Sunday, April 18, 2021

Scenes in Lagos

 Several years ago I had a short assignment in Lagos, Nigeria. I was part of a larger staff that were all housed in a hotel and commuted to the office on a bus with an armed security escort. One day as we were returning to the hotel we saw a guy that appeared to be asleep on the side of the road. We thought nothing of it. The next day, he was still there but he had been stripped of his clothes. He was obviously dead. On the third day, he was gone. We were told that when someone dies, they are quickly relieved of their clothing. Such is the condition of people living in third world countries where the leaders hoard all the oil revenues. 

The route of our bus took us under an overpass for the main highway. Hanging from the railing was a human skull and a sign proclaiming death to Muslims. 

People living in Lagos will do anything to earn a little money. Some build a small fire and roast bush meat on a flat steel plate. Some convert automobile air conditioning compressors to use to inflate flat tires. And, of course, crime is rampant which is why we had armed escorts. My concern about the escorts were: Would they be willing to shoot their countrymen to protect me, and would they be accurate enough not to hit me?

Nigeria is not a place I can recommend.

Friday, April 2, 2021

Head Count

 The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia chopped the heads off of 5 murderers last month bringing their year to date count to 14.

Concealed Carry Backlog

 My current permit was due to expire on March 18. I took my training and submitted the renewal application on February 10, which I thought would be adequate time to process it. The state sent me the fee request and I paid it on March 9. This was all done on line so documents were sent electronically and the mail was not an issue. 

I just received notification that the new permit was approved on March 31. 

I can only assume that there are so many applications that the LSP cannot keep up.