Some people may have noticed that the quality of our posts has dropped the last week. It’s not that we aren’t posting good, informative things. but rather we aren’t writing as much and researching as much. There’s a reason for that: we tired.
With 3 more months left until the general election, we are already tired of it all. We are tired of people bickering. We are tired of campaigns stealing or repositioning signs. We are tired of candidates who are like ventriloquist dummies with someone else’s hand up their back moving their lips. We are tired of candidates being “nice” on substantive issues and griping about things that the populace doesn’t care about. We are tired of people looking back decades to see if someone made a statement that can be used against them, even though they have said the statement was wrong when the said it. It’s almost as if people are penalized for thinking, for changing, for evolving. We’re tired of governments rigging boards. We’re tired of the people being blamed when elected officials and public employees can’t act in an ethical and legal manner.
Just plain ol’ tired.
We’ll be back to our normal obnoxious selves in a few days, but for now, we are plugging our batteries into the Florida sun, surf, and our families. (After all, school starts today and we need a break from summer break.)
Here’s an interesting point of view from Prager University followed by a quote from Walter Williams that should make us all pause and think.
The rich are getting richer, and the poor are… also getting richer. What’s driving this wealth creation process? In this video, Daniel Hannan explains why it is capitalism — and capitalism alone — that has led to the unprecedented enrichment that is the central fact of Western life.
Those nice people over at Facebook just want to help you.
You see, not only do they want to help you by further integrating the ads you see based on your purchasing habits, they want your banking and credit card information.
Facebook has requested customer financial information from a number of U.S. banks without obtaining permission from users, according to a recent report. Included in the requests are credit card transactions and checking account balances for the customers.
Facebook has spoken with JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup Inc. and U.S. Bancorp. Their requests are ostensibly to “help” their users by showing their checking account balances on their Facebook feed, making it easier to sell products and services.
As brazen as this request is, it’s not out of line with Facebook’s insatiable thirst for more and more information about everything and everybody. The information they are asking for is thought to go beyond just that of their members and includes non-members as well, much like their current policy of gathering information from non-members by tracking their visits to cooperating websites.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a person familiar with the discussions said that “Facebook has told banks that the additional customer information could be used to offer services that might entice users to spend more time on Messenger.” (more…)
One of our favorite people to look for on YouTube is the “Crazy Russian Hacker.” (No, he has nothing to do with the hacking (technically the phishing) of the DNC and the GOP.) He’s a guy that tests gadgets for what some people call “life hacks.”
The guy tests everything that is strange and weird out there. Want a different way of dealing with hot dogs? Boom. He’s on it. Want a gadget for helping with corn on the cob? Boom. Hes on that too. Or how about tests on odd kitchen gadgets. Boom.
(As you watch, you’ll understand that “boom” reference.)
The guy has three dogs – two older dogs and a new puppy. They are of two breeds that shed a great deal because the dogs are breed for the winter and actually have two coats of fur. As you can imagine, in the heat of summer, they shed. A lot.
So the Crazy Russian Hacker went out and bought a expensive groomer’s tool for about $500 to test on his dogs. This isn’t a video about the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of the tool, but rather how much fur the tool blows off the dogs!
(We’ve set the video when the fur starts flying.)
We knew Huskies shed a lot, but we never suspected this. It’s like a snowstorm in August.
Allie Stuckey visits Prger U. and comes away with a video called “Make Men Masculine Again.”
Rape, murder, war – all have one thing in common: Men. The solution seems simple: make men less toxic – make men less masculine. In this video, Allie Stuckey, Host of “Allie” on CRTV & “Relatable” podcast, explains why demonizing masculinity is not the solution, but the problem.
While Stuckey makes some valid points, in addition there is in today’s society of sense of entitlement and a sense of “me first” from both men and women.
It’s not easy being a father, and yet men run away from that responsibility far too often.
We’ve seen mothers who are more interested in cell phones than parenting.
Couples think that being married is a 24 / 7 date when it is in fact a 25 hours a day , eight days a week “job” and commitment that takes hard work and love.
We agree with Stuckey that making men less masculine won’t make for a better society. At the same time increasing being an adult and all that entails from both sexes will help make society better.
This has been going around for awhile, but this is the first time we have seen a “person on the street interview” into San Francisco’s plan to allow illegal immigrants to vote.
San Francisco wants illegal immigrants to be able to vote. What is the point of a country if citizenship means nothing?
To be fair, the illegal immigrants would only be allowed to vote in local (not state or federal elections.)
Still, there is something off putting about breaking the law and then getting a benefit from it.
Florida Today contributors Isadora S Rangel and Bill Mick both have opinion pieces in the newspaper attacking John Tobia for his actions concerning Curt Smith during Brevard County commission meetings.
It’s a good thing that both are opinion pieces because they lack facts and certainly lack any depth of understanding.
When the Brevard County Commission can’t have a unanimous vote without controversy being stirred, there is a problem. I believe I have identified that problem.
The problem’s name is John Tobia and the biggest part of the problem is he can’t stop himself from campaigning against Curt Smith from the dais.
No, they don’t run against each other, but Tobia has had it out for Smith since Tobia entered the commission with both figurative middle fingers extended to the room in the attitude he has exhibited since the start.
You see, the unanimous vote was for Tourism Development Council funding for lagoon projects. Unanimous means they all voted yes, right? Then why did Tobia have to talk about Curt “flip-flopping” his position? I suppose because it’s out of character for him to recognize the win in a gracious manner.
Brevard deserves better.
Mick has a time line problem. The question about whether Smith had flip flopped on the issue was made by Tobia during the discussion of the issue – not after the vote. Frankly, it’s a valid question. Smith had been against the measure last November and has flip flopped in an election year.
The Institute for Justice scored a big victory in a Federal Court in Albuquerque, New Mexico ruled that civil forfeiture is unConstitutional.
While the ruling is not binding in all states, it does set up a precedent that others can argue in other jurisdictions.
Federal Judge James O. Browning found Albuquerque’s civil forfeiture program unconstitutional because the city’s ordinance violates the basic rule that citizens are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Albuquerque places the burden on property owners to prove their own innocence. Independent of that, he also struck down the law because
funds raised by the program are used to fund the program’s budget, which gives law enforcement officials an incentive to police for profit, rather than justice. He wrote, “the City of Albuquerque has an unconstitutional institutional incentive to prosecute forfeiture cases, because, in practice, the forfeiture program sets its own budget and can spend, without meaningful oversight, all of the excess funds it raises from previous years.”
“Civil forfeiture” is when private property is seized by police and the government. While we have no issues with the government seizing profits and property from illegal enterprises, too many times the property is seized prior to any verdict of guilt against the property owner. That was the case when the City of Albuquerque seized the car of Arlene Harjo’s car when her son was arrested for driving under the influence. (more…)
