Flippant Stray Thoughts for Wednesday, 2/8/2017...

I think they should put in railroads wherever liberals are trying to stop pipelines from being built. Then run every oil train in the country over them. After all, trains must be safer than pipelines...

Am I the only one pissed because ESPN schedules college basketball games to close together? Unless your team is in the first game of the day, you never get to see the beginning of your team's game. They need to budget an extra 30 minutes between games. If they come up short, go to a talking head to read sports news to fill in any extra time...

Does Channel 5 have the most biased local news in town?

Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall was in Washington for a law enforcement pow-wow, but refused to see President Trump. Hall feared he would hear support for the President's temporary immigration hiatus. I guess Hall isn't tolerant or mature enough to entertain views different than his own...

Americans elected Trump and they support his immigration review. But Hall apparently chooses to join Mayor Megan Barry in harboring illegals who commit murder and rape. Shameful...

Hall is the same idiot who addressed a white supremacy group a few years ago. He claimed he did not know it was a white supremacy group. I typed the name of the group into Google, and in less than two seconds I discovered it was a white supremacy group. Is Hall so damn busy running his jail and serving summons he can't punch something up on Google himself?

The ACME Feed & Seed building sat vacant for years on a highly visible corner downtown. So somebody comes along and fixes up the joint, and puts in a bar, restaurant and club. And now a dude breaks in and smashes things all to hell. He did get caught...

Jerk...

Speaking of a jerk, the human debris for whom Metro Police Officer Eric Mumaw gave his life trying to save, has been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide. A 44-year-old, 18-year veteran of the department is dead because of' her actions...

Mumaw's funeral was held in a 4,000 seat church, and it was filled. He will be buried in Ohio...

People get shot, and killed here, everyday. But every once in a while a story brings Nashville to its knees in horror. This is one of those stories...

R.I.P. Officer Mumaw. You are a hero...

Metro Police Officer Eric Mumaw

'Till next time, see ya...

My favorite news sources

During the recent election season, it was interesting to see the various news sources people use to get their information. As a long-time news and political junkie, it amazes me how many people use just one source. Be it NBC, NPR, the BBC or whatever, these folks are, in my humble opinion, getting a limited perspective of the truth. With today's dishonest media, everyone has a bias.

It wasn't always that way. CBS, BBC and other networks provided stellar coverage of World War II (The Big One). That straight-forward coverage continued for the next several decades. For example, Walter Cronkite reported the news in a clean, straight-forward, mostly unbiased manner. When he retired, CBS News went to hell. It wasn't until after Uncle Walter retired that most people learned that he was very liberal.

???

I was in college when Cronkite retired, and recall no such bias. Certainly not like today. Cronkite was very opposed to the Vietnam War, but that was undetectable as he reported on the war every evening. He told us how many were killed and wounded that day. A very grim time.

I use a variety of sources to gather my information. You must be aware of the biases of each source, and don't be afraid to check sources that are opposite of your positions. Your list will be different, but here is mine, keeping in mind that it is always changing:

• Fox Business
• Fox News
• CNN
• The Drudge Report
• Hot Air
• The Daily Caller
• Redstate (of course)
• Town Hall
• Politico
• The Hill
• The Weekly Standard
• Real Clear Politics
• Daily Mail
• Independent Sentinel
• The New York Times
• The New York Post
• The Washington Post
• The Washington Examiner
• Washington Free Beacon
• The Washington Times
• USA Today
• C-Span
• Rush Limbaugh
• Mark Levin
• Mark Steyn
• Local TV
• Associated Press
• Reuters

I check many of these daily, some every other day or so, but each one at least weekly. There are other sources I check from time to time.

In this day and age, you cannot depend on one or two sources for your news. If you do, then there's a good chance you were fed some questionable "news" and deprived of some useful information. You do not need as many sources as I use, but use several, and make sure they are not all of the same bias. Get all sides, then draw your own conclusions.

I'm not into Black Friday

All I'm hearing on business TV today is Black Friday. Black Friday. Black Friday. Black Friday. Black Friday. Black Friday.

???

I know some people live for Black Friday. They get up at three or four in the morning so they can be at the store for the biggest selection. Never mind that many retailers now run Black Friday specials all week long. These Black Friday People have to shop on Friday, dammit!

Not me. I'll take a pass. I have shopped on Black Friday, but I learned many years ago that it just isn't worth it. And now I can shop online. I still have several things in my home that were purchased on Black Friday, and each one has its own story about shopping for them. Not good stories.

The last straw came the year I wanted to buy earrings for my wife. A specific pair of earrings at a specific department store in Pensacola FL. (Yes, I checked out the ads) Oh man was that an experience!

So I drive to the store, found a parking space and headed to the doors. Then I noticed it appeared impossible to enter the store. The doorways were packed with people. I don't mean just inside the store, but in that no-man's land between the outside doors and the inside doors. The store had placed tables of merchandise between the sets of doors, and people were swarming around them.

I should point out that I don't like crowds. I really don't like shoulder-to-shoulder crowds. I especially don't like shoulder-to-shoulder crowds in department stores.

So I lowered my head and plunged forward. I made it thru both sets of doors. Miraculously I was in the store. I looked around and all I could see were people. LOTS of people. And they were loud. I thought about turning around and leaving, but no, I made it this far. I had to finish. I could not believe the store had any inventory left. Now where in the hell is the jewelry department?

I lowered my head again and started plunging. Fortunately the jewelry department was right in front of me. Once I got there, I immediately realized I would now way, no how find the specific item I was looking for. I was going to need a sales clerk. OMG! I'm in the middle of a mob. How am I going to do this?

So I again lowered my head and plunged. I eventually made it to a counter. After a few minutes, a well-dressed woman with a name-tag approached and asked if she could help me. I simply pulled the ad out of my pocket, pointed to the earrings and said, "this." She complemented my taste and said she'd go get a set for me. Holy crap! I'm going to be successful!

The lady came back after a few minutes and showed me the earrings. Oh yeah. Perfect. I paid for my purchase, then floated over the crowd and out of the store. Wow! What an experience!

My wife loved the earrings, but I decided that was my last Black Friday. Ever. If you need me on Friday, I'll be at home.