Ideas for Poll Work -

     Thanks to the 2020 election, we now have an election system that half of the country simply does not trust, and that whoever wins the ’24 election, the other half of the country will immediately challenge the election result, and we probably won’t get a clear result until St. Patrick’s Day.  I propose the following, in an effort to keep things above board…
     These General Orders shall apply nationwide.
     General Order Zero – The ballot count is to be completed not later than 1200 on the day following the election, but as soon as practicable.  It shall not be subject to undue delay.  Counting shall continue for anything less than a natural disaster, or a major attack on the counting center.
     General Order One – No poll watcher shall be excluded from the ballot counting area, except for due cause.  Due cause shell constitute violence or threat of violence, unmonitored/unauthorized alteration of ballots, or similar egregious activity.   
     General Order Two – No ballot may be “cured” unless it has been examined, and the fault confirmed, by the ballot counter and poll watchers from every party present.  Any alterations are to be made by the curer, in the presence of poll watchers from all parties present.
     General Order Three – Ballots may only be counted by hand.
     General Order Four – No counting data is to be electronically recorded for any reason until the election count is finalized and the results announced.
     General Order Five – No counting data is to be sent or released to any other nation for any reason until the count is finalized and the results announced domestically
     General Order Six – In order to maintain balance, an equal number of Republican and Democrat poll watchers must be present.  (If a Republican poll watcher has to leave the room for whatever reason, a Democrat poll watcher must leave the room as well until he comes back; and vice versa.)
     General Order Seven – Distance demarcation keeping poll watchers from ballot counters shall be the same for all parties.  If one party is allowed to exceed such limits, then all parties are allowed to exceed such limits.  If one party ignores such limits and is not corrected, then all parties may hold such limits in abeyance.
     General Order Eight – Counting may only be halted for reasons of safety, and then only for as long as necessary to seal the count-in-progress, move the count to a new location, and resume counting.  “Sealing the count” is to be done in stages, as rapidly as possible, and in the presence of, and under the signature of, poll watchers from all parties present.
     General Order Nine – Method of counting:
     --  Incoming ballots are collected and counted hourly at the precinct level.  Sealed ballots dropped off are merely collected and tallied for quantity.  Tally sheets are affixed to each bundle of open ballots, with a running total sheet kept separately.  The final hour’s ballots shall have the “hour tally” sheet affixed to them, then the day’s intake bundled and the “running tally” sheet affixed to the day’s intake.  These bundles are then sent up to the County level.  Each hour’s intake is to be counted by two individuals, who both shall sign the tally sheet.  Totals for County level and above are sent up to the County, municipal-only measures and elections may remain local
     --  At County level, incoming bundles are examined for unauthorized alteration, to determine if any may require “curing,” and sealed ballots are opened and counted.  Tallied bundles may be “spot-checked” for accuracy in counting.  Ballots are “cured” as required (but this is hopefully not necessary.)  Totals are generated, ballots are prepared and secured for storage.  Original, signed total sheets are to be kept with the ballots for storage and sent up to state level for counting.  Only state and federal totals need to up to the state level.
     --  At State level, incoming County totals are added up and recorded.  For Presidential elections, electors are selected.  For Federal and state elections, candidates are notified as to the results.  State-level measures are enacted or struck, as appropriate.
x
     General Order Ten – Hard ballots shall be made freely available to anyone for purposes of an audit for a period not to exceed five years, but in any event not less than two years.
     General Order Eleven – “Ballot dumps” are void without provenance verified, and without good reason for being late.  “We found them behind a table” is not an example of “good reason.”
     These General Orders are to be issued to all poll watchers and election workers present, in the form of a small, durable pocket card.  “Durable” indicates either laminated paper stock or direct print onto PVC stock.  This card may be up to 4”x6” in size, it must be able to fit into a pocket commonly found on clothing, so as to be readily available to all.  This card may fold down to the requisite size (id est, it may be a 6”x10” card that folds down to a 3”x5” size, or a 6”x8” card that folds down to a 4”x6” size.)  Such card shall fold easily and along clear delineations.  It is not strictly necessary to memorise these General Orders, although it is encouraged.  In any event, such card must be carried at all times when in the counting area, and should be carried whenever on duty.

     Discuss.

I know I've been away for a bit...

 But I've had an awful lot going on.  I shan't disturb you with the details (for they are somewhat disturbing...) butits been a rough road for me for the last few years.

  Now, things are getting stable (somewhat, anyhow...) and I hope to be posting here at least somewhat regularly.  However, the topic of this will remain "Current Thoughts" (id est, whatever it is I'm thinking about at the moment...) and Iwill maintain no regular schedule for posting, but I hope to be more regular than I have been.

  This most certainly does not mean that I'll be posting every day (I'm not that prolific of a writer!) and even weekly might be a stretch, but at least something happening - maybe at least once a month?  I once again make no promises, but I'm wanting to give you all something to read, and that's what counts.  I want it to be generally thought-provoking, sometimes laugh-inducing, and (hopefully) always entertaining.  Do we have a deal?

Spread the word - The Dude is back...

JDK

“A Pirate Looks [Back] at Fifty”

               (Once again, apologies to the memory of jimmy Buffett.  Know you are missed by parrotheads everywhere…)

Granted, I left fifty I the rear view mirror a couple of years ago, so I’d be looking back at it – but, who said I had to be looking forward at it, hm?

Been reflecting on a phrase that gets thrown about quite a bit – “ignorance is bliss.”  As I’ve gotten older (starting at about age 12, really,) I’ve been learning more about how the world works, how deranged people can get.  And, the more I learn, the less happy I get.  It’s an inverse relationship.

It really started about age six, with my mother’s third husband and his two spawn.  Because of him, I had ten years of abuse.  Because of his two idiot sons, I learned to fight two opponents when I was six years old (I also learned that the man alone in the fight has a great advantage – anything you can hit is on the other side.  And making them hit each other saves effort for you.  So, I’d set ‘em up to hit each other – until I got to where I could throw them at each other…)

I always found it amusing when mom would bring home the rock salt for the water softener – half-dozen or so 80# bags – and the three of us would be assigned to unload it.  I’d go down, lay one on each shoulder, tuck one under my right arm, and walk away.  They’re both looking at one bag (the same between them…) looing about as confused as two monkeys trying to fuck a football…  (Granted, each of them could fuck up the moving parts of a rock, so there was that…)  They were all proud of the bodies they were developing in gyms from working with weights.  I didn’t care about my physique – which I got from just plain working.  Which allowed me to carry 240# of rock salt when I was only 170# myself.  Or what allowed me to carry 4500# of brick & mortar helping a friend’s father build a barbecue (I was the hod carrier – I went faster than he could keep up with.  Then we went and I got my picture up on the wall in the pizza place because I ate an entire “Maximus” pizza by myself, with breadsticks, and asked what was for afters…)

(The problem with lifting weights is that it’s all programmed motions, and you end up with those programmed motions when you try to work.  Not everything had a grab bar with a load on the ends, or is shaped like a dumbbell or a kettlebell.  Some stuff is awkward – comparable to holding up a 20-kg anvil, straight-arm extension, by the horn.  Try it sometime.  Even a 10-kg anvil is a challenge…  Since I didn’t lift weights as a rule, I didn’t have programmed motions, and no muscle memory.  This allowed me to work in whichever direction was most efficient – and it still allowed me to build a good deal of strength!  The footy team hated me when it came time to do the weight training unit in Phys Ed, because I’d just calmly run right past them.  Eight hundred pounds on the squat rack?  Three sets of 20.  Twenty-one hundred pounds on the hipslet?  I’d do more, but I ran out of plate.  Four sets of 25.  I was big, but I had massive legs…  I was so happy when BDU pants hit the surplus market, I was tired of taking darts out of oversized pants to make them fit – 33” thigh, 28” waist, 50’’ chest.)

(Yeah, I wander.  If you haven’t figured that out by now, now you know.  I leave my wanderings in, in the hope that they entertain, and possibly provoke thought.  Besides, if I’m writing it, there has to be a reason for it, don’t you think?)

So, as I’m leaving fifty well behind, and my wife is staring hard at seventy.  The upside is that she hasn’t seen the things I’ve seen, and doesn’t know most of the things I know.  So, she has an easier time being happy.  For this, I am pleased – if one of us can still be happy, best that it be her.  I don’t want her to know the things I know, and there’s a good reason that I haven’t told her everything I carry around in my head.  I do not wish to burden here.  There are things I will never tell anyone – my burden is mine alone to bear, I don’t want to be responsible for wrecking anyone else’s happiness.

So, what does make me happy?  People.  Specifically, women.  I have always preferred the company of women.  However, it’s not all women that make me happy, even though I do generally prefer the company of women over the company of men.  Specifically, there are only a few specific women that can make me happy.  Y’all know who you are.

An open letter to Governor Gavin Nuisance

 Look, I've had a lot going on.  I never promised regular updates, right?  But I needed to write the governor, and I thought it would not be amiss to let everyone know what I was writing about.  Redacted for privacy (those of you who need to know what's going on already know what's going on.)

-----    SNIP HERE     -----

Governor Newsom -

  I know I'm a bit behind on this, but I've been busy caring for my wife (who, coincidentally, has COVID.  She has been in hospital since the 13th.)  However, I note with some dismay - although I'm not at all surprised - your dicta on the California vaccine passport/database/whatever you choose to call it - but, in the final analysis, it's a passport.  And, it's being dangled as a restriction on freedoms, "encouraging" us to get the COVID jabs.

  My wife and I refused the jabs.  I freely admit, we both got COVID - I did not require hospitalization, but I'm only 49, and got over it in three days.  I thought it was a bad summer cold.  However, she's 66 and asthmatic, so it has hit her rather harder.  I shan't go into her condition, I suspect I don't have the space.

  Were you aware that it is a violation of national and international law to force people to partake in a medical experiment, or to cause them to do so without their knowledge?  Did you know that removing the freedoms of people to move about and freely associate constitutes at least a partial deprivation of rights, which constitutes duress, which constitutes force?  Did you know that the earliest any of the COVID jabs will get out of study is late 2022?  That means they're still experimental.  Think about that.

  Relevant law was passed shortly after World War II, so that no-one could again do what the Nazis did upon the Jews - vivisection, stress experiments on twins, and the like.

  You can find relevant law in the Nuremberg Code, the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki, and our own 50USC1520a.

  You may have also noticed that many states (including my home state of Indiana - I'm a transplant) have outright barred the idea of "vaccine passports," either by executive or legislative action.  I'd half hoped that California, styling itself being made up of "rugged individualists," would have done the same.  Alas, California has continued their 30-year record of disappointing me. 

  I suggest you read the laws I cited above and reconsider your position.  I did not take the jab, neither did my wife.  We both got COVID.  Several people I know have had COVID, to varying degrees.  Most of us will continue to refuse to take the jab - our own natural immunity is superior to anything that would come out of a needle, and I've just asked my doctor if I could get a test added to an order to confirm the presence of Immunoglobulin A (IgA) and Immunoglobulin G (IgG) for COVID - if they are, indeed, present, I will consider that my "proof of immunization" and carry it accordingly - but you're going to have to be pretty damned convincing to get me to show it to you.  After all, you may have the right to ask the question, but you are in no way entitled to an answer.  HIPPA may not apply, but we've got this little thing called Amendment IV that allows us to be private in our "persons, papers, and effects" - and medical questions are definitely about "persons."  I have already told you FAR more of my medical history than you are at all entitled to.

  I look forward to either your reversal of your action of 18JUN, or your personal reply for further discussion.  You have my email, above.

Jon D. Kelley

***********

I know, I've been away for a while. Survival is a selfish business, and I've been doing a lot of that...

  I never promised regular updates.

 Anyhow.  I've been doing a bit of thinking over the last month or two about the election on 03NOV and all the aspects of it (including Biden's "Office of the President-Elect" bullshit.  Seriously, what the fuck is that all about?  There is no "Office of the President-Elect"!) the "unity" and "healing" rhetoric coming from the Democrats now (as opposed to the constant stream of demonization and castigation of the last four years or so, and even the calls on Twitter for "deprogramming," "concentration camps," and a "return of the firing squad" for people who don't think like Democrats.  And no, those tweets didn't get taken down, they can probably still be found.  If I looked, I could probably give you the news item I saw them in as well.

  Oh - and now the Left wants to "cleanse" Donald Trump from society.  

  I don't suppose any of this rhetoric sounds at all familiar to anyone?  Soviet Russia?  ChiComs?  Vietnam?  1984 (sales of which have spiked over the last couple of months?)  Animal Farm?  Even elements of Brave New World, if I recall correctly.  "Cleansing" society is rhetoric of dictators, despots, and stars; "deprogramming" is done to the "politically unreliable;" "concentration camps" are reserved to the "hard cases" that won't "deprogram," or just a class of enemy being used to motivate the people (like the Jews in Nazi Germany,) and I need not explain the use of the firing squad, do I?  This is what the political Right has to contend with, this is what we potentially face, this is what we have a very real possibility of having arrayed against us now.

  But now that the Democrats have the House, the Senate, and the Oval Office - we're just supposed to move forward in "unity," to "heal and move onward," and act like the last four years didn't happen.  They want to "deprogram" us.  They want to put us in "concentration camps."  They'd probably bring back the stocks or the pillory if they thought of it, just to humiliate us.

  How can we trust those people ever again?  They have shown their true colours - both the Democrats and the "Never-Trumpers" who voted for Biden, and therefore supported the idea as well.  I have people I've known well - we're talking 20-30 years here - who are Biden voters (for whatever reason,) and I can't bring myself to trust them fully anymore.  These are people I'd have trusted my life to before - now, given what they've supported, I can't do it anymore.  The basis for trust is no longer there.

  This election has shown everyone who everyone really is.  Some people are fine with much of what they see - the Democrats are happy with being surrounded by their Democrat echo chamber, the Republicans likewise, and we Constitutionalist conservatives have managed to find each other.  The NeverTrumpers?  Not quite sure where they fit in, hopefully they manage to find each other and they can commiserate on why they're Republicans who could not vote for a Republican.  I don't know, and I have a hard time trying to care, to be honest.

  Meanwhile, I have some ideas for election reforms:

• Anything Dominion, related to Dominion, derived from Dominion, or whatever - gone!  Likewise whatever software they were running, I don't recall the name of it at the moment.
• Poll observers are not to be ejected except for egregious conduct, like assault, battery, and the like.  They challenged a ballot?  That's what they're there for.  Meet the challenge - prove it wrong, or make it right.
• That said, a poll watcher ID shall be considered a pass to where they're counting the ballots, and whoever is securing the room needs to move out of the way.  That's General Order One
• General Order Two - At all times, there will be at least four security personnel monitoring the goings-on inside the room.  This is as much for general security as to prevent false accusations of "egregious conduct."
• If one side "cures" a ballot that isn't done in full view of the other, that ballot gets shredded and a new one generated - under both sets of eyes.
• All observers shall be afforded a clear, unobstructed view of the goings-on at all times.  No-one is to be kept at any sort of distance, other than that strictly necessary to maintain orderly operations (don't be in the poll worker's pockets - stand back a couple of feet.  But no putting one party behind a rope on one end of the room, that dog won't hunt.)  General Order Three - If one party tries to set up such a barrier, Security will remove it and allow the other party to take their proper places.
• Any suspect ballots, late arrivals, &c, are to be kept in lockboxes in a separate area (even a locked closet off the main room will serve.)
• General Order Four - There will be security personnel present as soon as the counting room is opened for setup, and they will remain there continuously until the counting is finished.  No "table skirts" or other concealing devices are to be used in the room setup.
• General Order Five - Ballots incoming will have the chain of custody examined and then signed by Security personnel before being given to the poll workers.  (It's as close to a disinterested third party as one can find in this situation - they're not counting, they're not observing for one side or the other.)
• Any Security personnel found to be in violation of any General Order shall find himself subject to disciplinary actions, which may include suspension and/or fine.  Half of the fine is to be paid to the worker/observer whose work was interrupted, the other half to their party or organization.

  Well, that's what I've got at the moment.  Any more ideas?  I'm all ears!

Discuss.

More on "Red Flag" Laws...

I note that, in my last entry, I did not elabourate upon what I thought would constitute an "ideal" "Red Flag Law."  Please allow me to now correct that oversight.  Here - in no particular order - are the points I think an "ideal" "Red Flag Law" should cover and/or entail:

(Nota Bene: "Petitioner" is the party seeking the order, "Respondent" is the party against whom the Order is sought.)

- No anonymous reporting.  You will be able to face your accuser in open court, just like in any other criminal matter (if you stand to lose property and/or rights, it's a criminal matter.)  Failure of the Petitioner to show up in court constitutes immediate dismissal of the Order with prejudice.  Failure of Respondent to appear in Court shall result in the granting of the Order for a period of six months.

- Summons for such hearings are to be delivered personally by police or deputy Sheriffs by hand to Petitioner and respondent.  A signed receipt is to be obtained.  This is to stave off complaints of "I never got notice!"  "Substitute Service" is disallowed - service may only be upon named parties.

- The "default" position on this shall be "No ORder Granted/Continued."  A position to maintain the order must be articulated in order to grant or continue the order.  Failure to do so results in dissolution of the order.

- Storage of any property seized under such an order shall be under proper conditions as to prevent deterioration and the owners shall not be charged storage fees.  Failure to return property in the condition as it was when it was seized shall require the immediate replacement of such property or restitution of the value of collector items which may not be replaced.  "Sentimental value" for heirloom firearms shall be considered when calculating restitution.

- No property is to be seizeduntil an order is granted.

- No order is to be granted until a hearing is held.

- The judge shall be accompanied on the bench by a clinical psychologist (doctoral-level) or psychiatrist, whose opinion shall be consulted, heard, and considered toward issuance or dismissal of such Orders.

- A credible fear must be articulated and assessed against Petitioner by Respondent in order for an Order to be put in place.

- Any "frivolous" accusations in an attempt to obtain Orders are to be penalized by the payment of all court costs by the Petitioner, a fine from the Petitioner to the Court, and a fine from the Petitioner to the respondent.  Such fines are not to be lower than one thousand dollars ($1,000) each, and not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) each.  In the event of a conflict in payment, the Respondent shall be paid his fine first, then the Court costs, then the Court's fine.

- If an Order is granted, part and parcel of that order shall be an immediate psychological evaluation to determine if Respondent presents an immediate or imminent danger to himself or others.  This may or may not require a 96-hour hold, at the Court's discretion.  Nota Bene: Respondent's workplace may not discriminate or retaliate against Respondent as a result of a 96-hour hold, if such is deemed to be necessary.  such evaluation may also be conducted on an outpatient basis, and may be scheduled around the Respondent's work schedule in such cases.  If the Respondent is found to present no risk to himself or others, the Order is to be lifted and considered frivolous, and handled as in the previous point.

- Any Order granted under such measure shall be in force for not more than 365 days, at which time it is either renewed or dismissed.  The original Petitioner must return to court, with respondent, and articulate a continuing credible fear in order to continue the order.  Failure of Petitioner to appear in court will see the Order dismissed with prejudice in absentia.  Failure of Respondent to appear in court shall constitute automatic renewal of Order in absentia.

- Orders granted under this measure shall be in force for not less than 90 days.

- When any such order previously granted is lifted, any property previously seized has not more than one week to be returned in the condition as seized.

- Any property seized shall be photographed for record, with a copy of the photographs saved with the case file, a copy of the photographs saved with the property seized, and a copy of the photographs given to Respondent for his records.  Such photographs are to be consulted when property is returned to assess its condition.  Such photographs shall include "boresight" imagery of the barrel bore and chamber, and images of the open fire control mechanism (where such may be readily accessed.)  All photographs shall be stored for record on fixed digital media - CD-roM for maximum compatibility.  Multiple discs may be used, if required.  Images to be stored in uncompressed format as individual files.  Original data card to be set as "read-only" physically and in software and retained in the file along with the digital media copy.  Files may be renamed (on original card, prior to making optical media) to reflect the firearm they pertain to - listing by serial number should be sufficient.

- Upon return of property, Respondent is allowed one day per five firearms (or fraction thereof) returned to make a claim for damages in storage.  This is to allow time for detailed inspection of returned property.
- Any ammunition seized is to be returned (in serviceable condition) or replaced anew.

- Any NFA items shall have particular care taken.  Any pre-1986 NFA firearm that has a post-1986 replacement, if damaged beyond utility, is to have a new replacement issued and a new entry for it entered into the NFRTR.

That's what I can think of at the moment.  Discuss.

JDK

- CCW is to be suspended while such Orders are in effect.  Upon expiration or termination of such Orders, CCW shall be reinstated with balance of original term allowed.  CCW may be renewed as per normal.

GVROs and UBCs...

Things have been hectic lately - but I never did promise regular updates, did I?

GVRO = Gun Violence Restraining Order, a/k/a Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO,) or, colloquially, "Red Flag Law."

UBC = Universal Background Checks.  Also going under "Enhanced Background Checks."

I shall deal with the latter point first.

Of course, it's the left pushing for UBCs so hard - there are currently two House bills pushing this (H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112.)  H.R. 8 Forces all firearm transactions to go through an FFL, with all such transfers occurring as if the FFL had sold the firearm through inventory (id est, the sale is also logged and tracked.)  H.R. 1112 looks as if it redefines "mental illness" (expands it somewhat,) and there are mention of 3-, 10-, 25-, and 30-day periods I haven't managed to decipher yet (I hate reading laws.  Why can't they write them clearly and logically?)

In any case, the key fact here is that the sale is recorded - therefore, it's backdoor registration of firearms (assuming one were to always comply with the law as passed, if/when passed.  I foresee a good deal of civil disobedience, myself.)  Understandably, this has firearm owners upset - we don't like being registered, and filed, and all that rot.  As said in the intro to The Prisoner - "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered!"

How would I have done UBC?
- NICS is now open to citizens to use, with applications for Android, *nix, Windoze, and iOS.
- No firearm information is entered into NICS.
- NICS searches are triggered by taking a picture or a scan of the individual's ID and a picture of his face (NICS compares the two.)  No firearm information is entered.
- NICS replies with an upcheck or a downcheck, and a confirmation number.  Either way, the number gets recorded by the (potential/erstwhile) seller.
- If the sale goes through, the seller writes out a receipt for the buyer (describing the firearm and recording the NICS check number) and keeps a copy for his own records.
- NICS records the fact that there was a check, and that the check was a PASS or a FAIL.  In order to prevent confusion, two different formats are used for the "PASS" and "FAIL" numbers.  Again, no firearm information is recorded in NICS.  Upon the death of the seller, his sale records are to be treated as the "bound book" kept by FFLs - they get sent in to F Troop (so they can screw up their records.)

I think that's fair.  Now, on to "Red Flag" Laws...

I think the biggest problem that I have with this idea is the fact that the order is granted in an ex parte hearing (you have no idea that the hearing is happening until the cops come around to serve the order on you, and they can do it at any time of the day, and it can be a "no-knock" order,) you are "guilty until proven innocent," you do not get the opportunity to face your accuser (so you can pull their case apart,) and no medical or psychological professional need be involved (which is interesting - because wouldn't you need a psychological diagnosis to determine that someone is a danger to himself or others?)

Oh - and the way these laws are being written, just about anybody can dob you in.  Cops, co-workers, that blind date you didn't get along with very well last night, your kids' teachers, &c, &c.  Some are written so broadly that your liberal neighbour three doors down can SWAT you, just because he doesn't like firearms (and therefore, doesn't like you.)

This turns the idea of "Due Process" on its head, and reverses the basic underpinning of our judicial system - "innocent until proven guilty" becomes "guilty until proven innocent."  Yep - you have to prove you are stable and no risk - to someone who is not a medical professional, and who may have his own agenda (read, you're not going to win this one.)  You can fight this for a year or so, while your collection is in storage (that you often have to pay for,) and usually not stored very well, so everything can rust in peace.

This is assuming that you don't get killed in the course of serving the warrant - which has already happened. (https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2018/11/05/fatal-officer-involved-shooting-in-anne-arundel-county/)  And, while I can't find any links offhand, I do remember reading of at least one governor (Colorado?) saying that the purpose of the law wasn't "public safety" - it was "getting guns off the street."

Sounds like an admission of guilt, to me.

I'm just tired of the rampant hoplophobia* of the Left.  If they have such problems with the state of civil rights in the United States, then they're perfectly welcome to pack up and blow - I'm certainly not keeping them here!  There are places they could move to where their wishes have already come true.

And leave the rest of us - who don't have hoplophobia - alone.

*Hoplophobia is the unreasonable and unremitting fear of inanimate objects, typically firearms.  Believed to be coined by COL Jeff Cooper, USMC (ret)