Spewing Sputtering Spit

*Update below*

Having the good fortune to live in the Happy Little Kingdom, I am only exposed to (mercifully few) sound bites and clips from the opening of the final laps to the Quadrennial Horse Races -- that is the week long parties known as the National Conventions...

But even then, in an unguarded moment I can hear something that makes me spew sputtering phlegm and spit over my poor radio.

Yesterday, it was the words of the Codpiece Himself -- he said that Mad Kane was a man who would rather lose an election if it meant winning a war and that therefore he was the man who is qualified to become the next Commander in Chief [sic !!!]

Dear hearts, how many times must we write on the blackboard, "We the People do not have a Commander in Chief!" We have a President, a chief executive and civilian, one of whose functions is to be top honcho over the military. The Founding Fathers who crafted our Ground Law were, rightly, afraid of the threat a military could be to a republic -- therefore, they made certain that the military would be under civilian control.

But what do we have today? Soldiers are now called "warriors". Sears is offering a line of clothing which locks like real military garb -- and is approved my the Army! A sheriff in South Carolina buys a tank with a 50 caliber belt-fed machine gun mounted on it and says he figures it will "save lives".

At the Repugnant Convention, protesters, journalists and even civil rights lawyers are proactively arrested by police waving machine guns. A group of two dozen protesters daring to cross a street are met with a dozen concussion grenades... [explosions 2 minutes in...] *update below*

Meanwhile, the VP candidate, with a terrible record of authoritarian abuse of power, hard rock creationist, with ties to extreme right wacko groups gets a pass and the media concentrates on her private life as if she was a Bill Flintstone with a shame cave...

I'm sorry, but it seems to me that the Lady of Light and Liberty is morphing even faster than I thought into a Madam who rides a Fat Car...

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First of all, these were likely a form of "flash and bang" stun grenades. The concussion grenade is a bit more serious piece of work. CTuttle at Main and Central wrote me that it resembles the M84 stun grenade -- a hand thrown device and not the lobbed bombs sent against the small crowd pf protesting citizens.

However, the stun grenade is not a toy -- the explosion reaches 170db and the smoke, though "harmless" is quite noxious -- a brief description of the M84 with, of course, my stress:

The M84 non-lethal stun grenade is a non-lethal, low hazard, non-shrapnel producing explosive device intended to confuse, disorient or momentarily
distract potential threat personnel. The device produces a temporary
incapacitation to threat personnel or innocent by standers. This device will be used by military personnel in hostage rescue situations and in the capture of criminals, terrorists or other adversaries. It provides commanders a non-lethal capability to increase the flexibility in the application of force during
military operations.