ckf

He wasn't talking about them being corrupt. It was the fact that departments needed to fill jobs and were taking on new guys that aren't qualified to fill the positions because that's all that was available.

I'm defiantly not an "armchair cop hater". Shooting a fleeing suspect in the back when they are running away is outright murder. I was talking to a friend that has been in law enforcement for the past 25 years the other day. He believes the real problem is the quality of officers on the force.

We are one of only a few areas in the Northeast that isn't in a drought according to the NWS maps. I have mowed more often this summer than I have since I moved here 3 years ago.

We ended up with a high of 84.5° today. I need to mow the lawn again, but I think I'll wait until Sunday when it's supposed to be sunny with a high of 74ª.

Glad to see Erik Jones moving up to cup next year

Post some pics when you get a chance

The temperature is already up to 81° with a dew point temp of 66°. Not looking forward to taking Izzy to the vets this afternoon for her checkup and shots.

He's doing well. He spends most of his free time building radio antennas so he can make more contacts around the world. His latest setup bounces radio signals off the moon

Baked ziti, tossed salad and garlic bread

Scotts Miracle-Gro is squaring up to cash in on the marijuana business -- and JP Morgan is betting its stock will go higher. Scotts, a lawn and garden supplier, is buying up a few businesses involved in hydroponics, a method used to grow pot without soil. On Thursday Jeffrey Zekauskas, an analyst with JP Morgan, upgraded his outlook for the company's stock and raised its target price from $70 to $85. "The hydroponics market taps into marijuana demand and the company now has a growth option that we think an investor is able to capture for about the price of the traditional business," Zekauskas said, according to a Barrons blog post. Soon after the stock was upgraded, Scotts (SMG) hit an all time high of $80.14. That bested the previous all-time high set Wednesday after Scotts issued its latest earnings update. Despite sub-par earnings that the company blamed on poor weather conditions earlier this year, CEO Jim Hagedorn told investors that the company is finalizing its third "significant acquisition in the hydroponics space." "As we had promised, we are now beginning the transition away from acquisitions and will begin a more aggressive return of cash to shareholders," Hagedorn said in a press release. Its stock is now up more than 23% year to date. Wall Street has been bullish on marijuana, as legal sales have skyrocketed due to more states adopting recreational and medical marijuana laws. In 2015, sanctioned pot sales grew to $1.2 billion, more than triple the 2014 numbers.

Cheap oil has fueled a massive wave of job cuts that may not be over yet. Since oil prices began to fall in mid-2014, cheap crude has been blamed for 195,000 job cuts in the U.S., according to a report published on Thursday by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. It's an enormous toll that is especially painful because these tend to be well-paying jobs. The average pay in the oil and gas industry is 84% higher than the national average, according to Goldman Sachs. The cuts have occurred at a time when many other corners of the American economy have been adding jobs. About 95,000 positions were eliminated by energy companies in 2016 alone, according to Challenger. Most of those job cuts occurred earlier this year, as oil prices crashed to a 13-year low of $26 a barrel. But Challenger noted that there was a "resurgence" of energy-sector job cuts in July, when layoffs spiked by 796% to 17,725. Oil prices have rebounded from extreme low levels, but they're losing ground again in recent weeks, briefly slipping back below $40 a barrel this week. Expect more energy job losses to be reflected in Friday's government jobs report for July. Few oil companies have been spared the pink slips. Everyone from diversified oil companies like Chevron (CVX), to oil services firms like Schlumberger (SLB) and Baker Hughes (BHI) have announced mass layoffs. Halliburton (HAL) alone has slashed more than 30,000 jobs, including 5,000 during the second quarter of this year. "The industry has been hit harder than we've seen in the 15 years we've been in the business, much harder than '08 downturn," Jeff Bush, president of oil and gas job recruiter CSI Recruiting, recently told CNNMoney. And then there are the thousands of layoffs by non-energy companies that provide equipment used to drill for oil like Caterpillar (CAT) and Joy Global. (JOY) The good news for laid-off oil workers is that some think the pendulum may have swung too hard, creating a talent shortage when drilling activity eventually rebounds. Goldman Sachs predicted the oil and gas needs to hire between 80,000 and 100,000 people by the end of 2018 just to keep up. The oil industry may need to pay up to lure workers back to the oil patch. "Not only have laid off workers relocated to other areas for new jobs but, just as in many other industries, a large portion of the workforce is reaching retirement age," said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas

81° with 53% humidity at 4pm. The forecast for tomorrow is calling for a high of 87° with increased humidity.

Wolfie

I don't read everything here, but I haven't seen it.

He seems to be able to engage just fine with Vince even though they don't share the same opinion