My Thoughts

My comment on a suggestion a rail line be built from the College Park and Ride to downtown: I despise the trolley, but I would full out revolt if an initiative was made to make it easier for suburbanites to use our city and its resources then return to their precious enclaves.

Nike

I don't buy Nike, so no I won't boycott them. Yes, I think they're a POS company that relies on abusive labor practices overseas while virtue signalling here, and no liberal seems to care. No, I don't think they'll go out of business. Yes, Capernick is a spoiled brat and failed QB who was angry he was benched and came up with something to get his name on the news. Have I answered all your questions?

My Thoughts

This is my honest opinion,  not a regurgitated tweet or meme: if you argue for an open border so as not to raise food prices because "no American wants those jobs," STOP  You sound like a slave owner in the old South.  "Free the slaves and cotton prices will soar,  no white man wants that job." The addition of a few cents to your precious organic squash is no rationale to keep someone working a field for two dollars an hour.  What a horrific debating point.

My Thoughts

Let's make some enemies today,  shall we? If you or a loved one have a disability (even if you find that term inapplicable or objectionable) then you should advocate for and seek a cure by any means necessary. It doesn't mean the person doesn't have value as-is.  It doesn't mean they can't kick ass as-is.  But this trend of benignly accepting it as somehow intrinsic to their self not only denies them a complete (not necessarily full) life,  it negates their worth,  implying their value is tied to the disability and they would be less-than without it.  In effect,  it embraces the very same skewed values of "ableism" they purport to reject.

My Thoughts

I find it delicious that the same people who sit in moral judgment on the beliefs and opinions held by individuals decades, even HUNDREDS of years ago, are themselves merely echoing the prevailing wisdom of the day. So . . .  you absorb and repeat 90% of society's beliefs in the here and now, but somehow magically believe you'd be in the 5% who broke the mold while living in a cabin in 1734  Alabama? Yeah. That's a "no" my SJW, that's a "no."

So True

If you start a sentence with ALL, you’re probably about to say something stupid.

NATO

Aside from the check on Russian aggression, NATO must be understood in the light of the historical belief - held and expressed by consecutive Presidents - that only the presence of the US prevents Europe from slipping into inevitable warfare on the continent.

Indeed, the 73 years of peace post WWII is double the length of any prior peace. HW Bush was adamant a reunited Germany stay in the alliance just for that reason. 

But is that a true concern in the era of the EU? And if it still is, is it a good enough reason for our commitment? Would we inevitably be drawn into another European squabble if we left, or could we sit it out (if Russia kept to their own borders)? 

I don't know.

"A Complete 180"

The contemporary opinion of a Presidency is almost always fueled by emotion and partisanship, rather than facts. This result was inevitable.

Me Too

Hollywood is the wrong impetus for the #metoo movement. Too many women were complicit in the abuse (Streep, and all who supported Polanski and Allen.) And the women who didn't say no, willingly used the casting couch, and now cry foul? They aren't victims, and I think they denigrate the truly oppressed with their BS playacting.

Also - In case you haven't caught on, Scientology is shamelessly using the #metoo movement to discredit a producer who left the church. They are sponsoring ads here on FB (w/out mentioning the "church") and pointing to anonymous accusations against him. Beware!

My Thoughts on 3 Famous Books

Three grossly overrated books of the 20th century: Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, Brave New World. Gatsby had some panache, but it still makes the list. BNW is remembered for its message but it's written like a bad high school assignment. Rye just sucks, like that phoney Holden.

If Words matter, then the should matter

You're not a terrorist unless your violence is committed to further a political aim. Quit trying to shift the definition for your own agenda. Post all the memes you want, until/unless it's shown the Vegas killer had a political goal, he's not a terrorist. He's just a murdering a$$hole.

An Opinion

When the attribution for your weird ass ideas start with "I once read a post . . ." then you are part of the problem.

As It Should Be

I can't think of a single celebrity,  Right or Left,  whose political opinion matters to me.  Not a one.

My Thoughts

I realize that I sound like a conspiracy nut when I rant about the media being "the enemy." It isn't that I think there's a monolithic entity guiding the media along a master plan to do X or promote Y. I think this Facebook comment I wrote does a good job of explaining the seed of my doubt

I came close to minoring in journalism, and spent three semesters in the program.  All the professors were very liberal,  but with the exception of one they were very honest and fair.  They took great care,  way back in '92, to point out what they saw as a decline in journalism standards and a slant to the left. 

In one exercise,  a comparison of news broadcasts from the same day,  that of a big event.  Each ran with different stories about the same event,  each obviously based on what exclusives they could muster.  One even ignored the event,  burying it in the broadcast, despite its importance to the community. 

Another exercise had us watch TV detective shows. Time and again, the bad guy was a businessman.  (this is the era before Law and Order made "ordinary" crime entertainment). The prof called on a producer/writer to explain why. The answer?  There wasn't enough conflict if the villain was a common thug,  and isn't corporate America evil anyway? Why not show that? 

Almost all in profs blamed  Watergate. They said it lead to an influx of liberals into the profession,  based on the glory of Woodward and Bernstein,  and that as a whole they were more agenda driven and far more liberal than what they'd seen before. 

Liberal as they were,  the professors warned that this lead to a decline in objectivity and an isolation of opposing pov's. 

Learn Something. Please.

F me people. I realize most folks don't study history as deeply as I have and do, but try and pretend you made it to class once or twice. Half my feed this morning is nonsensical gibberish. Native Americans originally migrated from South America; a WWII isolationist/pacifist group were skinheads; Lincoln was black; the Civil War South was supported by willing blacks; no President has ever called illegal immigration a problem before Trump. Really? Try real hard today to convince me this country isn't doomed by our own stupidity, cuz you've been working hard to convince me the other way.

I 100% Agree

For once we agree. All speech is protected, or none of it is safe. Arguing otherwise is both egotistical (thinking you and you alone are smart enough to draw the line) and an infringement of the rights we supposedly hold dear.

My Thoughts

I'm really sick of hearing that history measures a civilization by how it treats the old and the infirm. It's quaint and noble and I wish it were the standard, but it is hogwash. Nothing could be further from the truth. No one cares that Egypt built the pyramids with the lives of untold numbers of slaves; it's a tourist destination. No one cares that Rome was brutal to its enemies and literally left its own unwanted babies at the dump; we marvel at their engineering and use Latin in the sciences. No one cares that the British Empire kept its poor in rags; we dress up a child like Tiny Tim each Christmas for entertainment. History remembers who you conquered, what you built, and the arts and science you left behind. Right or wrong, all else is forgiven after time has passed There isn't room in a 25th century textbook to talk about Denmark's health care system or the 

I wrote the following based on a strong rebuttal that used Biblical history and literature on poverty and suffering

to counter my points, along with his own beleifs

Exodus isn't history, and the Old Testament doesn't put a value judgment on Egypt's slavery, merely their choice of slaves. After all, the Hebrews had slaves of their own, condoned by the word of their Pentateuch. Nor do the Gospels condemn the Romans for Jesus's death, putting it forth as a betrayal of Gods son by Gods people, through an intermediary. Good thing too, as it would have been awkward when Rome became the expanding force of the religion and the home of the Church. The Bard and Shelley may have done the proper artistic weeping, but like their modern counterparts it didn't stop them from accepting royal commissions and titles.

Let me amend my statement to read "The grand scope of history and the population viewing them in toto do not care. . ." I thought it obvious that not (literally) everyone on Earth feels identically (about anything). But I guess it was too far a leap. 

The Media

Everything you read, everything you hear, everything you watch is produced and filtered by people seeking to promote their agenda, or the agenda of their masters (or both ) - and yes, it influences you. It cannot fail to do so. Call it out when you notice their hand, and always ALWAYS think for yourself. Quit being their docile puppet. The media is NOT your friend.

My Thoughts - PBS

I watch plenty of PBS.  Despite my station in life I financially contribute to PBS.  But I object strongly to $445 million of taxpayer money going to NPR and PBS.  The government should not be in the business of running a media outlet aimed at their own citizens, especially one with a clear ideological slant. If you don't see the problem there,  you are blinded by your own politics.

Empathy

Empathy is overrated. If I survived it, you can too. You'll pardon me if I don't think it's the end of the world.