Month: November 2021

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Triggered, First thing in the morning! Yeah!

After years of working in corporate America, there are a few things that really trigger me.

One of those things is Emails with the words, “Mandatory”, “Comply”, “You Must”, “Required”, and my favorite is “Compliance is Mandatory”.

You see, these words or phrases never herald good news for any employee.

The term; “Mandatory Overtime” Only occurs in corporate email in the Summer when you’re planning a vacation, or in Fall/Winter before Thanksgiving or Christmas. That’s been my experience, your milage will vary.

Much like COVID’s 10 days to slow the spread there’s always a time component. Corporations always start with 30 days but all the employees know that’s complete bullshit. Whatever failures in planning that led to “Mandatory Overtime” in the first place are cumulative failures that cannot be resolved in 30 days and are much more likely to require 90 to 120 days.

But the HR department and management in general, lie in hopes of not having a bunch of people simply walk off the job.

Invariably Paid Time Off will be impacted and your employer will be looking for some kind of proof that you have a trip planned or are going in for surgery. The last company I worked for even added penalties if you were sick during Mandatory Overtime. They also had one guy drop dead at his desk because he was so terrified of losing his job, he neglected to seek medical assistance for a heart attack. Instead, he drove to work and died at his desk. Did the company relent? Hell NO! There were also miscellaneous people who went out on stress leave never to return.

If you’re a salaried employee, mandatory overtime actually reduces your hourly wage because you get no bonus or incentive to put in those hours. Usually, salaried employees don’t have enough “time in position” to benefit from stock options either. So even if the company succeeds due to salaried employees accepting their reduction in pay, there isn’t any long term benefit to them. But the executives see huge bonuses, and get plenty of accolades, even though they weren’t included in the “Mandatory Overtime” edict.

Having been in exactly the position above more times than I can count. The word “mandatory” has become a triggering word to me.

Over the years, “Comply”, “Compliance”, and “Must” have also become triggers for similar reasons.

“You must comply with the new standard”, means that you as an employee will have to set aside time to attend training. Often that time is supposed to be given to the company during some kind “lunch and learn” but the truth is you’re still working even though you’re not technically on the clock. After all, “this new training is for your benefit,” uh right…

If the training is from HR, it’s not for your benefit, it’s so the company can cover their ass.

Training of this type often includes: Sexual Harassment Training, New policies, (I assume new pronoun usage these days), Cheapening of Insurance, or Workplace Safety.

All of these sound like great things, until you read the fine print when you sign that you’ve taken the “Training”. 99% of my experience is that HR is making modifications to the terms of your employment and providing a mechanism that allows any perceived slight to be grounds for termination. Couple that with so called “Zero Tolerance Policies” and well being a white male… You’re screwed!

HR is not the employee’s friend and hasn’t been for decades.

Which leads me to my triggering this morning.

The California EDD sent an email that says in part;

“Urgent: You Must Verify Your Employment or Self-Employment for Your PUA Claim“

“Even though your Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits have ended, federal rules require you to provide documentation to prove that you were, or planned to be, self-employed or employed at some point between 01/01/2019 and 11/15/2020.”

They start the email by SHOUTING my name because apparently, the state of California doesn’t know how to use lower case.

They direct me to the State of California’s shitty website which is always a pain in the ass to log into, and is in fact, such a pain in the ass that I stopped using it, opting instead for snail mail.

Triggered though I am, I’m curious to know what the hell EDD is talking about and what kind of documentation they’re asking for, so I try to log in anyway. Don’t they already have all that documentation? It should be in their files.

The login inevitably fails and I’m locked out of the account for an hour. What’s new? EDD couldn’t program their way out of a one bit puzzle.

In this particular case it also looks like they’ve changed or updated their login page and are now showing me a security picture of a die and a comment that says 1997 Chevy.

This leads me to wonder if the login is fucked up or if someone has been playing around at stealing my account. Neither would surprise me with California EDD.

As an aside, I’ve applied to work for California EDD on several occasions since it’s obvious they could use someone testing their shitty software. They, like every single other potential employer, promptly ignored my application.

Honestly, at this point I’d be happy with a response from any potential employer that said literally, “Fuck off you piece of shit!” At least then I’d know where I stood.

While EDD was sending me money, I felt compelled to respond to their shit. Technically since they were paying me, I considered myself an employee. But now that they’re not sending me money, and I’m still unemployed…

I’m much less inclined to go out of my way to deal with them.

I’ll wait another 30 minutes and try again. If I still am unable to log into the web site I’ll have to decide to ignore them, or contact my state representative’s office. In the past the representative’s office has been the only way to make headway with the EDD.

I hate having to involve them in this bullshit but I may have no choice.

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My Momma used to say…

“We can’t do that anymore, because too many people abused the privilege.”

It’s with this in mind, that I’ve been wondering about making services like Twitter and Facebook simply illegal.

I know this flies in the face of freedom, it says that these businesses would be shut down and their employees would be unemployed. That is antithetical to most core American values.

Bear with me here.

Twitter has become a cesspool of hate speech, most everyone agrees that is a true statement. After all, Twitter itself has seen fit to invest in all manner of protections against hate speech, from algorithms to manual reviewers.

Twitter has been forced to endure lawsuits and congressional hearings regarding censorship. Twitter now employs a cadre of high powered attorneys and law firms at great expense just to protect itself from legal action from people who are offended by what they read on Twitter, and those who sue because their opinions are deemed to be hate speech or misinformation.

Facebook is in the same boat.

The simplest solution is to shut down these corporations.

Too many people misuse these services, in some cases these services are being misused to the point that illegal activities are being coordinated through them. Congressional investigations have stated this was true in the Jan 6th event.

This means that both corporations have become inadvertent accomplices to criminality. Not just locally, but on a worldwide level.

Twitter and Facebook were good ideas. Their founders were naive about the nature of humanity. It’s not their fault that people say things that other people do not like. I’d suggest that both corporations accept that as experiments in connecting and unifying people, they’ve essentially failed.

This failed experiment is also not their fault. They’ve proved that too much information exchange between people tends to amplify the worst aspects of social interaction.

Shutting down these kinds of services would tend to limit the negative and deleterious effects of all kinds of misinformation.

Think about it. There wouldn’t be anymore vaccine misinformation.

Local problems would remain local.

Politicians would have to focus on getting votes by traveling to communities and interacting with the residents of the community.

Unqualified or poorly educated journalists wouldn’t be unable to spread unvetted information.

Opinions would no longer be taken as facts without any proof.

Juries in court cases would be easier to impanel because there would be less likelihood of bias or prejudiced information tainting the jury pool.

I think the benefits of shutting down these kinds of services would greatly outweigh the negative consequences.

There would be a period of adjustment of course.

People would have to learn how to live with privacy again. A lot of people would have to deal with addiction issues related to endless scrolling. Neighborhood and Community events could help to address these addiction issues, and at the same time could more effectively address local problems.

Local print media would possibly see a resurgence thereby creating more jobs.

Our government would find it much easier to make sure that their messaging was clear and understood. They could focus on the mainstream news outlets and make sure their statements were read precisely.

Surely, the elimination of all this free exchange of hate speech would be in the best interests of public safety and security.

Just a thought…

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I’ve been fascinated by the Kyle Rittenhouse trial

Shortly after the shooting happened I questioned the validity of the media reports about it. That’s nothing new, unfortunately I’ve come to believe that former President Trump was 100% correct about the media.

I’d begun to have my suspicions about the media during the Obama-Biden administration. There was something about the way the media painted everything Obama did or said as, every phrase falling from his lips being a pearl from on high. When the media went into overdrive to prop up Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 election I thought that something was seriously off.

This of course was at a time when I still had cable and could watch any of the media outlets. I think what caught my attention back then was that every media report used the same choice of words almost verbatim. When I couldn’t tell the difference between media outlets based on reporting I felt like we were living in some kind of pseudo USSR with state controlled news outlets.

Reading about the Kenosha shootings I thought from the initial descriptions that Rittenhouse had probably believed his life was in danger. The question for me was how would his lawyers prove it.

Then Candidate Biden described Rittenhouse as a white supremacist. The media picked up that clarion call, (or as they put it “Dog Whistle,) and started describing a 17 year old kid as some kind of wannabe Grand Dragon of the KKK.

A couple of things occurred to me at the time.

How will this kid ever get a fair trial?

Isn’t a statement like that from someone in Biden’s position, (a national figure at the time, but not The President, ) irresponsible, and does it open Biden to a potential. slander suit?

Look at what happened with Nick Sandman. CNN and other major media outlets paid a hefty price for their misreporting.

Now we’re well into Rittenhouse’s trial and thus far the prosecution has done more to prove the young man’s innocence than they’ve done to convict him. Many of their witnesses have testified that Rittenhouse was doing everything in his power to de-escalate the situation and also tried to run away before turning to shoot.

I do question Rittenhouse’s choice to be in the situation in the first place. But I too was idealistic and naive once, (Centuries ago.) So I can chalk it up to civic minded idealism. There are photos of Rittenhouse cleaning graffiti off walls earlier in the day. He was offering first aid for minor injuries to anyone that had been hurt.

Given the volatile situation in Kenosha at the time, I can even see carrying a weapon. That’s just prudent planning. But a better plan was to have bailed on the place at sunset.

The police in Kenosha had already demonstrated that they weren’t going to protect property so it’s likely that they weren’t going to do any other part of their duty, such as protecting the lives of people living in the community. It’s irrelevant that their local politicians may or may not, have given orders for the officers to keep their hands in their pockets. The fact is the police knew the difference between right and wrong and they chose to follow orders instead of doing their sworn duty.

Several media pundits have said that Rittenhouse shouldn’t have been there in the first place. These old eyes tend to agree. There’s a point when a situation, (be it a party, peaceful protest, or riot,) is so out of control that it’s time to leave.

That being said, knowing when to leave is something that is learned.

At 17 there were situations I found myself in where it was only obvious that I’d stayed too long, well after the fact. In my case it was usually with an ice pack on my face and various bandages scattered across my body.

I can say that I don’t react well to having weapons pulled on me.

Rittenhouse may be a better man than I was at that age. He shot 3 people and those that he shot were all threatening him. He shot the first person and apparently tried to turn himself into the police. But they didn’t take him in, they ignored him.

The first guy followed Rittenhouse into an area that was at least partially enclosed. Then he tried to take Rittenhouse’s gun. The completely obvious outcome of that action, was the first guy got shot.

The second guy went at Rittenhouse with a skateboard swinging it at Rittenhouse’s head like a club. He died too.

While Rittenhouse was laying on the ground after being knocked down. The third guy, pointed a loaded pistol at Rittenhouse, and told Rittenhouse, “I’m going to kill you.” He admitted that fact in court last week. He lost his biceps. This guy is lucky to be alive. A few inches more toward his body and he’d have died from a point blank chest wound.

Much has been made of Rittenhouse breaking down on the stand. It’s very unusual for a defendant in a murder trial to take the stand in the first place. Many pundits, sports stars, and Hollywood assholes have been harsh, saying that Rittenhouse was faking it.

I don’t think that.

I tend to believe that he was reliving the events in his minds eye and was re-experiencing all of it as he recounted the events. From his perspective, think what it would have been like to have gone to this familiar place and seen the destruction. To have gone there to do good, to clean up, to be with friends, to only want to do the right thing, and then to find yourself alone and people around you showing their most ugly horrific faces.

Imagine the confusion for an idealistic young man that putting out a fire in a dumpster would make people angry. But not only did it make these people angry, it made them violently angry at him.

That couldn’t have computed for him. The illogic, the irrationality in their behavior must have been very confusing. Then to look around and not be able to spot your friends, your support group, and realize that suddenly you were totally alone facing down a crazed violent mob.

What does that do to a young person? Then add to it killing people because you thought they were going to kill you. Then you get past that only to be held in jail, looking at prison, and you have a year of your life consumed with hateful criticism or lies, all leading up to sitting in front of a Judge and Jury who will decide your fate. Imagine knowing that even if you are acquitted you’ll never have a normal life again. Imagine the burden of three shootings on a young person.

But it gets worse, one of the people you shot survived and has reason to want to hurt you. That person knows where you and your family live, and knows your face. That person is free, they’ve had no charges filed against them. Even though they are a felon with a history of violence and they pointed a gun at you threatening to kill you…

What do you take away from that? Justice is unfair? Will I always be looking over my shoulder? The police are useless? The laws I’ve been raised to obey are toothless?

Now think of all of that crushing down on you while you’re testifying at a trial that could mean life in prison?

Kyle Rittenhouse had every reason in the world to cry. If he’d not broken down, the people who have said such shitty things about him crying, would have been painting him as some kind of sociopath.

There’s a whole lot wrong with a society that demonizes a child without facts and simultaneously paints him into a no-win situation.

I personally think the young man acted in self defense. Sadly, he’ll never be free of this. He’ll never be the same idealistic innocent he was when he walked into Kenosha to do good.

I hope that once acquitted, he can find a quiet peaceful place where he can make a happy life.

But first, I hope he has the strength to sue the absolute shit out of the media, The View, and President Biden for slander and makes a shit ton of money from the deal.

Kyle, if you happen to read this… What you did was not heroic, it was not patriotic, it wasn’t awesome, or anything people might try to tell you.

What you did was necessary and right to protect your life. But sir, it will leave scars. Those scars you’ll live with the rest of your days. Don’t run from them, accept them as terrible lessons you learned far too early in life.