Category: BullShit

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And Airbnb is officially deleted from my phone…

Wednesday, Michelle Malkin and her Husband were banned from using Airbnb over a speech she gave in November.

Michelle Malkin is a conservative author and journalist.

Malkin explains, “The speech delved into the K-20 metastasis of anti-white curriculum, the corporate media’s whitewashing of black-on-Asian attacks, and the long campaign to censor nationalist dissidents who put America first.”

Malkin tweeted out:

I’ve been #bannedbyairbnb (along with my husband!) as retaliation for my free speech and #AmericaFirst journalism. It’s insane & un-American – and I could use your help fighting back. Stay tuned. https://t.co/JjZvLzRzSl #michellefightsairbnb@Airbnb pic.twitter.com/Ko6DH7IIaL

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) February 2, 2022

Airbnb explained,

“This is consistent with action we’ve taken to ban people associated with this conference in past years. Removal means that your account will no longer be accessible, and you won’t be able to create another one. As we can see that your Airbnb travels are typically reserved via your husband’s account, we will also proceed in removing his account.”

So I ask, “WHAT THE FUCK?”

Is this where we’re going?

In an attempt to silence anyone with dissenting opinions, daring to exercise their first amendment rights, corporate America will take it upon themselves to be the arbiter of The Constitution?

Airbnb is not alone. PayPal, GoFundme, and others in the financial sector have done similar.

GoFundMe as of Wednesday Feb 2, 2022 has reportedly frozen 10 million dollars donated to support the Canadian Trucker Convoy. I ask again WTF? Who is GoFundMe to tell donors that they cannot donate money to a cause they believe in? Ohhhh, right… You are only allowed to donate to approved causes. Got it!

Here’s a thought… Fuck off! GoFundMe.

I cancelled my PayPal account years ago because they started picking and choosing which businesses they would send MY Money to. Uh excuse me. It’s my fucking money! You PayPal need to be reminded that without me putting cash into an account, YOU don’t earn transaction fees or interest.

That’s a lesson that all banking institutions need to be reminded of.

Airbnb is no different. I’d bet that since many of the properties are still owned by individuals they’re not going to take kindly to Airbnb telling them to whom they can and cannot rent their properties.

I’ll personally find a KOA Campground and sleep in a tent before I put any money in Airbnb.

Airbnb is an availability and transaction processor. The odds of the property owners actually knowing how many missed rental opportunities for their properties is low.

They’ll never see that someone was interested, because Airbnb is by default censoring their view and limiting their income in doing so.

Ms. Malkin rightfully asks, “will Airbnb also delete the accounts of my children? How many other families had Airbnb done this to?”

The conference that Malkin spoke at is associated with a group the Southern Poverty Law Center, and The Anti Defamation League, has designated as a hate group.

That’s interesting since SPLC often designates hate groups as racists and Ms Malkin is clearly of Asian descent.

Why would a minority speaker be asked to give a talk at a racist hate groups conference?

This to my eye, is nothing less than a blatant attempt at corporate control aimed squarely at silencing conservative voices and it should not stand.

Unfortunately, the only way to register our displeasure is with American dollars. That means that Airbnb will continue this behavior until they see their application deleted from phones and their revenue fall.

I wonder if they could sustain the monetary losses that Facebook has seen over the past 24 hours?

232 Billion dollars, “poof!” Zuckerberg personally lost 30 Billion in personal worth.

I believe that Airbnb owes Ms Malkin a personal apology, and they owe the American people an apology for attempting to infringe upon the First Amendment in violation of Constitutional law.

Corporations, need to be thumped on their noses with a baseball bat, and told “NO! BAD DOG!”

They need to be reminded that the freedoms guaranteed by The Constitution of the United States apply equally to everyone regardless of the persons political beliefs.

Further, corporations need to be reminded that they exist to perform a service or manufacture goods, nothing more. They are paid based on their performance not their political leanings.

Americans will pay for goods and services that offer value and those that do not, will end up in the burning dumpsters of history.

Airbnb, GoFundMe, and Facebook may well be the first services that should end up in that flaming dumpster.

Ms Malkins’ story isn’t being picked up by the main stream media. That’s unfortunate, because it should be. It would be, if Don Lemon had been treated in similar fashion.

Take a look at your phone, if you’ve got Airbnb loaded, delete it. Most of the time, someone with a rental in an area you want to visit, has the rental information on a local community web site as well.

Contact them directly and perhaps you’ll save a few bucks because if the owner of the property doesn’t have to pay the Airbnb transaction fee they may be willing to pass some savings on to you.

Stop using GoFundMe! This isn’t the first time they’ve failed to perform their function. They’re not providing the service they claim to provide. Cash out and leave them with no new revenue.

While Ms Malkin is a conservative, her political affiliation doesn’t matter. You may not agree with the Canadian Truckers and that’s okay just remember; Eventually, corporate entities will increase their control on everyone unless we as a people thump them on the nose.

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Winter Olympics… Yawn!

Is anyone paying attention to this farce?

The Winter Olympics have never been high on my personal list of events. The Olympics in general have become boring for me over the past 20 years.

I’m turned off by the hype, I’m turned off by the politics and while I respect the training that the competitors put in, it’s not an event that captures my attention or takes up any of my time.

This year’s Winter Olympics is literally less important to me than scratching my balls.

I personally think that the US Olympic team should not have gone in the first place. There’s just too much controversy around China now. It’s so off my radar I couldn’t even tell you what US network is providing coverage of the games.

While many Americans are trying to avoid Chinese products, and those same Americans are asking what it’s going to take for us to bring our manufacturing home; The Olympic Games are showcasing China.

There was one news report last week, suggesting the Olympic Team use burner phones instead of taking their cellphones with them to China.

If there is that kind of concern about Chinese spying, perhaps we have no business sending young athletes to a place where their naïveté could get them into trouble in the first place.

Let’s not forget that COVID is still of great concern to the Chinese government.

I fully expect an athlete from some country to accidentally break a CCP rule and have it turn into an overblown international incident. Then we’ll get to watch some Chinese minister shake his finger at the offending country.

Given the situation with Antony Blinken, I’m almost positive it will be an American athlete because the CCP couldn’t pass up that opportunity.

I’m hoping that the American viewership will be dismal to the point our athletes just say, “fuck it, what’s the point,” and come home. It’s unfair to the athletes to be sure, but the overarching issue is why is anyone paying attention to a grandiose propaganda event that benefits no-one but the CCP?

Before you think me a hypocrite, I’m keenly aware that I’m typing this post on a device that says, “Designed in California, Made In China.” Well, this is either the last computer that I buy, or the next computer will say, “Designed and manufactured in the USA.”

I’m not trying to be a “Crazy” nationalist… (Although, apparently it’s okay for other countries to be nationalistic.) I’m simply saying that if I have a choice, I’d prefer to buy American.

After all, aren’t we all supposed to be social justice warriors? Aren’t we supposed to be concerned about the enslavement of people? Anyone heard of the Uyghurs?

Just Sayin…

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This employer vaccine thing is concerning…

Before you lose your mind…

Wait!

This kind of thing has always concerned me. I’ve worked for several companies that I LEFT because of health insurance or corporation biases.

There was one company that noticed I had a motorcycle endorsement on my driver’s license during the onboarding process.

The HR person told me that I’d have to provide them with a bill of sale for my bike within 30 days. She then went on to tell me that riding my motorcycle onto company property was a fireable offense.

After saying this, she went on as if she expected me to just comply without any pushback. When I asked her what the hell? She was quite shocked that I didn’t understand. After a bit of prodding she explained that the group insurance policy forbade anyone being covered from riding a motorcycle.

She was even more shocked when I told her we were done and asked for the hiring paperwork that I’d already filled out so that I could shred it. Then she got mad. I remember her screeching, “We’re only trying to protect you!”

My retort was, “Yep, at the price of becoming an indentured servant whose rights are granted by my employer, instead of The United States Constitution. What’s next? Approval of my sexual practices? Will I have to bring in the bedsheets weekly to prove that I’m not having sex if I’m unmarried? Will I have to prove that I’m not masturbating as well?”

Hey, I was younger and more prone to hyperbole.

I remember walking out of that place so pissed off I literally had to sit in my car in a mall parking lot to calm down for the drive home. Then I realized, “I’m at a mall, screw it! I’m going shopping!”

Then there was another company where smoking was suddenly forbidden, dictated again by a change in their insurance policy. This was not just on company property but in your home. I’d quit smoking a couple of years before, but that day when I stopped for gas I bought a pack of smokes. Then I found a nice bar and ordered a double. I sat there drinking and smoking much too late. I quit the job the following Monday, I quit smoking again about a month later. I made sure that when I went in to quit I reeked of cigarette smoke.

Then there was a company who sent out a survey to each employee asking if they were SCUBA divers, or skydivers, pilots, mountain climbers, motorcyclists, dirt bike riders, or enjoyed hang gliding. Most employees thought they were doing one of those HR team building things where the company would build clubs of likeminded people to tout their work life balance. My antenna went up immediately after reading the list of activities. I didn’t send my survey back.

Two weeks later an HR representative was standing at my desk with a stack of surveys demanding that the employee named on the survey fill it out while they waited. The representative testily pointed out that lying on a company form was grounds for dismissal.

She had maybe 30 other surveys in her hand. I asked, “Why is it so important for you to know if an employee participates in this specific group of activities?”

She told me, “the reason was none of my business.”

I told her, “Then write that I do all of them, then you’ll have whatever reason you’re fishing for to do whatever you’re going to do.”

Ahh… The fun of open office plans with 4′ cubicle walls. Several of my colleagues had incomplete surveys to fill out too. They heard the exchange and marked all of the above as well.

I’d already interviewed for another position with a competitor, and been offered the job.

The little lady stomped off, and I finished my resignation letter effective immediately. My boss pointed out that 2 weeks was customary and I said, “I’m not going to allow a company to dictate my personal life.”

My boss sat back and said, “Oh, you’ve heard.” I said, “Nope, but I’ve been to this rodeo before and know how it ends. Out of courtesy, I’ll give you two weeks because you’ve been decent to me.”

The next week, HR announced that the company decided the activities listed on the survey were too dangerous and employees were not to participate in them because medical insurance would not cover “Dangerous Activities”. In the HR announcement, they said they’d be reaching out to employees with acceptable methods that employees could prove to the company they’d given up these “dangerous” hobbies.

Over the next two weeks, the company received the resignations of about 20 engineering employees. In the end, they were begging for people to stay. HR remained intractable and started trying to hire replacements. But the word was out in the engineering community. It turned out that American engineers like to have fun in their off time.

These are examples of employer overreach from my own life and personal experience.

I’ll grant you that COVID vaccination was a bit different when the vaccines were being touted as providing immunity. But now?

We’ve been told by the CDC, and Dr Fauci that the vaccines against COVID-19 are therapeutic not preventative. We’ve seen articles in the mainstream press saying that the vaccine will prevent hospitalization with COVID but that even vaccinated persons can still get COVID and spread it.

So NOW with this knowledge, is it reasonable for corporations or governments to demand their employees be vaccinated? Is it right for those corporations to insinuate themselves into the personal lives of their employees? Will the future hold that an employee with HIV or cancer, or heart disease be threatened with their job if they don’t take HIV meds, or choose not to have chemo, or refuse a pacemaker?

This comes to mind because T-Mobile can be added to the list of employers demanding that their corporate employees get vaccinated. The article is here.

Since I’m adamantly against a corporation dictating any aspect of my life except when I must be at work to do my job, I’m in a bit of a conundrum.

I don’t want to support companies that do this sort of thing. But after doing some research it turns out that T-Mobile provides the best plans and pricing for me given my family’s needs.

Generally speaking, I’ve been terminating my connections/subscriptions to companies whose policies I disagree with. Apple being a notable exception although I have been reducing the new dollars that I give them.

There’s a problem being entrenched in any corporate ecosystem. You try to get out and they keep pulling you back in… To paraphrase the movie line about the Mafia.

I miss the good ol’ days when companies were just about making profit and were publicly apolitical. I know we’ll never get back to simple transactional relationships with Corporate America.

That doesn’t mean I can’t miss the simplicity.

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Apparently Irony is a Misunderstood Concept…

I stumbled across this one today.

University of Northampton have issued a trigger warning for George Orwell’s novel

The Orwell novel in question is none other than 1984

The University says that the trigger warning is necessary because  the book contains ‘explicit material’ which some students may find ‘offensive and upsetting’.

Northampton is ranked 101 out of 121 in UK university rankings. So one could say that it’s among the UK’s remedial institutions of higher learning.

Perhaps that is why Northampton also has warnings for other works, including the Samuel Beckett play Endgame, the graphic novel V For Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd and Jeanette Winterson’s Sexing The Cherry.

The article linked above goes into more detail.

One has to wonder, is there a point when Irony reaches critical mass? What happens then, do heads explode, or is it simply a more quiet brain aneurism? Can the human brain self lobotomize as a protective measure?

It should be interesting to see where Northampton’s ranking ends up next year. Perhaps they understand that can’t reach the top rankings and are instead racing for the bottom of the barrel.

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Okay, this is just insane.

By now, you may have heard of or seen the altercation that happened on a Delta Flight from Tampa to Atlanta. When I read the text of their exchange I was laughing my butt off.

The other half said, “Thank God you weren’t that old man…”

Yeah, I do have a bit of a temper and do not respond well to phrases like, “Stand your ass up!” Believe me, I’d have probably stood up, then given this particular “Karen” a verbal dressing down she’d not soon forget.

Had she slapped me, all bets would be off. As annoying and frustrating as flying anywhere has become I’d already be edgy. A slap to the face and her rearing back as though she was going to punch me, (as some reports have indicated she was doing,) would have resulted in extreme violence and rage on my part.

I think the older gentleman handled this “Karen” situation far better than I would have.

According to some of the police reports I’ve read, this whole thing started because Patricia Cornwall was trying to get back to her seat after coming from the bathroom. She was blocked by the beverage cart.

Most civilized people who have flown before know that you have to wait for the cart to clear the aisle, you have two choices, remain standing or “borrow” an empty seat until the cart has passed your seat row. It’s not a difficult problem if you think about it.

I’ve been in the exact situation and simply asked a passenger seated next to an empty seat, “May I borrow this for a minute?”

Ms Cornwall demonstrated that she was clearly a product of the American Educational system given this simple logic problem evaded her.

Things went off the rails when the flight attendant told Ms. Cornwall to grab an empty seat until the beverage service was complete. At this point Cornwall replied, “What am I Rosa Parks?”

According to reports, this is when the elder gentleman pointed out that Cornwall wasn’t black, they were not in Alabama, nor were they on a bus.

I’d have added, “Unlike you lady, Rosa Parks had a point!”

It appears that after this exchange the two of them were, “off to the races” so to speak.

At some point during the dust-up Cornwall was demanding that the gentleman put his mask on, (hers however was being worn as a chin diaper,)

There may have been the word “Bitch” tossed around, and the elderly gentleman is quoted as saying, “Sit down Karen.” If the elderly man called this woman a bitch, he was being as polite as possible given her behavior. I’d have called her much worse, and stood by my descriptors.

In the ensuing scuffle, Cornwall appears to have injured two other passengers and at least one Delta employee.

Ms. Cornwall was taken into custody in Atlanta and paid 20,000 bail to get out of jail.

This is one of those things that speaks volumes about the society.

There was a time when you treated elders, even crotchety elders with respect. When you’re on a flight, or a bus, or any other public transportation you are supposed to mind your manners and be cooperative. Apparently Ms. Cornwall missed those days in etiquette class.

But hey, she was a playboy bunny and an actress right? She’s special… Uh huh.

It’s been reported that the gentleman is 80. Given that he is about 30 years her senior, he legitimately called out Ms. Cornwall on her poor behavior. She was being childish. He may well have been a father, or grandfather. I’m betting that slipped into “Dad” mode without even thinking about it.

Even I, as much of an ass as I can be, I listen to an Elder. One telling me to cool my jets would be met with a contrite, “Yes Sir.”

Too many women like Cornwall seem to think that it’s perfectly okay to smack a man and that they’ll get away with it. Those same women run to the police when, after smacking a man, he hits ’em back.

A man’s only recourse today is to involve the law and doing so makes us feel weak and powerless, even if the police take the matter seriously, (often they don’t).

That’s why I hope this gentleman presses charges and doesn’t just let it go. I hope he puts it all out there. Elder abuse, Assault, pain and suffering due to the public nature of the crime, and anything else his attorney can toss into the mix.

The trouble is, as men we’re taught to “Suck it up,” and move on. If he happens to be a “Southern Gentleman” I’d say the odds are high that he’ll let it go.

In the same situation, I might do the same even knowing that letting it go would be tacitly condoning women getting away with abusing men.