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Well, I Never!

This election is tearing our country apart.

I’ve spoken with a few acquaintances who shockingly said, “Anyone who voted for Trump in my enemy.”

That sentiment is astounding to me. Frankly, I have zero desire to have people like that in my life. Regardless of who I voted for or not. That kind of vitriol has no place in my life or my country.

People voted for who they voted for due to a variety of reasons. Some just plain hate Trump, others saw Biden as a return to “normal”. I think a lot of people who voted for either candidate were actually voting from an emotional level against the other guy.

A vote for Trump may simply have been a vote against Biden, or more properly Harris. Similarly a vote for Biden may have been a completely emotional choice based on 4 years of Trump bashing and Trump’s bombastic nature.

Either way, for me someone determining the the status of their relationships based on political party or who they voted for is completely insane.

While Biden is a known commodity. He’s also probably not going to serve out his term. As Trump and conservative media pointed out, Biden has been in office 47 years, 8 of them as Vice President, and now suddenly he’s got a plan? He’s a career politician but has done little of note.

I’ve personally not been impressed with Biden as a politician over the past decade. Harris is mostly unknown. She couldn’t carry her home state of California in the Primaries and it wasn’t about the fact that she is a woman or that she’s a person of color, it was about her character, she didn’t resonate with the voters.

After the Primaries she had some pretty harsh things to say about Biden and then she turns around and accepts a VP slot from him? There were many rumors about her climb to power and then in full view of the American people she did exactly what the rumors claimed. She compromised her expressed beliefs and metaphorically climbed into bed with someone she excoriated on multiple issues only months before.

I was very disturbed about the Hunter Biden laptop as well. The main stream media was sweeping it under the rug prior to the election. The conservative media was rightfully asking questions about the veracity of the photos and emails. Some of the photos I ran across were shocking. A video I saw, less so, but I’m convinced it is actually Hunter in both. Now the mainstream is reporting on Hunter’s laptop. For me, what they’re reporting is “old news”

I’m certain, if one of Trumps boys had a laptop turn up we’d see 24/7 news coverage and demands for his resignation.

For me, this begs multiple questions.

Why / how is the media so biased? Isn’t the media supposed to be simply reporting, and to the extent possible, verifying the events?

How does this double standard stand in America? We are supposed to be a country of equal opportunity which means, good or bad, no-one gets a PASS.

In the face of a spectacular amount of evidence, how did Hunter avoid prosecution to date?

Loosely associated with the Hunter question is what appears to be fraudulent voting. In 2016 voter fraud was the democratic party’s explanation of Trumps win and Hillary’s loss. In 2020 there are multiple reports of more ballots being counted in states than were sent out. There’ve been affidavits filed legally in courts across the country detailing sworn eyewitness testimony to voting irregularities. But we’re being told that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

Throughout 2020 we’ve seen protests that turned violent. The media has painted the violence as the responsibility of white supremacists and extremists. The media has also told us that rioting and looting wasn’t widespread. We’ve had politicians telling us that ANTIFA is an idea nothing more.

Yet we have ANTIFA crowing about their conquests. Then directing their followers via social media to disrupt scheduled peaceful rallies supporting issues, which ANTIFA condemns. We have police officers standing by watching looting, arson, and violence, yet doing nothing.

For me collectively, this suggests that the law no longer applies.

So when someone says, “Anyone who didn’t vote for Biden is my enemy,” I wonder what that really means.

What happens if that sentiment is extended? Anyone not wearing a mask is my enemy, anyone not taking the vaccine is my enemy, anyone not carrying a BLM sign is my enemy, anyone who is not gay or transgendered is my enemy, anyone who is black, brown, yellow, white, is my enemy.

The problem with drawing those kinds of lines, is that if you mean it, there’s no end to it.

If “Selective Law Enforcement” gets added to the mix, then logically you could murder someone an claim they were “the other” and get away with it.

Kinda like NAZI Germany.

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Wow! Jesse just had a temper tantrum…

The likes of which I haven’t seen since my sister’s wedding day.

He is much younger than the shelter said he was. Etta, my Australian Cattle Dog on her worst day didn’t hold a candle to what I just saw.

Etta ruled this house with an iron paw and had just gotten past her teenage fits of temper when I lost her to the fire in 2008. No, she didn’t burn, she died of smoke inhalation when she ran into an area of the house that we couldn’t get to.

I loved her dearly and am convinced that she, and the rest of the pack picked Jesse for me. I needed Jesse and I think he needs me.

Right at the moment he’s lying at the far end of the house playing the, “If I cant see you, and you can’t see me, you can’t be mad at me.” game. He doesn’t know me very well, does he?

I’m miffed at him, but not as mad as he thinks I am.

We were on a walk and he was being very unruly. Turns out he had seen a St Bernard and wanted to go play. The St. Bernard is name Sven and is very sweet and patient. They’ve met before and Jesse knows him.

The difference this time is that Jesse wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Thank goodness for the training collar. Sven’s owner is a nice guy, and knows that Jesse can’t hurt Sven so he’s amicable to the two of them playing. Jesse got really spun up just waiting for Sven. By the time they caught up with us Jesse was completely out of his mind.

He was jumping, howling, whining, barking, spinning, and not listening to any command. The moment that Sven was nearby Jesse started play attacking, then attempting to hump Sven.

To his credit Sven put Jesse in his place very nicely multiple times but Jesse wasn’t getting it. Sven’s owner, Ron let Sven off the leash and Sven trotted off returning at Ron’s command and obeying other commands as well.

Jesse was howling and whining louder and when he realized we were heading home. Then he pulled the ultimate dog temper move (Short of taking someone’s arm off.) he just laid down and refused to get up.

I let him lay there. I just waited for him to loose his fixation, counting instead on his complete inability to stay still for long. It was a test of will. He kept looking at me then looking away. I was still as a statue and silent. I was just looking through him as though he wasn’t there. He tried to stare me down and failed. Eventually he couldn’t stand it anymore and got up. He walked slowly toward me eyes down. Then we returned home. I didn’t speak to him, I didn’t give him his usual treat, I completely ignored him and am still doing so.

I’ve checked on him a couple of times he’s looking out the sliding door. Occasionally he’s dozing. I haven’t decided when I’m going to let him off the hook. (Probably not more than an hour.)

The wind is out of his sails, but he needs to know there is forgiveness eventually.

Right now, he’s in the dog house.

He’s been a VERY BAD DOG!

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Sometimes I ask Questions I’m not supposed to…

ADT security and I parted ways yesterday. Another divorce and another reduction in mothly expenses. They’ve been replaced by a Simplisafe system and thus far I’m far more impressed with the Simplisafe than I ever was with ADT.

The sensors are smaller, the control pad is smaller, the installation or removal of sensors is a snap, and doesn’t require arcane incantations like the ADT did. The price for monitoring is about 1/2 what ADT was charging.

There’s the rub.

When I called ADT to tell them, “You’re outta here,” suddenly they were interested in me. In the 10 years we’ve been ADT’s customer, we’ve had 4 service calls. 1 Installation, and 3 repair calls. The bill has been paid on time, and for many years they took the cash directly from the account and all was well.

Then I noticed the price going up. I didn’t think much of it. I figured inflation, and cost of doing business. Then the monthly price went up sharply and around the same time due to various human errors on our part we had a couple of false alarms. Both of which we canceled with the appropriate codes and countersigns. But the police still showed up 3 -4 hours later, after we’d been assured by ADT dispatch that they’d cancel the police call.

The police told us that ADT almost never contacted them to cancel a call and that they (the police) hated ADT for that and other reasons.

While speaking to the ADT Customer Service person I mentioned the rise in fees and falsehoods that ADT dispatch had engaged in. I also mentioned that the system was exactly as it was when it had been installed and that didn’t make sense to me.

You’d have thought that when the last technician was out here to replace the cellular communication module he’d have mentioned that there were newer improved systems that we could upgrade to. Those systems being more capable, efficient and lower cost to maintain and work with.

Suddenly, the Customer Service person said we could reduce your monthly fee to about 1/2 of what they’d been charging me. I told the person, “thank you.” but it’s too late. Then she got a bit miffed.

Whatever! Within an hour of that phone call I’d disabled the system, and removed all the sensors. Now, I’m patching the holes in the wall from the 10 x 8 control pad.

While I was scraping off all the leftover glue from the entry sensors, it occurred to me that if ADT could offer me 1/2 price reduction, that the price they were charging could always have been at the lower rate.

Then I remembered that Cox Cable had played the same game. They raised the rate per month gradually until I called them and told ’em I wanted to cancel service. Suddenly the price could be magically reduced by a substantial amount.

This indicates that these companies at least are charging much more for their services than they are actually worth.

Which leads me to the question:

Why not charge a fair price for your service in the first place?

I know that it’s a money making process to increase the rates yearly, regardless of actual need. I wonder if corporations would find it more profitable in the long run to just be honest.

If they’re going to raise rates, explain to their customers that costs have increased by X and that rates will be increased by Y to facilitate continued good service and provide for expansion to increase service levels. Most customers, myself included would understand that.

But customers like me tend to get very annoyed when we reach our breaking point, and during our cancellation call, suddenly find that, for who knows how many years, we’ve been ripped off.

The ADT Divorce is final. I save 1/2 on the monthly security bill with Simplisafe and have a smarter more adaptable system too.

I’m just working on simplifying my world and reducing the costs too. If you’ve had services in place for a long time. Maybe it’s time to call ’em up and see if they’re ripping you off.

I’ll grant you, you shouldn’t have to do it, but rattle their cages and see if discounts fall out.

Have a great day.