with a happy sighing. A few minutes later the glugging stops and Izzy removes the hose. A minute after that Impish groans, sits upright and scrubs his face with his hands before regard a bottom lip chewing Dragonette who knows full well the price she’ll pay for waking her Dad needlessly if that turns out to be the case- a full month of litter box duty at the office as well as in the yard at home picking up after her dog Bailey.

Impish regards her thoughtfully for a moment before asking, “Got any pictures of these dudes with the body armor and dangerous toys?” Izzy still chewing her bottom lip simply nods and proffers her cellphone for Impish to examine the photos she snapped. Impish scrolls through several before softly muttering ‘Aw Crap’ under his breath, handing Izzy back her phone and picking his up to examine it and uttering a second more emphatic ‘Aw Crap!’ when it fails to come to life due to a dead battery from his being too tired to remember to plug it in once the issue was completed.

As he stands up slipping his feet into his slippers Izzy dashes for his bathrobe which he dons and starts shuffling to the front door. When he gets there he opens the door just briefly gesturing out the door with his thumb towards the garage. Before closing and relocking it then navigating his way through the house to the garage door off the kitchen.

He opens the door but remains in the house . Reaching outside the door he feels around for the garage door button and presses it leaving his hand on it . After the door has risen about 3 feet someone and four very fleet of foot somethings duck under it. Impish  immediately presses the button again. The door reverse direction and closes. Then Impish steps into the garage, closing the door behind him. When the visitor makes to start speaking Impish stops him with a hand which he then cups to his ear, followed by jerking his thumb at the house. The visitor’s eyebrows go up and he nods. Impish crosses to a shelf with a radio on it and turns it on fairly loud and positions himself to watch the window in the house door for Padawan Ninja signs. He sees two Ninja cats he doesn’t recognize, one the hood and roof of the car as a third prowls about the kitchen door sniffing. Car roof cat seems to have it’s unblinking attention fixated on Impish’s visitor.

The Visitor and Impish stand close and speak into each others ears as Impish absent mindedly scratches the ears of Brutus who leaped from the top of the car into his arms to sit regarding the visitor with a surprising amount of naked hostility as evidence by the emphatic tail swatting Impish is getting.

“Sorry to have disturbed you sir. We were set by Mr. Leprechaun to provide perimeter security. Our orders were to let you sleep as long as it didn’t interfere with ensuring you and your family’s safety. I didn’t realize that not allowing your daughter to retrieve the paper would upset her to the point of her waking you.”

“Sergeant I don’t recognize you or your men. I’m unable to contact Lethal Leprechaun at the moment entirely due to my own fault so why don’t you tell me something that makes me not want to flame broil you like a giant breakfast sausage to have with my eggs and then why it was necessary for Lethal to assign my family a security detail in the first place.”

[I’ll have more on this later, right now I’m sure most of you would like the get on with the issue already. L.L.]

A teacher asked her third grade class to name things that ended with “tor” and that also ate things.

The first little boy said, “Alligator.

“Very good James, that’s a big word.”

The second boy said, “Predator.”

“Yes, that’s another big word Alan. Very well done.”

Little Johnny says, “Vibrator.”

After nearly falling off her chair, the teacher says, “That is a big word Johnny, but it doesn’t eat anything.”

“Well my mother has one and she says it eats fxxxing batteries like there’s no tomorrow!”

Answer Pet trivia for a great cause!

Purina^® will donate up to $40,000* to Dogs on Deployment, a non-profit group that helps find loving foster homes for our military’s pets.

Many of or troops have to give up or find someone to care for their pets when they are deployed, They have enough to worry about let’s help alleviate this one worry for them. It’s just 4 easy questions/day and takes about a minute after you register to play.

Help give back to our troops pets- click here

Dogs On Deployment

[It’s not just for dogs but all pets]

The Top 5 Reasons a Drug Costs $750 a Pill

A company called Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of a prescription drug called Daraprim that treats a life threatening parasitic infection from $13.50 to $750 a pill.

5. Because now these bad boys taste like BACON!!!

4. It comes with personal delivery by George Clooney, straight to your esophagus.

3. It costs that much to print all the side effects on the bottle.

2. This is so much safer than staging a raid on Ft. Knox.

And the Number One Reason a Drug Costs $750 a Pill…

1. Depending on your choice of news source, it’s the fault of either a Democratic or a Republican.

Fred Thompson, Former Senator, Actor and Presidential Candidate, Dies at 73

Fred D. Thompson, a former United States senator, actor and Republican presidential candidate, died on Sunday in Nashville. He was 73.

The cause was a recurrence of lymphoma, his family said in a statement.

Mr. Thompson had an unusual career, moving back and forth between national politics and mass-market entertainment. He left a regular role on the hit NBC drama “Law & Order” to run for president in 2008.

On television and on movie screens, Mr. Thompson was known for playing authoritative characters, but he was sometimes ambivalent in his political aspirations. While he brought gravitas to his on-screen characters, he often struggled on the campaign trail, especially during his unsuccessful run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

Mr. Thompson compiled a solidly conservative voting record in the Senate, though aides said he showed little enthusiasm for divisive battles over abortion and other issues that motivated the religious right. In a 2007 interview, he told The New York Times that he had always felt that the Senate “was never meant to be the place where I would stay for my entire career.”

“You are either going to do the right thing, or you’re not,” he said. “If you are politically tacking all the time, it makes life too long and too complicated.”

Mr. Thompson, a lawyer, began his life in public service at the age of 30 with a lucky break when his mentor, Senator Howard H. Baker Jr., chose him over more experienced candidates to serve as Republican counsel on the Senate Watergate Committee.

His tough questioning of Alexander Butterfield, a former aide to President Richard M. Nixon, led to the revelation of recording devices in the Oval Office, a turning point in the investigation that ended in the president’s resignation. After the committee concluded its work, Mr. Thompson embarked on a lucrative legal and lobbying career.

He began acting when he was tapped to play himself in the 1985 movie “Marie.” The film, starring Sissy Spacek, was based on the life of Marie Ragghianti, the head of the Tennessee Board of Pardons and Paroles and a whistleblower, who revealed a clemency-selling scandal that brought down the Tennessee governor, Leonard Ray Blanton. Mr. Thompson had been Ms. Ragghianti’s lawyer.

By the time Mr. Baker talked him into running in a 1994 special election to fill the Senate seat from Tennessee vacated by Vice President Al Gore, Mr. Thompson had 18 movie credits, including “No Way Out,” “Days of Thunder” and “In the Line of Fire.”

On Election Day, he swept aside his Democratic opponent, Representative Jim Cooper, with 60 percent of the vote. In 1996, he just as easily won a full six-year term.

Mr. Gore issued a statement Sunday evening in which he praised Mr. Thompson for his dedication to public service.

“At a moment of history’s choosing, Fred’s extraordinary integrity while working with Senator Howard Baker on the Watergate Committee helped our nation find its way,” Mr. Gore said. “I was deeply inspired by his matter-of-fact, no-nonsense moral courage in that crucible. Tennessee and our nation owe a great debt to Fred Thompson.”

Mr. Thompson served eight years in the Senate before leaving his seat in 2002 for a role on “Law & Order.” He played Arthur Branch, a Manhattan district attorney.

Mr. Thompson believed his biggest role was yet to come, however, and in 2007 he asked the producers of “Law & Order” to release him from his contract so he could explore a bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

His supporters hoped that his on-screen charisma and small-town roots could make him into a modern-day Ronald Reagan, another conservative actor turned politician, but it was not to be. Mr. Thompson’s campaign was often languid and failed to attract significant support in the primaries, and he withdrew from the race in January 2008.

<truncated for brevity>

In April 2007, Mr. Thompson disclosed that he had been diagnosed three years earlier with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system. He said at the time that the cancer was in remission and that he had no symptoms.

In a statement on Sunday, his family said that growing up in a small town in Tennessee “formed the prism through which he viewed the world and shaped the way he dealt with life” and reinforced for him the values of hard work and a belief in American exceptionalism.

“Fred was the same man on the floor of the Senate, the movie studio, or the town square of Lawrenceburg,” his family said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/02/us/politics/fred-thompson-former-senator-actor-and-presidential-candidate-dies-at-73.html?mwrsm=Email&_r=0

He was a shining example of what America once was and should return to and despite his failure early on the the Republican Presidential Primary race I was proud to wear my ‘I’m With Fred’ hat and still would be just as proud today.

Your Portal To The Best Free Online Tools

The web is full of amazingly useful sites that allow you to do just about anything for free, with no need to download or install software on your PC. Whether you’re searching for an online dictionary or thesaurus, an image or video editor, financial data, language translation, tools to help you play Scrabble or solve a crossword clue, or just about anything else, it’s out there. Trouble is, it can be hard to find the best site for the job.

Which is why I’m rather taken by a site called iTools, which is a single-page portal to hundreds of sites. The headline of iTools is “Use the best tools for the job”, and that sums it up pretty accurately. I’m sure it’s also no coincidence that the site color theme is yellow, as this single page of links is as useful than any Yellow Pages I’ve ever used.

You can check it out at www.itools.com and you’ll need nothing more than a web browser in order to do so.

OK, I am reasonably well informed, that despite my inability to comprehend it, a phenomena exists where some people post Halloween are scratching their heads and searching for something to do with their left over candy. This has never been a problem in any of my households. Thanksgiving/Christmas leftovers, or excess Easter eggs being a problem requiring inventive uses recipes I can understand, but not Halloween candy.  In our house this allegedly problematic leftover candy is known as ‘Molly’s Haul’ and I have to beg, fight for and sometimes even steal and hide some to get any.

However since for some of you this might be a problem here’s a solution to (I can’t believe I’m actually typing this!)  get you family to eat the leftover Halloween candy without complaining.

Chocolate Candy Pie

This versatile pie can morph to fit many moods. Freeze it for an icy delight, or just refrigerate instead if you’re looking for something a little softer (or you run out of time). Or leave out the candy all together for something a little less rich. You decide

Total Time: 4 hr. 20 min
Prep: 10 min
Inactive: 4 hr.
Cook: 10 min
Yield: 1 pie (12 servings)
Level: Intermediate

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 3/4 cups milk
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped assorted chocolate-covered candy, plus additional candy, for garnish
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
One 6-ounce chocolate or regular graham cracker crumb pie crust

Directions

Whisk together the cocoa powder, cornstarch, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Gradually whisk in the milk in a slow stream. Whisk in the egg yolks.
Place the mixture over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until it just begins to boil, 6 to 7 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and cook, whisking, until thick, about 1 minute.

Remove from the heat and transfer to a large bowl. Whisk in the butter and vanilla. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing directly onto the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.

Fold the chopped candy into the pudding. Whip 3/4 cup of the cream with an electric mixer just until stiff peaks form. Fold a third of the whipped cream into the pudding to lighten it, and then fold in the other two-thirds until no streaks remain. Transfer to the pie crust and freeze until firm but not frozen solid, about 3 hours.
Whip the remaining 1/2 cup cream just until soft peaks form. Spread over the pie and garnish decoratively with sliced or chopped candy.

Cook’s Note: The pie can be frozen overnight and thawed at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing; it can also be refrigerated instead of frozen.
Use the plastic insert of the pie crust, flipped upside down, as a lid to cover the pie while freezing.

As for the rest of us who are already out of Halloween Candy, here are a couple sweet treats sure to put a smile on your face and a happy in your tummy.

Knock-You-Naked Brownies

Total Time: 3 hr. 50 min
Prep: 15 min
Inactive: 3 hr.
Cook: 35 min
Yield: 6 servings
Level: Easy

Ingredients

1 stick butter, melted, plus more for greasing
All-purpose flour, for dusting
1/3 plus 1/2 cup evaporated milk
One 18.5-ounce box German chocolate cake mix (I use Duncan Hines)
1 cup finely chopped pecans
60 caramels, unwrapped
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-by-9-inch baking pan.
Begin by pouring 1/3 cup evaporated milk into a bowl with the cake mix. Add the melted butter and the chopped pecans. Mix the ingredients together; it’ll be pretty thick!
Divide the dough in half down the middle. Press half of it into the bottom of the prepared pan to make the first brownie layer. Bake until slightly set, 8 to 10 minutes. Then remove from the oven and set aside.

While the brownie layer is baking, in a double boiler (or glass bowl set over a bowl of simmering water) combine the caramels and the remaining 1/2 cup evaporated milk. Stir occasionally until the caramels are totally melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour the caramel mixture over the first baked layer, spreading so it’s evenly distributed. Sprinkle the chocolate chips all over the top.

Next, on a clean surface or a sheet of waxed paper, press the remaining dough into a square shape slightly smaller than the baking pan. Carefully set it on top of the chocolate chips. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let the brownies cool to room temperature. Cover the pan and refrigerate the brownies for several hours to allow them to set.

When you’re ready to serve them (or give them to someone you love!) sprinkle generously with the powdered sugar and cut them into large rectangles before removing from the pan. These are absolutely killer.

Autumn in a Pan: Pumpkin Caramel Skillet Cake with Maple Glaze

Pumpkin Cake

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened but not melted
1 cup pure pumpkin filling (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Easy Caramel Sauce [recipe follows]

Maple Glaze

1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare caramel sauce. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
To make the cake, prepare 12-inch skillet by rubbing bottom and sides with about 1 tablespoon of butter or generously spraying with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture, then add in sugar, butter, pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract.

Mix by hand until fully incorporated. Mixture will be thick. Once it’s combined, press half of the mixture into the bottom of a prepared 12-inch skillet. Make sure the pumpkin cake batter goes halfway up the sides of the skillet. Pour cooled caramel over pumpkin cake batter. Drop remaining pumpkin cake batter over the caramel by the spoonful. Try to cover the caramel as well as you can.

Bake for 22 to 28 minutes or until edges are firm and golden.
While cake is baking, prepare maple glaze.

Bring maple syrup and butter to a low boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly (about 2 minutes).
Remove from heat; gradually whisk in confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Whisk for about 1 minute or until mixture begins to thicken and cool slightly.

Remove cake from oven and allow to cool in skillet for 5 minutes. Pour maple glaze over cake and serve immediately.

Easy Caramel Sauce

Total Time: 30 min | Prep: 10 min | Inactive: 10 min | Cook: 10 min | Yield: 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

1 packed cup brown sugar
1/2 cup half-and-half
4 tablespoons butter
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions

Mix the brown sugar, half-and-half, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook while whisking gently for 5 to 7 minutes, until it gets thicker. Add the vanilla and cook another minute to thicken further. Turn off the heat, cool slightly and pour the sauce into a jar. Refrigerate until cold.

Believe it or not, this story is true and not an urban legend or joke:
http://www.snopes.com/medical/asylum/fbipizza.asp

FBI agents conducted a “search and seizure” at the Southwood
Psychiatric Hospital in San Diego, which was under investigation for
medical insurance fraud. After hours of poring over many rooms of
financial records, some sixty FBI agents worked up quite an appetite.

The case agent in charge of the investigation called a local pizza
parlor with delivery service to order a quick dinner for his colleagues.

The following telephone conversation took place:
Agent: Hello. I would like to order nineteen large pizzas and sixty-
seven cans of soda.

Pizza man: And where would you like them delivered?

Agent: To the Southwood Psychiatric Hospital.

Pizza man: To the psychiatric hospital?

Agent: That’s right. I’m an FBI agent.

Pizza man: You’re an FBI agent?

Agent: That’s correct. Just about everybody here is.

Pizza man: And you’re at the psychiatric hospital?

Agent: That’s correct. And make sure you don’t go through the front
doors. We have them locked. You’ll have to go around to the back to
the service entrance to deliver the pizzas.

Pizza man: And you say you’re all FBI agents?

Agent: That’s right. How soon can you have them here?

Pizza man: And you’re over at Southwood?

Agent: That’s right. How soon can you have them here?

Pizza man: And everyone at Southwood is an FBI agent?

Agent: That’s right. We’ve been here all day and we’re starving.

Pizza man: How are you going to pay for this?

Agent: I have my check book right here.

Pizza man: And you are all FBI agents?

Agent: That’s right, everyone here is an FBI agent. Can you remember
to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance in the rear? We
have the front doors locked.

Pizza man: I don’t think so.
               -— Click -—

So THAT’S what Mrs. Dragon meant when she said they’d never find his scaly hide! I’ll just bet there’s matching shoes and luggage too.

Student Who Saw Cop Slam Black Girl Reveals Massive Detail Media Refuses to Report

An anonymous Spring Valley High School student brought liberal race-baiters to their knees this week when he argued that the unidentified black girl who was seen being ripped from her seat and dragged across the floor by Richland County Deputy Ben Fields was as much to blame as him.

“In the video it was very shocking to see how that was happening, but I honestly think that it was a two-way thing and the officer was wrong, but also the girl was wrong,” the student told WLTX. “They are a higher power, the least you could do is respect them and follow orders.”

The incident began Monday in Columbia, South Carolina, after the black girl refused to turn over to a teacher a cellphone she was using in class and then refused to leave the classroom. Fields was called in to assist, and after the girl refused to comply with his orders, he took action.

Two videos of the incident soon flooded social media, leading liberal race-baiters to scream “racism” and Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott to fire Fields.

But then this same anonymous student uploaded a third video of the incident to Instagram, and this one showed the girl hitting Officer Fields, not that this mattered to either liberals or Sheriff Lott.

According to this student, the whole incident could have been prevented if his female classmate would have simply followed orders.

“She was even told by the students to leave when the administrator came in,” he explained. “We tried to put our input in just to help her.”

He added, “Fields was really trying to do his job.”

And yet because of the type of racial grievance mongering made popular by President Barack Hussein Obama, Fields was apparently fired for doing just that — his job.

Oh man! Where to start with all this Liberal touchy-feely media courting the black ‘Police are bad” vote BULLSHIT!

1.) The liberal progressive thinking ‘You-can’t-spank-your-child-for-misbehaving-because that’s-child-abuse!’ education experts have allowed/caused things to become so bad within our schools that we have to have Police Officers patrolling the hallways to maintain discipline and order. NOT of course that they will admit it, they are firmly rooted in their circular logic of illogic and comforted by their blanket denial and hiding behind a cloak of protection they try to pass off a confidentiality for the kids,“oh those are RESOURCE officers we don’t effectively have a police substation in each school” (coughing into fist) Liberal Bullshit!

2.) Now that you’ve mismanaged their education and stripped the parents of their right to corporal discipline to arrive at a point where the teachers themselves are routinely attacked and you have to have guards in the school. You want to attack the guards when they are called in to deal with a situation you are unable or unwilling to deal with yourself!

You blithering brain dead idiots! OF COURSE they are going to put the kid down cuff him and drag him out of there! YOU and the kid left him NO OTHER OPTION! You brought him in to deal with a kid who’s levels of disobedience and hostility towards authority figures was escalating. Failing to resolve the issue in a fast and authoritative manner was his only option if he expected to keep doing his job effectively. You want touchy feely get the school shrink or a guidance councilor not a cop.

3.) She escalated things even further by committing the ultimate no-no when dealing with the police, she resisted being taken into custody by physically assaulting the officer. Once you cross that Rubicon all bets are off. The officer has to take you down hard fast and non gently. That’s called instilling respect for the consequences of failing to heed the commands of a police officer. The student is actually quite lucky that because of the roomful of other students mace was not used and that he , likely in deference to her age didn’t respond by tasering the student for assaulting him.

4.) Is you don’t like what he had to do to get his hands on her and control her STOP USING DESKS AND CHAIRS THAT ARE ALL IN ONE UNITS! She was clearly using that fact to attempt to make it difficult for the officer to remove her. He simply did what he had to in order to negate the advantage the desk/chair all in one unit gave her.

5.) Why aren’t the parents being blamed for any of this. Are that not responsible for the kids behavior? I’ll tell you why.

a.) The media loves the whole  ‘Black live matter / Police are bad’  social unrest bullshit. If the were fair and honest about their reporting the story might go away. BOOM! Nothing for talking heads to talk out their asses about anymore.

b.) The media knows the truth, the student behaves that way both in class and to the police because its behavior learned form her parent[s]. Plain and simple. It’s an attitude fostered at home and practiced by he parents.

IF you ask me Richland County Deputy Ben Fields, needs to be reinstated, apologized publicly to by the school, the teacher, the student, her parents, paid his back pay AND the pay for being a teacher for a day for teaching that class a life lesson graphically. Namely- “Either you respect the police, do what they say and don’t try to resist paying for your crimes by attacking the police or the ‘po-po’ gonna to drop a shit ton of hurt on yo sorry azz beeyotch! Den you just be going to jail, hurtin,  for a lot longer and makin your mouth piece’s job a lot harder and well as raisin yo bail dogg.

This just in from Ima ‘Diva’ Dwarf who keeps tabs on Hollyweird, the entertainment industry and the Celebrity/Political Gossip for us:

What major movie company just released it planned movie releases for the next for years while a certain dragon was seen vacationing there?

That’s right Disney did.

Now here’s another question for you. Is it just a coincidence that the list is released the same time a certain well known to us Dragon is vacationing there and on that list is a remake of a very famous movie co-staring a dragon?

Next summer will also include a reboot of Pete’s Dragon, starring Bryce Dallas Howard. The 1977 Disney original follows a young orphan seeking the help of a giant dragon. Other stars involved are Wes Bentley, Robert Redford and Karl Urban. It will be released Aug 12th, 2016.

No word as yet on who will star as the Dragon, but given the timing of the announcement that  the project will go forward one has to wonder. One also has to wonder why this was news to his agent a certain well known Leprechaun when I asked him for a comment. This reporter smells a freeze out. Hope the Leprechaun has some warm clothes and some more loyal clients because its sudden feeling a little frosty here!

I’d be interested to a good answer to that last question too Diva and you’re right it IS starting to feel a wee frosty. For more on the up coming movies click the following links. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go see a certain weasel in a dragon suit client about playing a dragon in a movie I know nothing about.

IMPISH! A word about your trip please!

Disney Just Announced an Incredible Lineup of Films for the Next Two Years

Disney Announces Release Dates for ‘Incredibles 2,’ ‘Cars 3’

A couple gratuitous Fall Foliage Photo from near my home town in Connecticut. One of the few things I miss about living in Texas, Mother Nature’s living landscape paintings of New England in Fall. 

Nunchuk-wielding shampoo thief charged in bus-based sword attack

Seattle woman accused of chasing man with sword after chance clash on downtown bus

by Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen

A Seattle woman fresh from jail after a nunchuk attack is now accused of chasing a stranger off a King County Metro bus – with a sword.

Facing her third assault-related charge of the year, Sharnika Joy Armstead is accused of dashing after a man who jostled her aboard a downtown bus. Armstead, a recently homeless West Seattle resident, is accused of waving a sheathed short sword at the object of her ire.

Armstead, 26, had been released from King County Jail six weeks before the Sept. 14 incident. She served a 74-day stint after bashing a two men with nunchuks during a shampoo theft from a North Seattle supermarket.

Charged Tuesday in the bus incident, Armstead is also accused of brutally beating another woman at a Belltown women’s shelter on Aug. 19. Prosecutors claim Armstead, in a “vicious and unprovoked assault,” punched the other woman repeatedly in the head to steal her makeup bag.

Armstead’s current spate of legal troubles began May 18, when she beat up two men at a Grocery Outlet store in Seattle’s Lake City neighborhood.

Armed with homemade nunchuks, Armstead attacked the store owner after she was caught stealing a bottle of shampoo from the discount grocery. Armstead bit a store employee during the fight.

Armstead was arrested at the scene and ultimately sentenced to three months in jail for the assaults. She was released July 31.

She is alleged to have seriously hurt another woman at Angeline’s Center for Homeless Women two weeks later. According to charging papers, Armstead punched the woman repeatedly in the face while stealing her makeup bag.

Armstead remained free until Sept. 14, when she is alleged to have accosted a man on a Metro Transit D Line bus.

At 2:30 p.m. that day, Armstead was sleeping on Ballard-bound bus as it approached Bell Street on Third Avenue. Another passenger apparently bumped Armstead as he sat down next to her.

Awake and upset, Armstead slapped the man in the face, according to charging papers. The man called 911 and stepped off the bus. Armstead followed.

Armstead drew what witnesses initially thought was a “stick-like object” that had been tucked down the back of her hooded sweatshirt, a King County Sheriff’s Office detective said in charging papers. Investigators claim it was actually a sheathed, 18-inch sword.

When deputies arrived to arrest her, Armstead had tucked the sword back into its hiding spot along her spine, the detective continued. Deputies reported that Armstead struggled with them during her arrest, kicking one in the chest.

Armstead has been charged with attempted second-degree assault in the bus incident. She also faces a first-degree robbery charge in the August incident at the women’s shelter. She remains jailed on $155,000 bail.

Daylight Saving Time: Keep it year round

By Scott C. Yates http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/30/opinions/yates-daylight-saving-time-keep-it-year-round/index.html?eref=rss_us

(CNN) On Sunday, November 1, it will again be the end of Daylight Saving Time. Many of us will be muttering to ourselves as we wander around resetting all of our various clocks — on the thermostat, clock radio and stove, among other places.

Sure, you’ll get an extra hour of sleep by turning back the clock by an hour in the fall. But if you have a regular day job, you’ll be commuting home in the dark instead of in daylight come the following day.

Why do we do this every fall? And why do we dial forward the clock by an hour every spring?

Daylight Saving Time was around for a good part of the 20th century, but there’s no really good reason why we should continue with the status quo.

The U.S. government started moving into and out of “Daylight Saving Time” during World War I to copy the Germans, who said they were doing it to save fuel. When the war ended, the U.S. government wisely repealed the law since it proved unpopular.

During WWII, it came back — again with the notion that it would somehow conserve resources. After the second war, the U.S. converted factories from making bombs to making cars and consumer products. The GIs came home. But Daylight Saving Time just stuck around.

Numerous polls show that people want to stay in Daylight Saving Time year round, or at least just stick with either Standard or Daylight time and stop switching clocks around. Two states, Arizona and Hawaii, already keep their clocks the same all year long.

We may have reached a tipping point to end the clock-changing madness.

First, the U.S. Department of Energy issued a report in 2008 that examined the impact of extended Daylight Saving Time. A four-week extension (allegedly- there are of course reports that refute this as well- L.L.) would save approximately 0.5% of electricity per day for the country. Put in perspective, it’s enough energy to power 100,000 households for a year.

The second strong case for staying in Daylight Saving Time year round is that we can save lives. A recent study shows the switching of clocks in the spring causes a 25% jump in heart attacks in the few days following the switch, confirming earlier research that point out the shift in time can disrupt the quality of sleep and biological rhythms.

Taking away an hour of sleep and jolting you awake in the predawn darkness is simply bad for your health, especially if you are elderly or have a heart condition, researchers noted.

So here’s the question: If you have a chance to save lives and save electricity, would you do it?

Sure you would, right? But you haven’t, and neither have I. Why? Maybe because we’re all a little too sleep deprived and discombobulated to do something after all that clock-changing.

In 2013, a member of the Missouri legislature proposed moving the state to permanent Daylight Saving Time if 19 other states would join its effort. The state House voted to approve the measure, HB340, but it didn’t go anywhere in the Senate.

The idea is smart and worth revisiting. The hard part is how to get this more traction. Here’s an alternative proposal: Legislatures pass a bill whereby if at least 31 other states pass similar bills, their state will then switch to permanent Daylight Saving Time. With Arizona and Hawaii already in, that adds up to two-thirds, or 33, states. Thirty-three is the number of states needed to pass a constitutional amendment, and while this is not a constitutional issue, it seems like a good standard to meet.

So how can we convince all these local governments to take on this initiative?

We need help from students, who can create interdisciplinary projects combining science, math, social studies and government, to show why we need to get rid of this outdated concept. If we all pitch in a little, we’ll be able to save energy and lives.

In short, it’s about time.

The Sergeant swallows audibly, then snaps to and salutes. “Gunnery Sergeant Axel Timber sir. Formerly USMC now part of the Dire Wolves. We’re a…’unique skill set military style security company….”

“You mean you’re mercenaries, hired guns loyal to the pay day” Impish interrupts.

The Gunny flashes a surprisingly long toothed smile at Impish and responds “Oh we’re so much more sir…most of us have served under or worked with Mr. Leprechaun in the past. In fact it was his suggestion and bank roll that got us started. Additionally we’re all lycanthropes.” As if to demonstrate the validity of his statement he extends a single finger which sprouts a claw suddenly and points it in the direction of Brutus who instantly seems to double in size and being hissing and spitting at the Sergeant while exposing his legendary and sizable sharps.

Impish pats and restrains the Ninja kitty. “Easy pal, he’d be well done before he even changed and got free of all that stuff he’s wearing.” Brutus looks Impish in the eye a moment then resumes his original position but doesn’t seem the least bit mollified by Impish’s confident assertion

“That an explanation of who and what you are, but so far I haven’t heard anything proving Lethal sent you or that you are even needed and seeing as I’ve ben asleep for 3 solid days plus a bit I am getting hungry. Can we hurry this along please?” Impish’s request is punctuated by a loud rumble of his belly

“Sir with regard to that I was briefed by Mr. Leprechaun that once I saw activity in the house I was to dispatch men to the local Subway shop right away to obtain your favorite breakfast sandwich in quantity for you. Namely an Italian BMT with Eggs and Sriracha hot sauce between 2 flat bread with melted cheese- provolone and double meat of course hold the veg.  I expect them to arrive at any moment now.”

At this Impish raises a speculative eyebrow then glances down at Brutus who expresses his opinion with a lion sized sneeze followed by industriously licking his paw and cleaning his face. “And my family…”

“Doesn’t like Subway’s idea of breakfast. They’ll receive McDonalds full breakfasts with a request for extra syrup for your daughter and Apple not orange juice. I was told you’d prefer your own coffee.”

“Ok. So much for your bonafides, you’re apparently legit but those infernal magical dancing shillelagh pretty much told me that. Now why are you here? What’s happened that Lethal felt compelled to hire outside help I’ve never heard of before to protect me? What has our own security so tied up?”

“Sir it is my duty to inform you that DL/LL HQ is currently FPCON CHARLIE status. There was an attack last night during Devil’s Night sir. I’m not authorized to give you the details, not that I even have a clear understanding of what went on. We were hired at Zero One Hundred, briefed on board the most tricked out, fastest plane I have even seen in my life at O-One Thirty, equipped and in position here by O-Three Hundred. Frankly sir I think my tail might be some place back in Syria still.”

“Lethal went to all this length over some TP’s of our Corporate Offices? Hardly sounds like him. Frankly I’m surprised he wasn’t out TPing some Liberal Stronghold himself known that rascal.”

“Sir as I said I don’t know specifics but from what little I heard in the background while we were being briefed, well its quite a bit more serious than that. I believe there were fatalities and I think I heard the phrase ‘airborne delivered target specific improvised  incendiary ordinance’. Does that phrase mean anything to you sir? I’ve never heard of such an ordinance load.”

Gunnery Sergeant Axel Timber finds himself bowled aside as Impish drops the bathrobe, unceremoniously dumps Brutus on the car’s roof, reaches for the emergency garage door disconnect and starts transforming into Big Blue, practically all at the same time. The last thing he hears as Impish unfurls his wings and leaps skyward are the directions and  admonishment “Let the Ninja cats in the house then lock the garage door. Tell Izzy she and my wife are to remain inside until they hear from me or Lethal. Watch out for my headstrong daughter, she harbors the illusion she’s already a full trained ninja and chaffs at authority as only a teenager can.” His voice starts to go faint but the Gunny’s augmented wolf hearing clearly catches a phrase he wished he missed, “…and if anything happens to my family you’re whole team is going to wish I had just flame broiled you like a bunch of brown and serve sausages when I first laid eyes on you!”

More on Saturday. Enjoy the rest of your week. – L.L.