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Dying is easy, living is hard.

I've had to deal with a couple of alcoholics in my life. The best intentions in the world won't help. You have to make yourself stand back and let them fall. They can only be saved when they are ready. As a young man, I was headed in that direction. Not quite there, but I was at the stage where one drink, more often than not, led to one too many. Luckily, fate stepped in and I've now been dry for close to 40 years.

Or more likely what will happen, when PD’s can’t find good recruits that want the job and have to relax their standards. Police Departments are as different as night and day. Even within the same state. Some departments have hiring requirements that are very stringent, and have excellent training. Others will hire anyone that meets the minimum requirements, and do little or no follow-up training.

I didn't say they are all bad. I said that the job is bad and so cops get a bad reputation from that. And how am I wrong about politicians? The politicians pass whatever law they want, and then the cops enforce that law. When the 2nd Amendment finally gets repealed, who do you think will be coming for your guns? It will be the police. And they will just be doing their jobs. The further into this social experiment called America that we get, the less and less freedom The People have.

Sorry to hear about your daughter and her drug situation. I have a grandson that has the same issue and I will tell you waht I told my son. Don't give up on them and keep trying to get help for her. My son has been going and getting him out of jail time after time and I told him to quit getting him out. Let him stay in jail till his court date and then go to court with him and ask the DA or Asst DA to have him put in a court ordered drug rehab center. Not the one that is voluntary but the manditory one that requires them to remain at the center. As long as he keeps getting him out it is not going to help him at all. I am going to his next court date and I will talk to the DA if my son won't. I know it is hard for my son to think about locking him up in a rehab facility but I will do it for him to take the burden off my son.

Back in the early 80's we used to dip for shad at the entrance of the Big Sandy river where it empties into Ky Lake under the rr and hwy levy . Make a net out of chicken wire about 2 ft in dia to dip the shad for catfishing. One of the other fish caught was the yellow bass. Friend and I went at sunrise one Sat. morning to dip some shad , was a young couple that had fished there all night having caught a few hand size yellow bass, so as we caught the large 10-12 in yellow bass we gave them to the young couple to fill their stringer. Never ate them myself. Always thought the flesh was soft like trout. Probably not legal anymore.

Just saw this today. They are calling it the 30-30 for the AR. Anyone know anything about it? https://www.ammoland.com/2018/08/new-300-hamr-cartridge-rifles-loaded-ammunition-barrels-components-and-accessor/#axzz5P8f87qij

It is a bitch of a disease. Lost a good friend last night. He was 42 and left behind a 4 year old son. I am just so pissed right now. He was strong enough to kick a drug habit a couple of years ago but could never kick the alcohol. His dad died of the same disease and always used that as an excuse for why he couldn't quit. Said it was just in his genes. He never took responsibility for his drinking. How can someone be so selfish to give up and leave a 4 year old child behind. I just don't understand.

Thanks for the all the T&Ps everybody.

Wow! Man, I'm sorry to hear that. I can't imagine what that must be like for a parent. Kahr Man, I'm saddened to hear of your loss. Hang in there.

Not hourly....but sometimes per procedure, or for taking overnight call, or just a double shift for two days worth of pay. Also see doctors in our practice who sell vacation time and work for whoever bought it. All from those still paying off medical school loans, and/or those who want to fund a lifestyle or investments to keep that lifestyle in retirement. Now, cops on a middle class income are different, but don't think raising their pay won't solve the manning issues forcing extra shifts or the motivation to take them.

These discussions almost come down to the supporters and the haters. It is sad but true. For as long as I have been on the internet it has been that way and I have been around a long time. Several things with police: 1. If you have never been there done that then you cannot speak from the same reference points. You are nothing more than Monday morning QBing. 2. Most that are in the hater group are those that do not get along with any authority. Personally I think it is a resentment form a mispent youth and parenting. 3. Police have to make decisions in split seconds. If they shoot they are raked over the coals, of they don't they are some other innocent may die. 4. Most citizens have no idea what a LEO goes through on a daily basis. If they did there would be a lot more respect for the job. 5. Unions are the PROBLEM not the solution. They protect the bad regardless of overwhelming evidence most of the time. 6. Corruption is rampant throught some departments. Others not quite so much. 7. 80/20 rule applies to LEO just like any other profession 8. Follow directions, do as told, act responsibly and you should have no problems regardless of race, color, creed, religion, or terrestrial origin. You can fight it later if needed. 9. Claiming to be a free/Soveriegn citizen makes for great funny videos. Please continue to do so! 10. And last but the most important is the usual rule. "YMMV, You get out of something what you put in." IOW, act like an arse and youo will treated as one! Of course that is all my opinon and having served at one point in life. I learned quickly I do not have the temperment for that job. i did it in the military as it was a little different, once I hit the civilian side i realized quickly i do not handle stupid well. Bad combination. I moved on to something more to my liking. Since then i have had a few interations with LEO. 95% traffic related. (Drove a truck, in millions of miles I did bend a speed limit here or there). Acting human and respectful has always served me well. If I got a ticket I deserved it. I got warnings many times as I treated the officer with respect. Sir or ma'am goes a long way. Of course, I still believe that our nation is suffering from a generation of people that were not parented. They were raised by the internet and reality TV. Funny how they just do not understand the moral and ethical side of life.

That really sucks. Hopefully the son can break the cycle. Leaving my kids behind is one of my greatest fears.

There are ass***** in every profession. Never had a bad experience with an officer. Learned as a young lad not to lie when caught [speeding,or other infraction] just own it and move on. Have been let off with warning before because I believe just telling the truth simply deescalates the situation.

My prays to all involved.

Oh man, that sucks! I'm so sorry to hear this.

I don't have any reason to believe your statement. I have several black friends that live here in Gallatin and they all get along fine with the police. We also have several black officers and I never hear of them being anything but professional when dealing with the public. I do realize that you live in or near Memphis and the atmosphere and enviroment is probably different, I don't know. I can only speak of my experiences with the officers here and in surroundng towns.

Good thing you were white or it wouldn't have gone that way at all.

I will say that there's something special about a 100 year old 1911 that I can take to the range and shoot. If one can't appreciate it for what it is there's plenty of modern guns to choose from. I suppose collectable is in the eye of the beholder. No offense.

Not wearing a badge, apparently.

What we need is an attitude shift among police officers. The above statement alone shows the arrogance and self importance I see regularly among them. Put yourself in the guy's shoes a minute. Someone just came in your home uninvited and began shouting commands at you. I don't know about anyone else, but I doubt I'd "obey" or 'submit either. It shouldn't always be "us against them", but that's sure the vibe I get from almost any officer I'm around.

I will not be a bit surprised if a Grand Jury does a No Bill on this. It sucks - but there's a lot about this that is simply tragic. When it comes down to it, the contributing factors here are bad policy and bad training - coupled with a stressful situation. Plenty of people would probably respond in a similar way. Hopefully it wouldn't beup to the point of pulling the trigger - but it could certainly happen. A 15-hour shift is ridiculous. People make bad decisions when they're exhausted. The data shows that impairment from exhaustion can be just as bad as impairment from drugs or alcohol. Add in a stress event, and you're asking for bad stuff to happen. I came out of my office the other day convinced for about 3 minutes that someone had stolen my truck. It was 0930, and I was confused and angry. I didn't realize that our new parking deck with two entrances has one that's a half floor higher than the other entrance. From the street level they look the same. I get it that she parked in the wrong place and was confused. But, how did her long shift (or string of long shifts) exacerbate that? Also on the departmental level - I think we'd be well served to have hard conversations about use of force. I recall a conversation not to long ago with a friend who had come back from multiple deployments with the military and got a job with a local PD. After their "warrior training" he was baffled. His words to me were essentially, "in Iraq we had to go through a long, multiple step escalation of force - even when someone was actively trying to kill you. Here, you can escalate immediately." I know that this line of questioning causes some people alarm - but I think we'd be better off as a country if we went ahead and had it. This poor lady didn't follow departmental policies or guidelines for something like this. She certainly should have stayed outside and called for help. There's a lot that we're likely to simply never know. There were two people who saw what went down - and one of them is dead. I don't know what "punishment" even looks like here. She'll have to sleep with this every night for the rest of her life. She is unlikely to be a cop any longer. There will likely be civil damages - but those will be complicated without criminal charges. The victims family is likely to get some sort of insurance settlement and a "sorry." I don't know how you'd even define restorative justice here, but knowing this man's religious tradition - it's likely what he would desire. This case just really sucks. You'd likely not know this guys name if he wasn't black - and she wasn't a white police officer. That by itself is unfortunate. But, we need to know this guy's name. And gun owners, and police officers, and maybe most importantly police departments need to know this story. Overwork people who hold life and death in their hands, and what else should you expect?

The live video from last night was only available LIVE at the time. I'm undecided on whether I want to release the video-recording of it or not. I'm an obsessive perfectionist and there were some things about the video session that are bugging me. The audio podcast version definitely will be available on Sunday. I am mixing it right now.