Michael's Rant

Yesterday I listened to the entire Comey interviews on Capital Hill via radio as I worked. Following the question and answer session listened to two separate commentators break down key points and both had their "legal teams" discecting each answer to important topics. I was stunned to notice how Comey could not state one single fact that would implicate the President or any other person on his staff but inserted his "feelings" or "concerns" into many of the answers that just in having a dinner meeting with Trump he felt compelled to create an after action brief to organize his take on how the meeting played out. He continually made comments that insinuated that the President had some kind of agenda or ulterior motive in this dinner meeting and felt that his job could be on the line based on answers given. The FBI Directors job is always on the line when dealing with a President as it is their job to fire and hire new directors based on their confidence level in the person's ability to discharge their duty.

June 7th in Georgia and have not turned the air conditioner on at house or work till serviced both units over the weekend and fired to make sure they are ready to go when needed then shut them down. Most people I know locally have turned on A/C at both home and work for over a month. Have done such a good job sealing the heat envelope in both structures am always the last I know to start burning heat in fall and A/C in summer. Insulation is mostly common sense but since carry Green Energy, Green HVAC/R Certification, HVAC Preventive Maintenance, EPA 608 Universal Refrigerants (HVAC), and EPA 609 (MVAC), OSHA HVAC Technician and more certified training on heating and cooling feel I have to implement the knowledge myself. Also helps justify telling others how to handle theirs especially when come into my business and say it sure is comfortable and tell them there is not A/C or heat running based on season.

Before the economy went belly up in 2008 and being energy green was cool enough to be worth paying $499 to $999 for an energy audit was doing audits for folks and breaking down exactly how much money per year more insulation, new windows, etc, would save them per year. How much each would cost and thus in "X" years new "A" and "C" would have paid for themselves then be money in their pocket from then on. 3M makes a window film can apply to exterior of your windows which makes them 35% more energy efficient and almost impossible to break without multiple swings of a baseball bat or crowbar. Other companies make similar you can install yourself but the 3M product can only be applied by a licensed vendor and my territory was claimed long before I tried and use a copy that's not as expensive and only has a 25% increase in thermal efficiency but is as secure.

Just buying a few cans of expanding spray foam, removing face plates of all electrical outlets and switches, fill gaps around device box and drywall will stop lots of heated or cooled air from escaping or invading your structure. Proper thresholds, door sweeps, door seals, stuff the average person can do with no tools more than a screwdriver and $100 in supplies from home improvement store can cut energy use by five times the initial cost per year. When we pulled the old dusty and compacted R19 out of attic and replaced with R30 it was a miserable chore. Was not terribly expensive and reused the R19 at work in a large area had found that was never insulated. Swapped all light bulbs to LED years ago and on average replace one every 18 months now at most, usually in lamps. Just savings on bulbs, not counting energy was worth the effort. No more going to basement for ladder or balancing on chair to swap a bulb in ceiling fixture is worth a thousand bucks to me.

Our average monthly electric bill at home is $85 per month. The past month we open the windows an hour after dark and close an hour after sunrise. When it gets cool in fall we open them an hour after sunrise and close and hour after sunset. Fall let the warm in during day and trap it for night when cool. Are still letting cool night air in and trapping during day keeping house very comfortable. No matter how you heat and cool, seal your heat envelope as best you can and it will pay you back for life. The more you do, the more it gives back. If your not cleaning your outdoor condensing unit at least once a year are losing 15% to 30% efficiency on your heat pump or air conditioning. If not cleaning the A-Coil in your indoor air handler every year its probably full of black mold ready to cause respiratory issues, give you Legionnaires Disease or fail from neglect earlier than it should. Like your car, HVAC systems last longer if serviced.

Don't let someone sell you an overpriced "service contract". Lots of companies advertise a $30 to $50 complete service and inspection. Call one, make sure they service the inside and outside units, check Freon level and for contamination (can help tell if compressor is dying), change filters and then when try to get you to sign up for their service contract say NO. If they try to hit you for an expensive added service say NO and get a second opinion. Some companies will induce a problem. Don't have them come when your not home as they love to scare wives. Follow their @$$ up in the attic, down under the house, watch them clean the coils and be a general pain in their @$$ looking over their shoulder. Next year call them back if were happy with service and if not try another. After a few tries you will trip across someone your "common sense" and your dog will tell you are good folk.

Watch the needles on their gauges and inside of the service panel or internet tells you what they should read, don't buy Freon if don't need. Been to many structures that have problems soon after a service where Freon was added to find unit overcharged. You do not want to add a U.V. light to your air handler, service guys love to pimp these things. If your unit did not come equipped with one then the wiring insulation and plastic parts are likely not U.V. rated and the U.V. light "germ killer" will destroy the guts of your air handler requiring replacement to the tune of a couple grand unless condenser is R22 and since R22 has been phased out they will soak you for a condenser also doubling your cost into $4k to $5k if they stick you with new service lines. Also your compressor will start giving trouble and not starting up. Before you pay a thousand bucks for a compressor swap or have entire new system installed there is an item called a "hard start capacitor" that stiffens the motor run capacitor and may get you another season out of the system to save some money. When replacement is necessary, buy best system you can get and a suggest a duel fuel system that runs as a heat pump but burns gas for supplimental heat or can be run as a straight gas unit. This allows turning heat down if gone for long periods of time without waiting half a day to get structure warmed back up.

Its pretty easy to do preventive maintenance yourself and I do mine twice a year. Make sure and turn unit off before servicing and disconnecting the electicity using the disconnect or breakers in electrical panel. After all the leaves fall in the fall, open the service panel in outdoor condensing unit and clean the leaves, nuts and dirt out of the bottom. Buy a couple cans on "no rinse" coil cleaner ($10 per can) dump can one on outside and inside of condenser coils, let sit 20 minutes then rinse with hose but don't spray with high pressure and bend any fins. Remove cover from A-Coil on indoor air handler (it looks like an A shaped radiator and douse it good with your other can of no rinse coil cleaner. Do not rinse the interior coils. replace service door, change filter and your done. If Google the subject will find plenty of information on DYI HVAC preventive maintenance. If not comfortable with tools and electricity it may be better to call a professional as even once disconnected some capacitors can still hold a stiff charge. Be methodical and don't lose any parts, take pictures of any panel you remove so can remember how it goes back together. Good luck and remember even if pay a professional, will save that money back in increased efficiency and cleaner air quality in your home.

Think I must have missed something but thought background checks were supposed to be done on people with jobs that have "top secret" security clearances not only in America but any developed nation. Also when people traveled to middle eastern countries claiming to be "a terrorist" to customs officials then upon return to England, were featured on a television news documentary watched by over a million people saying on cameras they were a jihadist, some kind of big red flag would pop up then some guys in black suits and Ray Bans would watch them. Before they could hurt people, crack them in the head and haul them away to jail. Instead this butt was given a job working with the countries train system. Especially with all the trouble since 9/11 in New York, London, Paris, Brussels and cities all over our country and Western Europe this seems untenable.

Some snowflake who is 25 years old, changed her name to "Reality" then maintains a social media account in which she calls the President a four letter word on Facebook for entire world to see that I won't even use in private among a group of male friends is given a top secret security clearance has nearly melted my last brain cell. She openly supports Bernie Sanders (her right as an American) but also is a fan of Michael Moore and other socialist commentators, tweets and posts all kinds of poison about our Commander and Chief thus needs to be serving coffee at Starbucks or left working full time at her yoga instructor job instead of part time. Topping it all off she is put in such a poorly secured facility that can print out hard copies of "top secret" NSA documents, put them in her pocket and then give them to known socialist media outlets. This reeks so bad it seems like it had to be done on purpose. Not only does she need to be in jail but so does the person that hired her, her immediate supervisor as well as their bosses just for being stupid. These days most big private sector human resources departments check out an applicants social media accounts and denies jobs to people that seem to be unstable or unable to keep personal views out of the workplace or channeled in a constructive manner.

For British MI5 to have accidentally let one of the London Bridge bombers name to descend from one of the U.K.'s "most dangerous persons" slip down in threat level till falls totally off their person of interest list is lunacy. Again this reeks of collusion and again has to almost have been done on purpose. During WWII our Vice President didn't even know about the atomic bomb research till the President died and he was given the helm of the Free World. What is it about "top secret" that has become so unimportant now that Hitlary could run state secrets though her private server without even a decent firewall or consumer level antivirus protection apparently. The left keeps screaming The Russians,The Russians,The Russians,The Russians,The Russians but they are the ones leaking our secrets or leaving them in places a 14 year old kid with a piece of downloaded hacker software could crack open. Not to mention just throwing the printed copies of classified documents in the waste basket for the maids to put in the garbage can at the end of each day. My doctor has better privacy practices for HIPPA compliance. If the press and the liberals can't see this then they are totally blind or doing it on purpose. I can't help but believe it is being done on purpose.

Think the Russians are going to let a terrorist fall off their danger list? Think they would put a 25 year old Facebook posting malcontent who had changed their name in a job involving national security? The Russians, Chinese nor most any nation with any desire to actually secure their information, people and military would act like our politicians and security agencies have done for the past 20 years. The North Koreans would be removing heads. Even if I had liked Bill Clinton would not have voted for a man who claimed to have smoked pot but "didn't inhale". If thats the truth he was disrespecting the person who paid good money for that bag of weed. Not that I condone or participate in recreational drugs if offered I do as Nancy R. advised, "just say No!" I would not toke without inhaling or take the pills offered and flush down the toilet I would say "no thank you, go ahead I need to be getting home, mommy called and said dinner is ready." The world is turning upside down and we finally elected a President willing to take a stance (right or wrong) and even the "quote" conservatives are scared to back his play even with their voters saying they want these things done. Congressmen and Senators are more concerned about what the NY Times, Washington Post, CNN and MSNBC say about them than what the people that elected them want. Crap, they are more concerned about what a few Hollywood actors that are ex prostitutes, former or still addicted to narcotics say on stage than doing what is right for this country.

I am sorry but I have to call it like I see it. Stick a fork in the United States as we are done. If people don't get out and show Washington what they think about their mealy mouthed talking out the sides of their neck emphatically enough that they get behind Trump and push the agenda he was elected on then he will not run for a second term. He is a man of action and if not getting things done he will take his ball and go home. He is probably losing millions of dollars a day as President and is doing this job to help America and do not think he needs validation from the masses. He doesn't need 5,000 Facebook friends to feel like he has some self worth. If you want our country to be safe, prosper and have a future get behind this man. No, I don't think he is perfect in fact he says some outright stupid stuff more than just occasionally but he does seem to show a willingness to change his mind or compromise while the left seems to be "its our way or the highway" and won't even try to find one piece of common ground.

For you gun owners like me who enjoy the sport of shooting, better make your voices heard LOUD. If Trump decides not to run in three years and says to "take this job and shove it" then the left will take back the Executive branch using Soros and Superpac money even if every Democrat has to vote in three or more precincts. (Funny how the press keeps up the Russia, Russia, Russia mantra but all of the people that were caught voting in as many as five precincts for Hitlary has faded into "ancient history" or "water under the bridge" categories) When they take back power the first thing they are going to do is lash out at the people and organizations that aided in "stealing the election" and the NRA was Trumps biggest private sector supporter. That means black rifles and high capacity magazines go away using the reasoning its to "stop the mass killings by terrorists and lunatics" never associating that the deadliest killer, bombs, have been illegal for generations but are much more easily made than a gun, easier to hurt/kill as require no aiming and can destroy an entire building as happened in Oklahoma. If there is a high capacity AR15 that will destroy a multistory building in a microsecond it has yet to be seen by me. I promise to be careful with it if they give me such a rifle.

We either band together, motivate the Republican Party to get on the bus or next presidential election is a win for the socialist movement by a landslide. Guns will be neutered as best they can without outright amending the Constitution, being Caucasian, heterosexual, conservative or especially a Christian will pretty much be banned or forced into a dark room in hushed voices. Conservative press will be run out of our country on a rail, Fox News and similar balanced (Fox is often way more liberal than many I know) news outlets will be squashed. The owner of Wikileaks will have his head severed like a French aristocrat during the French Revolution. (Remember Bastille day comes 10 days after July 4th, I celebrate their Independence Day as well as ours though we don't want to be in the boat they are in currently) Pastors sermons will have to pass a government approved process of which scriptures can be quoted and The Bible could literally have sections removed. Think the LGBT crowd will allow the story of Sodom and Gomorrah to be repeated much less left in print? They will scream and cry that a book is as harmful to them as a high capacity magazine or a sporting rifle is while occupying a locked box. No inanimate object such as a book or a gun can become self aware and act on its own. Hate filled people that want to hurt others have proved they can kill by the dozens just by driving a truck through a crowd. Its the hatred, intolerance and prejudiced behavior I see being exhibited by the "Never Trumpers" that seems more dangerous than any of the ideals or principles they seem to be so disenfranchised from. I don't hate anyone, am not prejudiced and have friends of all races, religions, creeds, colors, sexual orientation and national origins. I don't even have to agree with someone to like and to love them, I just expect them to respect my right to have an opinion as much as I respect theirs if they state it in a respectful manner and without rioting or burning cities and college campuses when their agenda has a bad day at the polls.

Today we need to discuss wildlife, particularly varmints and destructive critters. For most of history man was a hunter gatherer, starting with refrigerators and freezers becoming common following WWII and into the 1950's we quickly went from feeding ourselves to pulling all of our food out of grocery store coolers, freezers and shelves. As the need to kill and farm to prevent starvation diminished, wildlife populations have greatly increased, predators have had to be reintroduced to try and manage populations but our ecosystem has gone bonkers as animals reproduce and overpopulate pretry well unchecked by humans except in the role of exterminators after a problem has gone nuclear.

Every mornimg from 1/2 hour before sunrise till 90 minutes after daylight and evenings starting about 90 minutes before sunset till 1/2 hour after it gets dark we have to be extremely careful not to hit or get hit by a deer in our trucks. Easter Morning we had a medical emergency that required a fast run to a 24/7/365 pharmacy. A fast as could safely get mobile, jumped in the truck, turned around and pulled out into the road. Lights were on, checked both ways for traffic, pulled out in the road, hit second gear and WHAM a deer ran into drivers side door at the rearview mirror. Wife heard the impact from house and as deer turned back way it had come almost instantly a second deer coming from other side of the road ran into passenger side of truck at rear fender. It's such a common event now just pushed harder on the skinny pedal and kept on trucking. Pulled in the yard one evening to spook five deer that went running in circles totally panicked. While a deer can easily hop a chain link fence one ran into the fence, fell in a pile, jumped back up and went back to panic mode. Another ran into the side of my spare trailer hauling truck, bounced and went off toward back yard. It resembled a total old school vaudeville act rather than real life as this group tred to get out of the yard.

Over the past few years we have had multiple deer strikes with vehicles including three that caused extensive damage. One ran me off the road on my motorcycle resulting in a mostly titanium left leg with rod from knee to ankle holding my tibia together, three titanium plates holding fibula together and 13 screws keeping all that hardware in place. Had blinker on, was down to third gear from sixth preparing to make my final turn to house and within site of home. Always try to get home well before dark on the bikes to avoid the flocks of deer but was running a tad late and as always was trying to be aware of possibility of a deer but drew a bad hand. Had to stop in road a few days ago as three ran across road in front of me and as checked rear view mirror for oncoming vehicles saw three more deer cross the road behind me. Last few years my next door neighbor has filled his freezers with deer hunting from his house and now letting my hunting friends use our back yard.

Worse than the deer are squirrel now. Every morning I walk outside to use the outhouse just after sunrise. (Yes, I prefer to pee on a tree and enjoy nature as I take a natural break in the morning) Saturday morning a squirrel was chewing on eve of house trying to gain entry. Reached in the door, grabbed my squirrel rifle and before he got too far turned him off like a light. Next to the squirrel rifle have a groundhog rifle as neighbors are overrun by them but keeping them at bay in our yard. The worst part is having to keep a rifle with night vision scope for killing coyote. Our neigborhood has become overrun by every type of wildlife due to no significant hunting. As such am killing small varmints as best I can. Over the past decade squirrel have chewed holes in the house and gained entry to hide pecans from our pecan trees. Over the winter when run out of pecans they start chewing on important structural items. The crafty little buggers can get away with this for some time before noticed, holes patched and another killing spree begins. Now I just know have to shoot every squirrel get a safe shot at to keep them from successfully attacking the house.

Have same issue with squirrel at work. What makes it worse is my office/manufacturing facility is in a very urban area. Have a very specialized match grade 22 rimfire with suppressor/silencer and use special low velocity subsonic ammunition that kills squirrel like lightning but does not pass through and endanger neigbors. Also have to be 100% sure of my shot. Every year when the pecan trees start putting on nuts start counting as I murder the vermin. Every year somewhere around 100 dead lose count and give up trying to keep an acurate count. Even with this constant effort of a psychopathic killing spree currently have a ladder set up in shop, access panel to ceiling removed and second rifle in attic to kill a group that has gotten inside the building and taken residence. They have chewed up phone lines, ethernet cables and more which is costing me money. Have searched and searched but can't find where they are coming in. Last week I fired seven shots at work and seven squirrel died. When a 50 round box of my Aguila Sniper Subsonic ammo runs dry and break out the next box there are 50 dead squirrel accounted to that box.

Because I am one of very few properties in town that has been able to fight off annexation into the city shooting on my property is still legal and even have an indoor shooting range inside the business. Due to the pecan trees and always keeping the population culled new tenants are always seeking greener pastures which gives me a constant supply of fresh victims. If I don't kill them they always invade the building and destroy infrastructure. So for 20 plus years have kept a rifle at front and side doors and shoot squirrel weekly if not daily.

My issues are an indication of how bad the problem has gotten, every week hear someone talking about squirrel in their house causing damage, poultry farmers telling of coyote getting in a broiler house killing hundreds of chickens cusing thousands of dollars in damage, others talking about foundations crumbling due to ground hogs tunneling down next to basements and more. Folks need to start sharpening their shooting skills and learning to take safe shots at available varmints or expect to pay the price. For the sake of the wildlife itself and property damage, we need to control their overpopulation. Have been a proponent that our local municipality hire professional hunters to help cull the deer, squirell and coyote. In town people can't let their cats or small dogs out unattended without a scraggly, flea infested, possibly rabid coyote grabbing it for dinner. If nothing else, send the SWAT team out once a week with rimfire rifles and eliminate some of the overpopulation problem, sure they would enjoy it. Sure, the PETA People will freak but if they saw some of the near stavation, sick animals I put out of their misery would realize if used logic instead of feelings it's no different than what the Humane Society does.

People tend to think a new President, Congress or Senate will reform or save our country, the world, the future of our planet. The fact that western civilization rose to power status to rule and influence the globe was based in the Reformation where Christ was brought back to his rightful place of Master, King and redeemer. The United States was founded on the principles of Christianity and the Bible and we were blessed in defeating an unbeatable foe, the British which were the worlds superpower of the day, who decisively defeated Napoleon any enemy they encountered including Napolean. Our forefathers wrote a document, put their lives on the line by signing while invoking the name of the Creator that all men are equal and risked death in victory or loss over this conviction. With this belief a rag tag group of farmers and laypeople defeated the British Empire to win their freedom.

Our forefathers established a government based in the fact that we "All Men Are Created Equal". If we evolved, there could not be equality as some subsets of each species are not be as developed as others. The result of flawed belief that macro evolution was the basis of humanity would lend credence to beliefs of men like Hitler who believed and killed millions of Jews, Christians and even non believers because of his insistence that the Arian Race was the "Master Race". Evolution could allow the existence of a "master race" smarter, stronger and more enlightened than other groups of humans. We know this is not true because the Bible tells us we are all equal in God's eye. We cannot be equal through evolution, just the opposite, through evolution some are more equal, more enlightened and more worthy thus Creation Fact is only proof that all souls are equal and in Gods eye. We see this flawed thought process in the rabid extreme political left that think the country should accept the voting process as long as they win, that God should be removed from schools and decisions that affect our country. Only through divine creation are all races, all people, the handicapped, the athlete, the deplorable, the educated, the businessman, the employee, the politician, the electorate are all equal.

Our country from WW1 and WW2 through the 1960's was a majority church going, God believing group of people. The people who fought WW2 are often referred to as the greatest generation that ever lived. They rose up and defeated the two greatest wordy empires simultaneously. It was also a time where most went to church and while some misused God's word, that has always been done and will be done until the end of times on this earth. Our forefathers chose to place the Ten Commandments on the wall of the Supreme Court, the first then all subsequent presidents sworn into office with their hand on God's Word, our legal system is based on Mosaic and Levitical law.

Hmmm, now a country in which the local church was usually the local school some don't want God's name mentioned in a school now. Many of our places of higher education rather than being torches of knowledge are hate filled places led by socialist leftists and are ruled by thugs in black hoodies that come out after dark, attack police, people who have different beliefs and burn the businesses often even those that support their warped views. Starbucks one of the drum beaters and finances of the left but the thugs will still destroy and burn their retail outlets. To me this proves total ignorance. When Obama or Clinton were elected conservatives did not riot, burn buildings, burn cars, attack police, spew hate toward the new presidents but respectfully disagreed with them and worked inside the system to best stand for their beliefs. The press did not dangle the mock severed head of Obama like an executed French aristocrat but when a rodeo clown wore a Obama mask he was ruined by the same press outlets attacking Trump and screaming Russia, Russia, Russia. Reminds me of the McArthy communism inquisitions only done with zero facts just rumor and inuendo.

Finally the silent majority came out to the polls and if large liberal high Poulter areas like NYC, Chicago, Los Amgeles and Seattle are discounted the vast majority of the country voted by a huge majority that we have had enough. Rather than a politician we put a Statesman/businessman at the helm of our country. Look at your history books. Most of our founding presidents were not politicians but businessmen-statesmen that left their homes and businesses to take a turn at the helm, finished their term(s) and returned to their farms and businesses. Now the left wants to establish monarchial type dynasties where powerful families funded by superpacks of socialists and elitists want to tell all what to believe and think. I will get into some cold hard facts from the street to contemplate in later posts.

Suffice to say from a businessman that runs a multi generational family run business the Clinton/Obama policies have killed many business as watched dozens and dozens of other established family owned companies that provided huge numbers of jobs fail under the burden that has been placed on us. I now spend an extra two hours per day just on OSHA, DOT and EPA compliance. That's 25% of a standard work week above and beyond what was necessary at the end of the Reagan Administration's turn. One of the companies that was my biggest client has folded as they went from two to eight people in government compliance, this doesn't count taxes but OSHA, EPA and DOT paperwork that still didn't stop them from being fined into bankruptcy by a combination of increased operational expenses and government fines in a sluggish economy.

Meanwhile realize that our current politcal problems, social problems, regular terrorist attacks around the country and the world stem from the people's abandoning of the Scriptures and Godly principles. Rather than live in a manner that we do the right thing because it's the Godly thing, certain groups think the country will be better off to throw God out with the trash and replace him with huge government agencies to regulate morality rather than practice morality for the sake of it being the right and Godly way to act. If we run our business in a manner that exceeds government regulations, as many always have, but now have the burden to prove it with unnecessary daily stacks of paperwork that creates more government to filter through it. There are only so many government employees can be supported by businesses and they still remain profitable unless you want run away inflation and increased cost of goods to support it. Destroying the environment is not profitable, accidents happen and lessons have to be learned but few board rooms or family businesses want to poison their own families home and environment. Meanwhile might I suggest that you "Never Trumper's" consider the repurcussions if the right who owns guns and has money were to go crazy whenever a liberal president was elected...

Yes, this post wandered and is disjointed but have eight years to catch up on will try not to hop all over the map in future posts and stay on a single topic for each day and will try to only rant on politics on occasion as have lots of fun stuff to discuss. For you folks that watch CNN, MSNBC, NBC and similar, research the sources of their stories before you start ranting till spittle runs down the corner of your mouths. "An un-named, former staff member of an un-named agency who lost their job due to change of administration". If they can't name a source or verify from a second source and third then it's inflated hearsay.

Going on eight years without a post to this blog. What can I say except that maybe have not had anything good to say for the past two presidential terms so like the good little boy my mother raised who always said "if you don't have anything nice to say then just don't say anything". Yes, thats going to be my excuse and will stick with it for the moment. Later am sure will find something unkind to say and that will be out the door. Likely by tomorrow so for now lets see if we figured this out and actually managed to unlock an eight year old account from which didn't even have the email it was associated with anymore. Am sure the internet needs one more blogger to tip the scale forcing the poles to reverse, planet flip over, gravity stop and we will all fly off into space. Stranger things have happened like the American people finally electing a person that has enough sense to run a private sector business in the black.
Michael