Seasoned with Sultnpapper 02/21/19 > Formerly known as the Daily Dose
Suffice it to say....
Suffice it to say I’ve been busy and I have missed being here to share what all that has been going on. Yes, I have changed the name of the blog; but that is hopefully only a temporary thing. No need in false advertising when you say you are here to share the truth is there?
I won’t go into all the details and I won’t waste a lot of time apologizing for being gone for such a long stretch of time. Those of you who have been with me for a long time know that I really enjoy writing this blog and I miss being here daily. The new job is going great and I couldn’t be in a better situation when it comes to working. To steal a line from McDonalds Hamburger chain, “I’m loving it”.
@bigtom13 put out a challenge...
@bigtom13 put out a challenge that I did see recently and as much as I try and stay away from challenges I just couldn’t wait for a time when I could sit down and actually take part in it. Forgive me Tom if I don’t get this exactly correct but the challenge was to write a blog on what brought you here to steemit. I think the question was posed as; did you come here for the rewards or for the communities?
Well, I came here for neither. I could stop right there because that is the truth, but I won’t.
I didn't know...
I didn’t know one single living soul on here when I got here and I had no clue about the crypto currency known as steem. I wandered in here only because I read that I could write whatever I wanted to write and the steem blockchain would keep it intact forever. I came here for me and only me; I wanted a place to write and being the cheap bastard I am I didn’t want to have to pay for the space. This place fit the bill of particulars for me to a tee.
So while I came here for different reasons than the two @bigtom13 gave us to choose from I wanted to take his challenge and explain what has kept me here.
The people.
I have met more...
I have met more great folks on here than I could have ever imagined in my wildest dreams and those people make up some really great communities. So while I didn’t come here for the communities the communities is the reason I wouldn’t even think of leaving here.
I’m not in a lot of communities but each one I got involved in welcomed me with open arms and has helped me grow on here. I can’t say that I have ever heard of that on any other social media platform, it may happen but I don’t care to find out if it does, it would be a waste of my time and that is really precious to me at the moment.
Right now I am sorely missing the groups I do belong too. I can’t say that about the rewards (steem and sbd) that I earned while writing the Daily Dose. I have managed to earn a few steem and sbd since September of 2017 when I came here but it means nothing when you get right down to it, at least for me that is, I can’t speak for anyone but myself on that.
I haven't looked...
I haven’t looked at the results of @bigtom13’s challenge but I would venture a guess that most folks would agree if the question were posed as “what keeps you here” rewards or community? The overwhelming hands down answer would have to be the communities. The people make up the communities and as far as I am concerned you won’t find any people that are more caring then the folks on steemit.
So in a nutshell, the people make this place the place to be for me.
Being gone from...
Being gone from here for over 15 days or so makes it hard to choose what I want to cover and while I should have quit with the last sentence I do have one thing that I want to mention that has been unfolding in Houston recently and I don’t know that it is getting much coverage anywhere but here.
The Houston Police (armed gang of robbers) have...
The Houston Police ( armed gang of robbers) have gotten themselves in a little bit of a mess recently. That mess ended up costing a veteran and his wife their lives a couple weeks ago. In the fourth largest city in the country one could imagine that there is plenty of crime and criminals for the police to harass and arrest so the judges can keep their dockets and the Texas prison cells full. You really don’t even have to have much of an imagination to see that since it is a fact.
But a member of the Houston Police department decided that he would falsify some documents and swear on an affidavit that he had firsthand knowledge that the people living in a certain house were selling black tar heroin and so a judge signed off on search warrant for the house.
The cops conducted a raid on the house and instead of knocking and presenting their search warrant they kicked in the door and entered the home with guns drawn. The first cop thru the door shot the homeowners big dog and the homeowner and his wife grabbed their guns and started shooting too. In the end the homeowner and his wife were killed, gunned down in their own home. Four cops were also shot by the homeowners and a fifth one injured in some other fashion.
After it was all...
After it was all said and done no heroin, no meth, no pcp or any drugs were found except for a small amount of pot that the homeowner kept for his personal use to help with his PTSD from being in combat serving his country. The day of the raid the news media was praising HPD for cracking down on these “drug dealers” and how tragic it was that four officers were shot.
Like with most “news events” the media came back the next day to the house and saw a steady stream of people leaving flowers and cards on the porch of the home as a memorial to the couple. So the media started asking questions of the people leaving the flowers and such and they heard nothing but good things about this couple from all of the neighbors.
How could these despicable couple of drug dealers be so well liked by their neighbors?
That question had to be going through the minds of these news reporters and plus the fact there was nothing found that matched what the police were looking for on the search warrant.
So one local...
So one local TV station started asking questions of the police department and started investigating on their own about the “informant” and it is getting really messy now. The district attorney for Harris County said that the officer that signed that affidavit has been involved in fourteen hundred (1400) drug cases that have resulted in convictions or plea agreements and there are currently 28 cases he is involved with that are pending trial.
For the last few nights now all the TV stations have been covering this story and it looks like, according to the DA, that since the affidavit was signed under penalty of perjury and the cop has now admitted he lied; all the prior cases he was involved with will also need to be examined since there is a good chance he testified in those cases under oath and penalty of perjury.
Makes me wonder...
Makes me wonder just how many other folks have been targeted by this cop and then railroaded through the system and have ended up in prison. He also has an itchy trigger finger according to the news reports and has shot people under questionable circumstances.
I will keep an eye on this one going forward.
The HPD has on some of their vehicles the words, “To serve and protect” my question to them is just who are they serving and protecting?
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
Note: Thanks for reading this edition of Seasoned with Sultnpapper. Please check out this post by @bigtom13 https://steemit.com/communitychallenge/@bigtom13/community-rewards-challenge-dda3244bc8875est
Oh wow, that is pretty crazy! Glad to see that you are back and I think you are right, a lot of people probably find themselves on here for the community. I think a lot of people come for the earnings but stay for the community. I did the challenge too and I think my answer was 60/40 or maybe it was 70/30 community/rewards. Anyway. Nice post!
Thanks @bozz. I will be hit and miss here for a while but you can believe when I am not here I damn sure wish I was. Hope your health is doing well.
Feeling pretty good so far! Thanks!
Congratulations! This post has been chosen as one of the daily Whistle Stops for The STEEM Engine!
You can see your post's place along the track here: The Daily Whistle Stops, Issue 407 (02/21/19)
So nice to see you back, I've missed having some sultnpapper here on Steemit, vital ingredient to bring out the flavour you know;)
Glad the job's going so well too!
But how shocking what that police officer did, and he's supposed to be protecting the people!!!
Thank you Lizelle, can't say that I will be writing everyday but rest assured that when I am not here that I am wishing I were.
The job is going very well and although I was familiar with most of the products we represent I still need to get up to speed on the details of certain items, part numbers and pricing and that all takes time.
That cop is a real guzbucking piece of shit , (pardon my French), two people ended up dead and no reason for it other than his ego trying to pad his statistics as best I can determine.
It will be very interesting what exactly the DA does with the whole mess and what a grand jury will decide to charge him with for what he did. What ever the charges are I hope it has a sentence of 99 years to life if he is found guilty.
First off, thanks. Big THANKS for answering the challenge. You know why I didn't challenge you directly, cause you are at least as bad at them as I am :) Which makes me all the more pleased with your answer. Thank you.
I LOVE the name. Seasoned with... I think you ought to keep that, and if need be add 'daily' to it somehow. And I just can't express how happy I am to see you here. I know at least a little of the back story, so you'll get no looking down my nose from me. I'm glad you've hit the sweet spot with your new employer and all the possibilities of it. Makes me smile just sitting here thinking about it.
I had heard about the case in Houston. Insert all the words here that are not guzbucked you would like. That is brutal on so many levels.
Dead people. That really died for nothing but another meaningless police statistic. That guzbucking sucks any way you look at it. There is not one iota of positive spin here.
1428 cases that have to be reviewed. It will be interesting to see if the DAs office is furiously brushing that number under the carpet or if they are going to run an honest review of all of them. Either way, that will leave a mark.
I can tell you for a fact that serving a no knock warrant at my house would lead to bullets. Even if I couldn't get to my pistol in time. Not that I have a single thing to lead to said warrant. Not one thing.
In other news, I dumped a link in the 'guzbucked room'. The supreme court ruled 9-0 that states COULD NOT use excessive fines or fees or seizures as a revenue generating tool. 9-0 The absolutely rarest of SCOTUS rulings. Who would have ever thought?
I have a hard and fast rule that I never violate more than once per week: Don't Make a Reply to Seasoned With that is longer than the original. So I'll quit with
Damn buddy. I'm glad you are back.
I won't say "I'm back" like I did a couple of weeks ago, that was a little premature, what I will say is that I plan on writing again daily if I have the time and energy at the end of day like before.
I use that "Seasoned with" on WeKu but I couldn't continue to call the blog the Daily Dose when I go long stretches of days without posting one.
I haven't been on WeKu in forever either but I will say that my one word posts I made over there did pretty good on earnings. I think I got up to around the number 13 or 14 before I stopped there.
I read that link you left in the room. 9-0 is quite unusual for that court.
My only question though is how long then before they stop the civil asset forfeiture completely and return all the money and property that has been confiscated?
That is armed robbery and charges should be brought against the cops that confiscated property.
If I could point to what I think has gotten us to the place we are in this country as being a primary cause I would have to say it is that most people do not understand the difference between "legal" and "lawful" and there is a big difference. As long we accept legal as the standard we will continue to be a lawless society is the way I see it.
I don't think I'd hold my breath for the complete cessation of asset seizure. And I wouldn't expect to see any money or property refunded.
It's as you say, there is a huge difference between legal and lawful and we are certainly on the wrong side of that difference.
It's like Mr Jagger says "Just as every cop is a criminal and all the sinners saints...."
That shooting is horrendous and very depressing. I'd rather have drug dealers going about than trigger-happy cops - not that I'm a fan of drug dealers!
I'm playing catch-up once again. I've been really busy too, with all the course work I've been doing for my Mountain Leader award. So many days in the great outdoors, and then you come back to chaos! Anyway, I'm going to the UK Steep camp in April, as it's the community that I love about Steemit too.
So far I heard in the last couple days that the district attorney has dropped the charges on three pending cases that the officer was involved with, they haven't even started at looking at cases that have already been adjudicated yet.
How much further do you have to go on getting your Mountain Leader award? It sounds like a very demanding process.
That is outrageous.
For the Mountain Leader course, I have to do two more wild camping nights (which don't have to be solo)... though it's always best to do more, as it shows enthusiasm; also I have to study flora and fauna and some geology - not to become an expert, but to demonstrate some interest and knowledge. The assessment takes place over five days at the end of April, but my qualification will be deferred until I get my First Aid certificate, which is booked for the end of May.
It is quite demanding, but I suppose anything that allows you to take on a new career is demanding.
Welcome back! I knew something was missing around here.
I hope the lawful people of Houston teach that unlawful enforcer of misjustice a lesson. Thinking of how many lives he ruined to cook his books is sad.
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Thanks @abitcoinskeptic , I won't say I am back writing here daily like before but I will write as often as time allows.
It should be interesting going forward with this case and will be very interesting what the DA's office uncovers in there investigation of prior cases he was involved with.
Very sad that two people had to die for no reason at all. They say that power corrupts and this officer appears to be the poster child for that saying in my opinion.
Great to see you back @sultnpapper! I figured you were so busy with that new job you didn't have time for us! Glad to hear it is going well. As for the Houston police, hmmmm this is not good. I hope there aren't too many more bad apples in that group. Really erodes your faith in the system when you hear this is happening. yikes.
I have been busy with the new job but what has really cut into my available writing time has been the part time job / business I started when I first found out my former job was ending.
That job is designing irrigation systems using a CAD program on my computer. I have just a couple folks that I am doing drawings for at the moment but between the two of them I am averaging about 5 or 6 drawings a week and each drawing takes from 2 to 6 hours depending on the size of the project, some even longer than that. So that is where the time has been squeezed out on being able to write the Daily Dose.
I have a feeling that the HPD cop that caused this issue is just one of many bad apples in that group. I did a Daily Dose in the last few months about having lunch one day in a little burger joint and a group of HPD's SWAT team was in there eating. I was at a table next to them and overheard their stories that they were sharing with each other, not that I was trying listen in they were just that loud and I couldn't help but hear them.
After they left I asked one of the ladies working in there if they ate there often and she said they did, about once a month and then she said, "They think their shit don't stink." So I have to think that her faith in the system has eroded and mine has been gone for a long time when in comes to law enforcement. I see a lot of police interactions with people in my travels and I know damn well that some of the things I see are clear violations of people's rights. Intimidation is what they rely on and having that pistol on their hip makes most of them feel like they are superior beings.
I'm not saying all cops are bad, I have run across some very good ones too. Just the number of good ones seems to me to be less than the number of bad ones in my book.