Personal Rant

Can you hear me now?

It really "tries my nerves" to try to communicate with someone with a *Free* / Cheap cell phone that came with the pay-as-you-go plans. The plans from Boost, MertoPCS and Cricket, the ones that are "Lifelines" dangling from the main Cell Phone providers.


There is an issue with audio quality with those phones and, typically, they are provisioned for lower "quality" connections with fallback to 2G-EDGE networks.

I find myself TALKING LOUDLY as if I'm trying to communicate with a deaf person because their phone is breaking up; no, it isn't me, I try to call those people back on a different line and still get bad results!

It's analogous to the Men's' razor model: They give you the handle and, you have to return to buy the blades to fit the razor handle; wanna be cheap, they make "Disposable Razors" especially for those with, DISPOSABLE skin on their faces and / or heads! They give you the phones and you have to use their service.

I implore *You* to do better; upgrade to better phones, please.

 

Just Sickening.

Check out @mcspocky’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/mcspocky/status/1107198892704219142?s=09

Compassion or Co-Dependency?

As seen on Facebook

This really struck a chord with me when I read it because, I could only imagine how many unfulfilled lives there are out there with the same aspirations that were never met or achieved because they didn't get what they "deserved."

Gentrification threatening neighborhood.

Check out @BaddJusteu’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/BaddJusteu/status/1079380446729916416?s=09

My World

A Fair Representation of my Brain

"Up" is constantly changing!

#Madisonville Bridge

There is a bridge in Madisonville – a railroad overpass to be exact, its claim to fame is that it tears the top off of trucks and other vehicles that dare to use this main traffic artery called Madison Road.  The overpass was possibly constructed during the WPA era, if not earlier; it now stands as a monument to progress or, the lack thereof. This is a short treatise on that progress.

Railroads and the trains that travel upon their tracks carry heavy load and connect distance places; they are what could be classified as, “National Infrastructure”, the maintenance of such is paramount.  Locally, roads were constructed to connect outlying communities and “Villes” to the municipal population center. The city and the outskirts benefited from the extensions and connections of the Infrastructure.

There comes a time that, if the infrastructure is not maintained or, updated to accommodate changes in technology such as, faster trains or larger vehicles, the infrastructure becomes an impediment to progress; an obsolescence, this is what the railroad bridge over Madison Road has become. Cameras trained on the bridge document on an almost daily basis, a vehicle that has become wedged between the low overpass and the city street.

Locals think it’s funny to see yet another vehicle trapped, the traffic patterns interrupted and resources tasked to deal with a problem that urban planners could not foresee or that community activist overlook.

I would ask, “After every Dump Truck, Earth-mover, Tractor-Trailer and cargo carrier slams into that bridge, is it inspected for safety each time?” I think not. I believe that any person with half an intellect would ask, “Why is this being allowed to continue to happen?” I’m sure that those questions have been voiced by many people but, no actions have been taken.

I would say that the least that could be done is the placing of Flashing signage and height warning ; if Rail-crossing gates and Flood Control gates can be installed on Madison Rd for the Duck Creek waterway then, a couple of signs don’t seem to be such a big deal.

“Progress” is what I am opining about, the world has progressed since the railroad bridge and roads were built but, as they are constructed now, they are an impediment to progress. The bridge blocks access to the Villes of Madison and the Villes of Plains, Madeira and beyond.

An answer to the questions posed: because we know that the rail bridge will not be raised, perhaps the answer is to lower the street under the rail crossing. This was done long ago for the main drag into Hamilton, Ohio and also to Glendale-Milford road just east of Route 4.

Improving that short stretch of infrastructure would remove a bottleneck and further open the area to development.

GTFOH!

Check out @BaddJusteu’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/BaddJusteu/status/1009427611603361795?s=09

Just Call Me Overly Sensitive......NOT!

GOOGLE Rousing the Rabble with Racist Reporting

From the front page of Google News



At first glance your immediate reaction is, "A African-American Male is responsible for the death of a Law Enforcement Officer."

That's BULLSHIT "Journalism."

Real Headline:

YADKIN COUNTY (WTVD) --
The man sought in a pursuit and crash that killed a North Carolina State Highway Patrol trooper has been arrested.

After an extensive search, officials announced Dakota Whitt had been arrested around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.


How long will this "error" go uncorrected ?

It wasn't a fugging "ERROR", period! And, if it was, the person who made the mistake AND the person above the mistake maker should have to answer to this.

Hey, just classify and dismiss this as me being "Overly Sensitive", AGAIN.

*********************************************************************************

This is just patently unacceptable for Google to  post a headline next to a picture unrelated to the story but, giving the impression that the person in the picture is connected to the headlines.

If, a global news service associated my picture with a story totally unrelated to me, I would feel as if my character had been defamed by the placement of the picture.

If after having been notified about it, an apology and correction was not made, I would believe that their actions were reckless and actionable. 

. 

What's up with this guy's "Body Language?"

Insecure, Angry, Afraid?

If you haven't noticed, look at the people surrounding him, they all seem comfortable while, this fellow seems to be concentrating on a hard bowel movement.

 

Spam, Spam, Spam!

Look Bruh, I love you like a brother because, you are my blood brother but, your Online Marketing Ploy is affecting my Internet experience even more than Google Ad Services; you are killing my Twitter feed and owning my Facebook content.

I'm gonna try to let you back into my feed; please moderate the SPAM.

Yes, I know it's been a while.

Why Waste My Breath (Bandwidth).

It has been a while since I've add anything to this blog because, it has been the "Same-Old-Shit / Different Day". There is nothing that I could say that hasn't already been documented about these times we are experiencing.

I am an old man in a relatively young country compared to other countries like 
England, France, Germany and China. The United states of America is experiencing growing  / maturing pains and divisions that other nations have long experienced and healed from. My hopes and desires are for a place where my grandchildren can do more than survive, a place where they can thrive.

What were accepted "norms," mores and, etiquette" are being trampled; there is a bible verse, Mathew, Chapter 7, verse 6 that says, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."       
Our grand experiment in Democracy is in jeopardy; we have thrown Democracy to the feet of Populists, Partisans and Politicians who are placing the goals and best wishes of the country behind their pursuits of money and power.   

I have "Been to the mountain top and, I have seen what was on the other side" but, I was not able to stay and, at the rate it's going, there seems to be a group dedicated to Bull-dozing the sides of the mountain making it more inaccessible to the masses.

People of integrity are resisting.

  

The Difference Between "Artistic" and "Autistic"

Chuck is "Artistic"

Me: Not so much

All credits to Chuck Lorre

Etiquette Lesson 

For those of you who need it !

When I make direct eye contact, smile, say "Hello" and ask, "How are you doing", I am doing this because I am sincerely interested in your well-being; the same applies when I wish you well and to have a good day or evening. Again, I am doing this because I care about you.

Your response should be to smile in return and say, "Hello" or, "I am well, how are you doing today?" or, "You have a good evening yourself."

Your response of looking away, pretending to be too busy talking on your cellphone or saying, "What Happening" is not an appropriate response.

Your silence and / or actions say a lot about you and the person/people who raised you.

One last thing: I have a healthy dislike for "Eye-Winkers". What message does your eye winking carry? Is there a secret that only you and I am supposed to share? The winking of your eye neither confirms or denies anything to me and, I have to bite my tongue to keep from asking you, "Is there something wrong with your eye?"

Notice, that I don't wink back.

What the F*ck is wrong with this fellow?

An associate of mine, Eddie - "LaRata Del Desierto" posed that question:

"So, hurricane Harvey has just decimated parts of the Gulf coast. Hurricane Irma is on the way with the potential to devastate Florida, or worse yet, hit the Gulf coast again with unimaginable consequences. Over 60 fires are burning in the West/South West destroying peoples homes and lives. This country is divided in hate thanks to the actions of one person. Oh yeah, there is that little motherfucker in North Korea threatening to blow up Guam, Japan, or who knows where the fuck his nuclear rain might fall.

And what is Trump worried about? Sending 800,00+ dreamers back to wherever the parents who brought them as children came from. Supposedly to appease his base. Fuck his base.

This moron who was put into the White House has dragged my country so far down, that it will take years, if ever, to recover. This jerk is a maniac and needs to be stopped. Our representatives that we put in Washington to represent us (hence the name) needs to grow a pair and get off their dead asses, and do what they were put there to do. These members of Congress have to quit worrying about what's politically correct and not worry about staying in office. I will keep doing what I can and voice my displeasure in the voting booth. Unfortunately, it takes a long time to effect changes that way.

The POTUS is no better, and worse in my opinion, than that sawed off little prick with the bad hair cut that needs to be spanked and sent to his room. Or killed.

What is it going to take for the people that can, do what is best for this country, and not for them? Jesus Christ, if there were a better place, and I wasn't so God-damned old, I would leave in a heart beat. Well, not really, I love my country. That's why I joined the military when I was much younger. I was willing to put my life on the line to make sure that no tyrant could ever drag this country down. The same reason, for the most part, why any warrior serves this country.

And, look what has happened. The one thing I never wanted to see has happened. It needs to be stopped before this country is taken in a direction it can not recover from. I can only hope that all of the ongoing investigations into crooked Trump and his crooked family pay off and he gets thrown out of office and in to a prison cell. For ever. At times like this, I swear I'm glad I am old and don't have to watch this country be robbed of it's dignity and put in the position it now faces. This person has cheapened the office of President and made it a joke. And, his Twitter account needs to be shoved so far up his ass that his mouth is filled with hashtags. He has pretty much single-handedly lost the trust of our friends and allies. A trust that has taken decades and a lot of spilled blood to build.

 
I'm so pissed off at the moment, I can't stand it. I now understand how old people can turn to political violence. Maybe I'll just say fuck it and go make a batch of chocolate eclairs."

That's something that hundreds of millions, if not billions of people are wondering!

I may not comment upon..

...Everything that happens everyday, I am aware. It's not really productive to rev up for so much of the goings-on day-to-day in the Government; the outrageous machinations of this cover up just boggles the mind

I am still here. 

Just In Case You Missed It.

Don't Think That We Cannot See You!

Just for the record

Just think, we have 48 more weeks in this year!

A recap of the Trump regime thus far....
From the I'm Paying Attention Department: To recap: so nobody forgets...
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the DOJ’s Violence Against Women programs.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Minority Business Development Agency.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Economic Development Administration.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the International Trade Administration.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Legal Services Corporation.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the DOJ.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Electricity Deliverability and Energy Reliability.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Fossil Energy.
* On January 20th, 2017, DT ordered all regulatory powers of all federal agencies frozen.
* On January 20th, 2017, DT ordered the National Parks Service to stop using social media after retweeting factual, side by side photos of the crowds for the 2009 and 2017 inaugurations.
* On January 20th, 2017, roughly 230 protesters were arrested in DC and face unprecedented felony riot charges. Among them were legal observers, journalists, and medics.
* On January 20th, 2017, a member of the International Workers of the World was shot in the stomach at an anti-fascist protest in Seattle. He remains in critical condition.
* On January 21st, 2017, DT brought a group of 40 cheerleaders to a meeting with the CIA to cheer for him during a speech that consisted almost entirely of framing himself as the victim of dishonest press.
* On January 21st, 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer held a press conference largely to attack the press for accurately reporting the size of attendance at the inaugural festivities, saying that the inauguration had the largest audience of any in history, “period.”
* On January 22nd, 2017, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway defended Spicer’s lies as “alternative facts” on national television news.
* On January 22nd, 2017, DT appeared to blow a kiss to director James Comey during a meeting with the FBI, and then opened his arms in a gesture of strange, paternal affection, before hugging him with a pat on the back.
* On January 23rd, 2017, DT reinstated the global gag order, which de-funds international organizations that even mention abortion as a medical option.
* On January 23rd, 2017, Spicer said that the US will not tolerate China’s expansion onto islands in the South China Sea, essentially threatening war with China.
* On January 23rd, 2017, DT repeated the lie that 3-5 million people voted “illegally” thus costing him the popular vote.
* On January 23rd, 2017, it was announced that the man who shot the anti-fascist protester in Seattle was released without charges, despite turning himself in.
* On January 24th, 2017, Spicer reiterated the lie that 3-5 million people voted “illegally” thus costing DT the popular vote.
* On January 24th, 2017, DT tweeted a picture from his personal Twitter account of a photo he says depicts the crowd at his inauguration and will hang in the White House press room. The photo is curiously dated January 21st, 2017, the day AFTER the inauguration and the day of the Women’s March, the largest inauguration related protest in history.
* On January 24th, 2017, the EPA was ordered to stop communicating with the public through social media or the press and to freeze all grants and contracts.
* On January 24th, 2017, the USDA was ordered to stop communicating with the public through social media or the press and to stop publishing any papers or research. All communication with the press would also have to be authorized and vetted by the White House.
* On January 24th, 2017, HR7, a bill that would prohibit federal funding not only to abortion service providers, but to any insurance coverage, including Medicaid, that provides abortion coverage, went to the floor of the House for a vote.
* On January 24th, 2017, Director of the Department of Health and Human Service nominee Tom Price characterized federal guidelines on transgender equality as “absurd.”
* On January 24th, 2017, DT ordered the resumption of construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline, while the North Dakota state congress considers a bill that would legalize hitting and killing protesters with cars if they are on roadways.
* On January 24th, 2017, it was discovered that police officers had used confiscated cell phones to search the emails and messages of the 230 demonstrators now facing felony riot charges for protesting on January 20th, including lawyers and journalists whose email accounts contain privileged information of clients and sources.
And yesterday: the wall and a Muslim ban.

Thought for Today

Today, I am going to give my opinion on equivocating.

When you ask a "Why" question, the answer boils down to, "Because I did or did not wanted to" but, that is not what is said, that is where the "Equivocating" comes in. The truth may be so distasteful that we cannot bring ourselves to allow it to pass over our tongues or, because the receiver will find it unpalatable to their senses or an insult to their intellect.

Now, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know but, it might not be the thing that leads you to making good decisions. Right around the time that my thoughts went from "Cowboys-to-Girls" and the young women's thoughts went from "Baby dolls-to-Boys", I started in a summer program at the local University called Upward Bound. The goal of the program was to prepare promising High School students for College and life beyond.

Foremost, "Critical Thinking Skills" were recognized and polished; we were instructed to question and not accept what was thrown at you; before answering or responding, in the back of my head I always ask, "What's in it for me", to believe or not believe something I was told or heard; what was in it for me to act a certain way or not act a certain way. What was in it for me versus, what was in it for the other guy, the community or the world. But, I have digressed fifty years.

Fast-forward to our recent "past", 18 months of specious, rhetorical fallacies, egregious Straw-man false equivalencies that culminated with an illegitimate-questionable Presidential election. That election has left the country more divided than united. Not since the Civil War of the 1860's has our country been so polarized. Almost one half of the voters who turned out believed that the other side was wrong, foolish - while, more than one half of the voters who turned out knew the other side was foolish; which side were you on?

When you find someone explaining their deeds and having to define them as being within the framework of whether it is or was "Legal" or "Illegal" a deeper question begs for an answer, "Was it moral"? Morality should always come before Legality.

In conclusion, I have explained why you don't get answers to tough questions and why those without a strong moral compass always try to fall back to the legality of their actions as an excuse. Their clown car continues to rolls toward the precipice dragging the rest of the nation with it.

BTW, A shout-out to the "Ol' School" group, The Intruders for "Cowboys to Girls", I hope the "No-school" crowd can appreciate it.



  

One Month Post Election

The World Has Not Come To An End!

Though thoroughly malaise, I have not suffered an "Apoplectic Fit."

Yet

  

The Double Standard; IOKIYAR !

November 26, 2016

Allen Clifton
Displayed with permission from Forward Progressives

When you really sit back and look at everything Donald Trump has said and done, if he were a Democrat, there's absolutely no way in hell Republicans would have said any of this was okay.

Conservatives threw a fit when President Obama saluted Marines with a cup of coffee in his hand. Imagine if he had mocked POWs or attacked Gold Star parents.

Well, there are two huge things Republicans would be losing their minds over right now had they happened after Hillary Clinton (or any Democrat, for that matter) had just won a presidential election.

1. For the second time in the last five elections - and for only the second time since 1888 - this nation is going to elect a Republican president who lost the popular vote: When this happened in 2000, it was a big deal, but Al Gore only won the popular vote by 0.5% or just around 500,000 votes. While that's still a decent amount of votes, and it was fairly controversial at the time, it wasn't an emphatic popular vote victory.

But that's not the case this election.

With estimates of around 3-7 million more votes left to count (most coming from California, New York and California), Clinton's overall lead in the popular vote is over 2 million votes and is expected to grow fairly substantially by the time all the votes are counted.

We're looking at a situation where a presidential candidate may win the popular vote by a margin close to what President Obama won it with in 2012 (4-5 million/4-5%) - but lose the election.

Donald Trump and many his supporters were already on the verge of calling for an all-out revolution if he didn't win this election. Now imagine what their reaction would have been if he lost the election, yet received around 4-5 million more overall votes than Clinton.

It wouldn't have just been Trump and his supporters - the entire Republican party would be losing their minds. They would have lost 2 of the last 5 presidential election even though their candidate had won the popular vote each of those times. Especially this year considering how much Clinton will win the popular vote by, yet isn't going to become our next president.

I think it's time we realize that the electoral college needs to go. When the candidates for 40% of your presidential elections over the last 16 years became president despite not receiving the most overall votes - that's a problem.

Let's not pretend like there's nothing wrong with a system that hands a "win" to a candidate who actually lost to his opponent by several million votes, when that's happened for 2 of our last 3 presidents.

2. He just settled a fraud lawsuit for $25 million where he was accused of conning people out of tens of thousands of dollars: Throughout most of his campaign, the "Trump U" fraud lawsuit was an issue that lingered around Donald Trump. As expected, he proclaimed his innocence the entire time and insisted he'd never settle the lawsuit. He also falsely said that he never settles lawsuits, when he has many times.

He can say he settled just to "focus on being president," but that's ridiculous. To settle for that much money is a clear indication that there was plenty of damning evidence he knew was going to be made public and he certainly didn't want to be found guilty of fraud after he had taken his Oath of Office.

For a moment, think about what Trump and the GOP would be saying if Clinton had been facing a lawsuit where she was accused of defrauding people out of tens of thousands of dollars, declared her innocence up until after she won the election… then settled a fraud lawsuit for $25 million.

They would be losing their damn minds.

These are two examples where, if reversed, Donald Trump and the Republican party would be having an absolute meltdown. They'd accuse Clinton of setting up deals behind closed doors that would only be made public after she won. Meanwhile, I'm almost certain we'd be seeing a very… very dangerous situation in this country if she was declared our next president, yet Trump was on his way to winning the popular vote by around 4-5 million votes.

Yet here we are, weeks away from swearing in a president who's going to receive a few million votes less than his opponent and just settled a lawsuit for $25 million where he was accused of defrauding people out of tens of thousands of dollars by setting up a fake school where he conned them into believing it was a legitimate university.

I'm really glad so many folks couldn't get over a woman who repeatedly admitted making a mistake in how she handled her emails over four years ago. It's much better that we're going to have a man with a history of exploiting people for his own benefit, who basically just admitted to setting up a fake university to steal money from people.

Along with all these other horrific things he's done.

Donald Trump's entire campaign was basically an elaborate version of "Trump U." Only this time, over 60 million people were conned into believing his bullshit.

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