Month: June 2021

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I saw this and my Brain “BlueScreened”

The article located here, and elsewhere on the net, is astounding. I’m not going to bother linking the other articles because they’re all pretty much the same except for their biases. (Some media outlets are implying that it’s okay, others are calling it what it is.)

Image from OutSpoken (www.getoutspoken.com) Thank you OutSpoken.

The short version is this;

The Seattle pride festival has now been split into “Pride” where everyone can attend and “Pride for people of color” where white people and their accomplices must pay $10 – $50 to attend. Essentially the POC folks are charging a “Poll Tax” to white folks. How much you pay is apparently some arbitrary bullshit sliding scale that is undefined. Meaning that even mixed couples, if they want to attend together will be charged.

So while LGBTQ Inc. says, “We’re fighting for inclusion,” they’re actually fighting for segregation.

They’re fighting racism… With Racism!

This was the first time this morning my brain “Blue Screened” and rebooted.

Picture this; A mixed couple is on a budget. They get into a fight about the cost (which they can’t plan for because it’s actually unknown.) The non-white member of the couple feels like their white significant other doesn’t value them. The white member of the couple feels like they’ll always be making up for a crime they didn’t commit.

Unless there’s a lot of love and understanding they break up, now you have two people who will think twice about ever dating or loving someone who doesn’t look just like them.

This folks, is how racism is born. It’s not always about hatred.

Sometimes racism is just about coming to the conclusion that it’s easier and more comfortable to not try to bridge the cultural gap. The wider the gap, the less likely someone is to spend the energy, much less weather the vitriol.

Straight relationships are hard to begin with. Mixed straight relationships are harder. Gay relationships are harder still and mixed gay relationships are even harder.

(Note: I use the term “Gay” in its antiquated all inclusive term meaning all homosexuals. I don’t have the time or inclination to create a truth table delineating all the permutations and combinations possible. If you’re offended… Well, Kiss my ass!)

What made this article bubble to the top of my awareness was this line.

“White allies and accomplices are welcome to attend but will be charged a $10 to $50 reparations fee that will be used to keep this event free of cost for BLACK AND BROWN Trans and Queer COMMUNITY,”

Accomplices? The reparations thing is complete and utter parasitic bullshit. I discarded it from my processing. Accomplices though caught my attention. Accomplices in what exactly? That word is commonly used in the description of criminal behavior. To what crime exactly are these jackasses referring?

I sure as hell don’t know. Especially since the gay community that I remember fondly was welcoming of everyone.

At the time, the gay movement couldn’t afford to be divisive or exclusionary because there were so few places where gay folks could be gay with other gay people, without repercussions.

Fire Island, Palm Springs, San Francisco, Laguna Beach, Atlanta, Key West. Those were pretty much it. To be sure there were bars in almost every city, sometimes only one, but if you wanted to be completely and unabashedly gay 24/7 these were the options.

Back then gay wasn’t cool. It was a fact, and it came with risk.

Now with general acceptance, has come a lot more gay-ish people. I’ve always thought sexuality was more of a continuum rather than binary. That theory appears to be mostly true.

Back in the day, a gay guy offering a “Straight” guy a blowjob had odds better than 50/50 of getting to suck dick. That was always true. These days, with greater acceptance the odds are probably better, though I haven’t tested the theory.

Apparently, since more people are embracing being gay-ish they’re bringing with them all the other divisive political baggage, which is simultaneously fracturing… No, destroying, what was once a fun, safe, coherent, vibrant, community.

Ironically, in my opinion, while celebrating “Pride” LGBTQxyz Inc. has trashed the pride the community once had in itself.

This Seattle event just underscores how low things have gone.

Blatant racism being allowed in the gay community? Who could ever have seen that coming?

Second time this morning my brain “Blue Screened” and rebooted.

“Pride” month has become more an embarrassment, or humiliation, than the celebration of freedom and joy that it once was.

People are fickle, at some point when the community is in complete disarray, unable to fend for itself, bias and prejudice will return.

I’d point you to Berlin pre-Hitler.

Berlin had vibrant Gay presence. Art, Entertainment, Fashion, you name it. Even members of the early Nazi party, and Hitler’s inner circle, were Gay.

That all changed… Suddenly and without warning.

Believe me, it can happen again just as quickly.

Gay folks, better clean the closets. Cause I suspect even the Gay-ish are going to be heading back in, real soon.

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Could Someone please explain this?

You have to have ID to open a bank account. You have to have ID to buy cigarettes, beer or alcohol. You have to have ID to enter a bar or strip club. You have to have ID to purchase your prescriptions. You have to have ID to get on a plane, ship, or train for travel. You have to have ID when you see a doctor. You have to have ID when you go to an emergency room or hospital. You have to have ID to get a permanent job. You have to have ID to get an apartment. You have to have ID to set up utilities or get a mobile phone account, (unless it a burner, in some states even a burner phone requires ID at time of purchase.) You have to have a ID to purchase a gun, (In California even to purchase ammunition.) You have to have an ID to attend college. You have to have an ID to pick up your children from school (if they’re sick or have a Doctors appointment.)

Lest we forget, the country has enacted the “Real ID” act.

It should be fully in force by May 3, 2023. If you’re unfamiliar with this, you can look it up here. The minimum requirements for a Real ID are:

1) Full Legal Name; 2) Date of Birth; 3) Social Security Number; 4) Two Proofs of Address of Principal Residence; and 5) Lawful Status.

From the Real ID FAQ Section of the DHS website

I find it interesting that the authorities want to see a utility bill or something aside from just presenting my Old Driver’s license and for example, my passport. Both of which I’ve had for the past 40 years, and the address hasn’t changed in the past 30 years.

I’m honestly confused that I can’t simply show up to the DMV with my passport, have my fingerprints scanned & compared to those that were submitted 40 years ago as part of my passport application. If the fingerprints match it should be a no brainer. In fact when I got my driver’s license I was fingerprinted too. It seems that comparing all three would be proof enough that I’m really me.

According to Bernie Sanders, Stacy Abrams, and others, requiring an ID to Vote, is voter suppression? A threat to Democracy? Inherently racist? Jim Crowe???

With the implementation of Real ID nationwide and the minimum requirements of Real ID, haven’t we already laid the groundwork for requesting Voter ID? Isn’t Voter ID reasonable given the Real ID requirements?

By Sanders, Abrams, & others, logic it follows that no ID, or for that matter vaccination card, should be required at all, ever. It also begs the question; Is Real ID is pointless, as it sets the bar too high for an apparently large number of individuals in our nation?

It seems to me that, if Sanders, Abrams, et al. are so concerned about voter suppression, they’d simply make Federal funding available so that ID (Real ID or otherwise) was free to all citizens in all states.

How about simply issuing free passports to all Citizens? I’d certainly appreciate not having to pay $140 for a passport book + card. I’d also appreciate not having to pay $25 for a driver’s license.

If each citizen was issued a Passport and Passport card, then each citizen could simply use their passport card to vote. The cards have chips built in, they could be verified at the polls, much like a credit or debit card is today for transactions. And isn’t voting at its core really a transaction?

Upon verification the holder gets a printed ballot or accesses an ATM like machine that displays a ballot appropriate for their address of record. Once their vote is cast, the date and polling station id get recorded recorded on the chip and their ID cannot be used to vote again in that particular election.

That solves a bunch of problems, although it would mean that the verification and voting machines would have to be verifiably secure. The technology obviously exists otherwise no-one would have any faith in ATM banking or point of sale systems.

Imagine the chaos if everyone in a city asked to get $20 from an ATM and got their $20 bill but their account actually had $200 deducted. That just doesn’t happen, if it did, faith in banking would evaporate and everyone would demand to be paid in cash.

Such a system would ensure one vote per person. It would also negate the need for mail in ballots almost entirely. Any citizen could, on voting day, go to any polling place in their state, or for national elections, anywhere in the country and cast their vote.

In theory, a person traveling out of state could go to the county seat or registrar of voters office where-ever they were, and vote in their local elections for their home state. I’d imagine that particular functionality could be something that would come much later, since it would require some infrastructure connecting state registrars which is not available at this time.

But… you say, that all requires infrastructure we don’t have. People would still have to go to a polling place, having to show up is too hard for some people.

We actually do have most of the infrastructure already in place, which could be tasked for the purpose, and make voting accessible almost everywhere in a state.

Most banks have multiple ATMs at their branches. Those ATMs have chip readers, cameras, and touch screen displays. Surely in the interest of patriotism, banks could be prevailed upon to allow one ATM per branch, on one day a year to be programmed for voting by a duly authorized officer from the registrar of voters.

Instead of inserting your ATM card, you plug in your passport card. The ATM could even print a hard copy receipt showing your voting receipt number and perhaps your choices for various offices. I understand that after the last election people might be reluctant to use electronic means of voting. I personally have avoided electronic voting machines in my locality because they didn’t produce a printed receipt nor a copy of my voting selections. That being said, if I had both, I’d go electronic.

If you think about it, such a system could conceivably negate the question of voting fraud.

The major problem is that what I’m describing is tantamount to a National Citizen ID. Many members of congress have historically been opposed to the idea. Much as those same members of congress are opposed to voter ID laws today.

So you can see my confusion.

We have the Real ID act . But some voters apparently can’t navigate the difficulties of getting ID. (How will these people carry on day to day life? Isn’t that also exclusionary, perhaps even racist?)

Which form of ID has a higher priority? A passport or a Real ID? I’d guess a passport, given the information I had to provide when I got the passport in the first place.

We’re concerned about election integrity, But we’re allowing essentially unverifiable mail-in ballots to be counted.

Somehow asking for ID at the polls is exclusionary and racist. But to exist in 21st Century America requires ID for even the most basic things.

It’s clear that I’m missing something.

For the life of me, I can’t figure out why there’s such wailing and gnashing of teeth over simply asking for ID to Vote. As an aside, Real ID was written and passed after the 9/11 commission report, so it’s something that for once, Congress agreed was important.

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Not Sure if this is better… or worse.

I’ve been noticing over the last few months more and more “Cookie Notifications”.

Hell, even I post a cookie notification on this site.

I don’t collect or indeed look at the metrics provided by these cookies but the blog application collects them. I don’t monetize the readership of this blog, I’ve thought about it, but decided against it .

While I could use the money, ultimately it’s more important to be able to speak my mind without worrying about someone having leverage to force me to take down or apologize for a post.

I posted the cookie notification because you, the reader, have the right to know that information is being collected about you.

That being said, I’ve noticed while reviewing the various cookie policies of sites that I visit, a shocking amount of information is being collected.

The most egregious site thus far, is a site of an adult nature that I’ve enjoyed for many years. This adult site posted their cookie policy sometime in the past few weeks, (Hey, I enjoy the site, but don’t live on it.)

Reviewing their policy presented me with over 100 “Affiliate” companies all of whom set tracking cookies, share information about my interests, have access to my location as listed on site, and pretty much anything and everything I’ve provided about me. Given the nature of the site, the immense sharing of information is troubling.

On the one hand, they’ve probably always been sharing this information, such is the nature of monetization. On the other hand knowing what they’re sharing, and the breathtaking length of companies they’re sharing information with, gives me considerable pause.

Any reasonable adult knows (or should know) that sites of an “Adult” nature are risky by nature, these sites are “The Wild West” and often beyond the reach, or notice of law enforcement. These sites come & go without warning. If you’re a “Free” user they’re going to sell some of your information. After all, they’re in it to make money.

As a reasonable adult, we each must make a value choice. Do we really want to see what’s on the site versus how much we’re willing to “pay” to see it.

That thought leads me to question if these sites will make the next logical move. A move where paid membership affords you privacy from tracking and monetization. If the site is making money from memberships do they need to also share the member’s data?

I’d actually pay a membership fee, if I knew that I’d be excluded from having my peculiarities broadcast to hundreds of unknown advertising agencies attempting to target me with their wares.

Essentially, if you’re using a paid VPN service that’s what you’re doing when you’re surfing the web but not logged into Bing, Google, Yahoo, or whatever. Most of the people I know, use a “Burner” email address for questionable sites.

I wonder about all the information that’s already out there on us all as individuals. The genie is pretty much out of the bottle. Will I forever be followed by an ad showing ‘Fat bottomed Blow Up Slut doll’ because once in 2000 while operating my computer intoxicated, I thought it was interesting to click on that particular genre of ad?

This line of thought has also led me to wonder about my overall membership, free or otherwise on the small number of sites that I frequent.

Much as I’ve enjoyed the site I visited last night, do I really need to visit it, or any sites? I really appreciate their upfront attitude and transparency. For me that is a definite check in the “Plus” column. But as someone who tries to keep a low internet profile, (this blog not withstanding,) how much do I want to share?

Brietbart is an interesting case study in persistence. Almost every time I go to their site I’m being asked to accept tracking and cookies. Every single time I tell them they’re not allowed to sell my information and confirm that choice. But they keep asking, I suspect they’re hoping that one day I’ll just cave in and say “Accept All”. That is somewhat ironic because they’re always ‘banging on’ about freedom and privacy. Them constantly asking the way they do is also degrading the user experience and I find myself less inclined to visit their site at all.

Generally, the same is true, for me, of all websites. I’ve noticed that when I’m confronted with yet another “Cookie / Privacy notice” I’m more prone to not click beyond the notice, instead I’ll close the page.

Maybe that’s a good thing.

If people get tired of answering questions about cookies and tracking, perhaps they’ll stop relying on the internet for all their information… I doubt it.

I can say that since I’ve put the cookie notice up on this site, the traffic through the site has decreased. That data is gleaned not from cookies, but from a count of incoming ip addresses the site maintains over a 24 hour period.

From my perspective, the usability of the internet is degraded. It’s like getting gas at some gas stations or making a purchase with my debit card. I don’t think it’s reasonable to be asked if I want a car wash, to donate to this or that cause, do I want a receipt, or be shouted at with advertisements from a blaring screen, or whatever… I just want to get on with my day.

The internet is becoming another case of answer 50 questions get the simplest things done.

In that regard… I’m leaning more to closing accounts I don’t absolutely need and moving back to good old fashioned printed books and reference manuals.

I’ve been using cash for purchases a lot more lately. It’s really nice, transactions the way they’re supposed to be.

Some would say that’s a sign of paranoia.

For me, it’s about not wanting to be bothered.

When I was much younger, I worked at Radio Shack. We didn’t use a cash register, we wrote out orders on a receipt book and had only a cash drawer. We were supposed to ask each and every customer for their name and mailing address. Many customers, young and old refused to provide this information. It’s amazing to me how much has changed and in such a short time.