Author: Darren Smith

If every citizen had N95 Masks, Would Government Be Justified in Locking Down The Population Next Time?

By Darren Smith, Weekend contributor

I have to wonder if our state government’s lockdown of the population, curtailment of civil liberties, destruction of job opportunities, and denial of basic medical, education, and cultural needs would have been necessary and legally justified had each of us been equipped with our own supply of masks.

At the beginning of the self-declared State of Emergency, Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared, among many other restrictions, that access to basic medical services, such as routine doctor visits, dental procedures, diagnostic services were to be prohibited, ostensibly on the fact that masks should be diverted from these services and conserved to supply hospitals and critical care centers that were lacking in preparedness and woefully out of stock. He further reiterated that because the public will spread corona virus, we were ordered to self-quaranteen, resulting in tens of thousands of job losses, an upset in daily life and the general loss of liberty.

Before the next virus crises hits, I propose we adopt a new symbol of American Freedom and Liberty–The N95 Mask–and shield ourselves from the next outbreak of panic legislation and overreach by executive and administrative power

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Washington State: Hunting Bear and Turkey Spreads Corona Virus

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife has once again submitted to absurdity, this time by declaring that the hunting of bear and turkey presents a threat to public safety.

No, it is not that bears and their natural allies–the gobblers of Washington–have formed an alliance and threatened retaliation against suburbia if hunters invaded their lands. It is more insidious. Hunting outdoors spreads COVID-19 among the human population.

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Nancy Pelosi and Artist “Banksy” Cause Stir with Latest Art Project

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently collaborated with the reclusive European artist known as “Banksy” to create “Kinetic Art with a Shred of Decency” in their latest project promising to combine political intrigue with a slap in the face to the billion dollar art auction industry.

Matthew Ruhrapentay, a NYC based critic, praised the “inherent irony that these two artists could achieve such synchronicity” in composing their latest contribution, saying: “A Speaker who shreds the President’s Speech at the closing gavel of the House of Representatives, who better than to partner with a reclusive artist who shredded a million dollar painting just as the gavel dropped at an auction house? Magnifico!”

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Linguists Successfully Decipher Ancient Minoan Language “Linear A”

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

In what might surely be viewed as one of the potentially great breakthroughs in linguistics in recent years, scientists have finally deciphered the ancient Minoan Language known as “Linear A“, a previously untranslated ancient writing system used from 1800 to 1450 BCE. A new technique using, of all things, a vast collection of commerce related email of today provided a template for the discovery.

Partially due to this lack of translation, the Minoan culture remained obscured and cloaked in mystery. But linguists found much more than expected when they concurrently discovered the proximate cause of the abandonment of Linear A by the Minoans and its replacement with Linear B, the language of Mycenaean Greece.

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Washington State Prohibits Citizens From Fishing, Cites Corona Virus Outbreak

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

The restrictions enforced against Washingtonians are approaching absurdity. Somehow Washington State believes that fishing alone in the middle of Banks Lake will lead to worsening the COVID19 outbreak, so it banned recreational fishing. Yet going into a crowded big box store to panic-buy toilet paper and bags of flour is legal and safe.

Is there a threat that we the public are not aware. Is it that Corona Viruses from China can waft into the jet stream and drop like paratroops onto fisherman at Westport? Might it be frightfully possible that we may be swallowed whole by mutant razor clams lurking beneath the sand. What, if we may ask, is this horrorshow?

I suspect it is one of the worst kind of threat…a government agency given too much authority.

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COVID-19 Situation Demonstrates The Potential For Harm To Society Caused By Politicians

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Putting aside the discussion of whether or not actions taken by various elected officials were reasonable, the hurried effects suffered by the public during the COVID-19 virus pandemic at the behest of politicians should if anything prove the potential for damage caused by unscrupulousness or incompetence in government.

Today’s events should be by now a self-evident reminder of the great importance of putting the right people in office and the folly of settling for very fallable politicians. The next coming weeks will make that point likely more for you, with less consideration to your rights or interests.

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Saturday Photos: A Great Northern Railroad F7

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

A couple years ago we were driving up the coast and a chance glance to my left brought me something I have not seen for many decades, a locomotive having Great Northern Railroad livery. I had to stop and take pictures then, but having only a anemic flip-phone camera, it was nothing to write home about.

I unexpectedly found myself presently having no meetings, paperwork was deferrable, the car had a tank of gas, and the camera was beckoning. This could mean only one thing…ROAD TRIP. So, I thought I’d return to that small town from years ago and snap a few frames.

Click each image to enlarge

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Sunday Photos: Single Lane Forested Road, Single Lense Reflex, Single Purpose

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

It’s the weekend and time to return to the sticks, with of course the requisite camera and hunger for fresh air. Spring yearns to blossom her colors yet winter continues his reign, or should I say “rain”. Nevertheless I still remain patient. All seasons are good as long as you are there to experience them.

Click each photo to enlarge

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RestauRant: Why Dining Out Is No Longer Worth It To Me.

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

It’s taken over fifty years, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the punishment/reward scales have tipped and I am losing my appetite for dining in restaurants. Mostly this is due to what the industry has needed to stay competitive, so I am not here to bash business owners for trying to make a living, it is simply that it is no longer in the interest of my health, budget, and growing intolerance of settling for less.

I wish the industry could do better, but I do not see this ending well.

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Has The Time Come To Name The “Dishonored Dead”?

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

A comparatively small burial plot of the World War I Oise-Aisne American Cemetery in France contains the remains of American military personnel who, following convictions in US Military Courts Martial, remain as nearly anonymous as the numbered markers above them. For nearly seventy-five years after their convictions, their grave markers only reveal one or two digit identification numbers and not the names of those so buried. Though they were convicted of capital crimes, do they deserve the dignity of a proper burial that all of us expect for ourselves?

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When Will We Finally Treat Ancient Human Remains With Dignity?

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

While I maintain that the scientific community has for hundreds of years steadfastly failed to exercise a modern sense of decency and respect for human remains of the ancients, a recent article in Ars Technica prompted me to type my concern.

The objection I have is that most societies in the world currently place special value and reverence in the preserving and protection of interred human remains, often citing the desire to allow the departed the right to rest in peace. Yet, among governments, scientific organizations, academics, and museums we allow an abandonment of these values and permit the continual insult to the deceased–who’s remains serve as equivalents to rock samples and objects to be endlessly studied and displayed to the curious.

Would we allow such a spectacle to be exacted upon our own families?

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Washington State Senator Introduces Bill To Deregulate Lemonade Stands

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the lemonade of Andria & Zoey.

In a welcome departure from Washington State’s penchant to overbearingly tax, regulate, and control every aspect of human existence possible, a state senator recently introduced Senate Bill 6320 titled “AN ACT Relating to the ability of a minor to operate a lemonade business on an occasional basis” as a prophylaxis against the state shutting down another fledgling business and cultural icon: the childhood lemonade stand.

It is, however, a rather sad commentary that such a bill becomes necessary, but given the unholy alliance between the neighborhood busy-bodies who shake their canes at all things enjoyed by children and mindless automatons of local government who put rules above reason, it seems we now have to legislate discretion to protect young entrepreneurs from being thwarted by the ridiculousness sometimes displayed by adults having more power than sense.

Do we have to make laws to protect lemonade stands from government? Unfortunately it seems in today’s society we must.

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Tax Avoidance: A Moral Duty

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

While it is a truism that in many respects some form of taxation is needed to provide necessities to a society, in practice many government and social detriments arise as either a consequence to or are derivative of tax policy. I’ve found for myself that fostering a personal goal of avoiding specific taxation or in many cases excessive taxation generally comports with a greater advocacy of morality in several beneficial forms.

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