Episode 43 - Umbrella Ambush

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It's raining, it's pouring, and nobody here is snoring!  In the wake of Uncle Buck's hernia surgery, you'd best double up on pain meds and put on your poncho in preparation for the deluge of issues as we bring in the following:

-Ambush Journalism
-Umbrellas
-Suicide by Cop
-Tech Week

Everyone loves to be the hero.  Everyone loves to get in on the action, to participate, to make their contribution.  That's fine.  I get that.  But, not everyone can pull it off in a timely manner, so that it doesn't come off as hackneyed tagging along.  That's precisely what happened when Laura Loomer decided to ambush Hilary Clinton during her book signing tour.  Now, far be it from me to take pity on Hilary Clinton, but if someone is going to go to the effort of taking her down a peg or two, I'd prefer you at least ACTUALLY take her down a peg or two instead of just rapid-fire shouting the equivalent of two year old political memes in the middle of a mall as you're dragged away by security in a straight jacket.  Everyone knows that the emails, Seth Rich, and Benghazi are issues that need to be addressed, but showeing Hilary with spittle isn't going to do it.  It's just going to make everyone wish they'd brought their umbrellas. . .

What exactly is an umbrella for?  You unfurl it, hold it over your head, and it does what?  You may be tempted to say "it shields you from rain", but according to Tab, you'd be wrong.  Umbrellas are the 'too little, too late' of the preparedness world.  They only protect a small portion of your person, and only if you hold it at exactly the right angle, if you even happen to have the thing physically with you when you need it.  But, unless you last name is "of the west", is a little rain really going to hurt you that much?  I mean, your body is already some very high percentage of water; why would a little more touching the outside of you be a problem?  Health advocates are always preaching about hydration, so maybe we're looking at this rain issue the wrong way.  Maybe what we need are inverted umbrellas that capture water, filter it, and pump it directly into your veins via an IV.  And then, once you're good and hydrated, you can just go inside, which is where you are for 90% of your life anyway, and not worry so much about how much liquid you're coming in contact with.    Maybe society would benefit from people just having a little more common sense about the scope and scale of the things that we allow to bug us.  Maybe a little common sense would go a long way.  And speaking of common sense . . .

Time for a thought experiment.  You're a college student.  You're standing or walking in a parking lot, carrying a tool that, in your mind, isn't really suited as a weapon.  Suddenly, police officers converge on you, and instruct you to put down the tool.  They have handguns drawn and aimed at you.  What do you do?  Well, if you're smart, you put down the tool and attempt to find out what's going on.  Now, why would you do the opposite and NOT put down the tool?  That's what I'd like to know.  Because this, or something resembling this, took place and the kid decided not only to not put down the "knife", but started advancing towards the police, instructing them to "shoot me".  In waht world does that set of actions make any sense?  But, on the flip side of that coin, in what world does a kid with a multi-tool warrant a bullet to the chest?  As we discuss in the episode, I get that an officer has no way of knowing a person's intentions, and little means of knowing whether or not that person has another, more deadly weapon concealed, but it seems like a stretch to think that a confused student slowly shambling towards you necessitates the use of lethal force.  I'm sure we'll hear from every armchair law enforcement specialist out there on this one.

Tab's been a busy guy this week.  Why?  It's Tech week.  What's Tech week?  It's the week when the tech guys at the theater essentially forego sleep in favor of nailing down all of the last minute bugs.  And, this week in particular, is when Tab has precisely zero free time, yet still made the time to record an episode with us, so instead of a long write-up about tech week, how about you listen to what he has to say about it, and throw him a 'thanks', or at least some sympathy.

We get some great call-ins about a handful of topics, spanning a number of prior episodes.  Who paid an absolutely absurd amount of money to drive on a shoddy road?  You'll have to listen to this week's episode to find out!