I am not a fan of cops, but occasionally run across one that is truly intent on keeping the peace and protecting the public. In my life, I have made good friends with 13 or so, one being an FBI agent.

A hundred, give or take, have been psychopaths, dangerous, and true criminals.

Last election, a constable in the county defeated the sitting sheriff in the primary. The sheriff demanded a recount, and he lost votes. He filed a lawsuit claiming voter fraud, but the case was thrown out.

I could not campaign for the sheriff's opponent, a long time friend. In fact, he was concerned about coming to my office because when he did, a deputy would pull up beside my office a sit for a couple of hours. My friend, a constable, and now, sheriff, has hired me to do wills, deeds, represent his step daughter in a divorce, help his wife form a charity for dog rescue, and on, and on, and on.

The new sheriff swore in, more than half of the deputies quit. They tossed the car keys in a barrel. New sheriff had to match 30 keys to 30 cars, id labels peeled off. He is still hiring new deputies.

Audits showed the Sheriff's office paid an IT guy to take care of 71 computers. Well, there were only 56 Sheriff's Office computers. I wonder where they went. All log ins, codes, data, had been shredded, so they were of no use. Public suddenly unsafe, no concern to psychopath! Public safety be damned!

Welcome to Friday Night Photos everyone. Your once a week break from the daily madness of the crazy world we live in. Post any photos, memes, music, or whatever else you find of interest that helps you escape the madness.

Sunny and mid 70's here today with much needed rain in the forecast for the next four days.

I picked up a couple of mixed flower bundles while I was at the grocery store the other day and played around with off camera flash and a little bit of focus stacking. Images 3 and 6 are both 5 frame stacks. Image 9 is a 50 frame stack. All three were shot with ambient light. The rest of the images are all single frame. For 2 and 8 I used ambient light and a small flash light as a spot light. The rest of the shots I used off camera flash for lighting. All images were shot in a light tent.

The constitutional principles of separation of powers and a co-equal tripartite government are out of balance. The president has become too powerful. Congress has abrogated too much of its power to the executive branch. The president can unilaterally declare war and essentially allocate funding by edict (executive orders). Presidents can now ignore Supreme Court decisions with no consequence. It seems like each subsequent president grabs more power and then flaunts that power in the face of the people along with blatant in-your-face corruption, which now seems the norm.

This is the first of a 4-year long series.

Pretty Sure It's Always Been This Way

I just recently finished reading Margaret Kimberley's 2020 book, Prejudential. In the book Kimberley writes a chapter about every President of the United States, from George Washington on, and their relationships with, and how they have treated blacks in America. It is a very good book; if you have the time and inclination, give it a read. Here's the worldcat link to the book and its eaudiobook version.

Prejudential, by Margaret Kimberley (image from the publisher steerforth.com)

Every once in awhile in my various diaries here at c99% you will see citations of the philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis, born 1922, died 1997. One of Castoriadis' most important ideas is that of pseudo-rational pseudo-mastery. This came up when Castoriadis was discussing the future, in a quote which I think dates back to the Eighties: