Category: Musings

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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.

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From here on out, all my clothing will be gray

It occurred to me as I was sorting my laundry that by separating the white clothing from the colored clothing I was engaging in systemic institutionalized racism.

Even the laundry detergent instructions engage in this kind of oppression.

I think too that all of my clothing should be uniform, a simple set of pants held up with a rope. After all, leather belts are not green, not PETA approved, and might be used to strap poor immigrants. Although I suppose a rope might be construed as another symbol of racism, given how ropes were used in the past.

I know, to avoid this, I’ll use a string or bit of twine.

My shirt will be a gray tunic not requiring any buttons. Plastics being bad and all. I guess I could carve buttons if I really needed them.

Since leather is murder and its production requires cows whose flatulence contribute to the destruction of the planet I’ll strap the bark of trees to my feet, or perhaps I’ll use some of the piles of used tires in dumps, cut to fit my feet, instead of shoes.

I can pad my footwear with 20 or 30 discarded masks that are prevalent in the streets, on trails, and in the forest these days. Since rope is a no-no perhaps I can use some bits of twine to affix my retreads to my feet as well. I’ll bet I could carve a Nike swoosh on the bottoms and retain stylishness.

The nasty chemicals required to make clothing dyes hurt the planet too, so by going gray I can stop climate change.

This ensemble will make getting dressed in the morning so much faster. I won’t have to pause to decide what I’d like to wear anymore. If there’s no choice then there’s no time wasted deciding.

Laundry will also be much simpler, with no sorting of clothing, everything can just be carried to the creek behind my dwelling and I can hope for some trickle of water to be running. There are plenty of nice flat rocks to beat my clothing on and then I can hang the clothing on some friendly trees until they’re dry.

There will be times in the winter when the creek is frozen, and times in the summer when the creek bed is dry, so obviously I won’t even have to wash clothing then. I can just rub some of the gray dirt surrounding my dwelling on any offensive stains and I’ll look fresh as a daisy.

I do hope no-one will be offended by my naked bathing in the creek (water dependent of course) Or when I’m lying out on a large flat rock allowing the sun to dry my skin.

I’d never thought that being “woke” could be so simple. Or that my life would be enriched by total convenience and simplicity just by going woke. This is going to be bliss.

I seem to recall China instituted a nice homogenous dress code and their people were very happy about it. I’m sure we’ll be just as happily un-racist in our future. Oh, there is the slight problem of our dwellings. Well, I’m sure that our government will provide us all with a nice uniform gray, EPA approved paint for the purposes of ensuring community equity and consistency.

Maybe they’ll distribute approved paint with our mandatory physicals just before we pay our mandatory tithes while swearing and/or demonstrating our loyalty to our masters.

Yeah, I woke up in a mood today! I don’t know why, perhaps I was having bad dreams or something.

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Normally I like Fall.

This time of year is usually one of my favorites.

It’s a time of changing leaves, cool temperatures, and relative peace.

Not this year.

This year, it’s me against nature. It also signals that soon I’ll be trapped into being here another 5 months. Even though I have no immediate plans to get the hell out of California, it’s a psychological barrier. One simply doesn’t change homes in the snow. I did it once a long time ago and learned my lesson.

We’re having a cold snap that is impairing my ability to finish painting the trim of the house. I started this project and then injured my knee. I’d started the project in the narrow window between the completion of the repairs from the water damage and now.

I thought at the time, “it will be tight but I’ll have time to finish before Winter.” Then I hurt my knee and spent 3 weeks hobbling around like an old man barely able to stand up.

You know that you’re hurt bad when the dog keeps licking your foot and leg, and doesn’t even react when you head to the door. It’s like the dog is saying, “Dude, you can walk yourself, you sure as hell can’t walk me!”

The licking can be bothersome but it’s sweet in its way. The pup is just trying to make you feel better as he would another dog. I take it as a sign that he’s decided we’re a pack.

The knee is getting better daily. I’ve been able to do much of the project by chipping away at it. I’ll work until my knee says, “That’s enough,” I’ve made good progress but I’m worried that I won’t be able to complete the project before it’s too cold to finish painting. Did you know that paint wont set up correctly below certain temperatures? I didn’t, until I moved here.

The other winterizing project that I have yet to do, is cleaning out the gutters. That, like painting requires that I be on a ladder. The more time I spend on a ladder, the less time I have to actually do the project before the knee starts “Bidening” (Calling a lid on the day). That’s a project that has got to get done, because otherwise water backs up in the gutters and then freezes, causing problems throughout the entire Winter.

The last project for Winter, is annoying but can be done regardless of the temperature. Unfortunately, it also means that I have to be on a ladder and climbing around in the attic. (There’s that ladder thing again!)

I’ve got to get in the attic crawlspace and retape the ductwork. We had some work done last year up in the attic and I think one or more of the ducts got pushed around, perhaps creating leaks between the ductwork and the registers. It happens, I didn’t notice the problem until months after the workmen had left because their work was done in the time between needing to run either the A/C or the heat.

You can do ductwork stuff in the Summer with the roof broiling in the sun and the attic is 120°F or you can do it in the fall when attic temps are more reasonable. I’ve chosen the latter.

Thinking about it, I should also clean out the dryer vent. That may be a “today” kind of project because it’s 35°F outside and windy. (So, no painting today!) As a bonus, there’s no ladder required.

All of this is to say,

Welcome to Fall!

It also serves as an explanation of why I’ve not been blogging as much as usual.

I’ve scanned the news recently. Nothing much has changed.

I could sum up the news like this, “We’re all gonna die, the government is out of money, one group or another is pissed off about something, and everything is going to hell in a hand basket.”

There, now you don’t have to watch the evening news. Instead, turn off the TV, shut down the computer, put the phone aside, and go read a good book.

Until next time… I hope you’re having a nice Fall season.

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I’m just not that into it…

There was a time in the recent past when I, like many other Apple users waited on pins & needles for the next iOS, iPhone, iPad, MacOS or MacBook computer.

This last iPhone event left me feeling sort of meh.

iOS 15 is somewhat interesting but I’m in no great hurry to update. This is very unlike previous years.

The iPhone 13 Pro is nice, but not dazzling. I sorta like the pale ice blue color but since I use a case that isn’t really all that compelling. My iPhone 12 Pro is still quite serviceable and does what I want it to do.

I’ve currently got an Apple Watch series 5.

I thought that I’d upgrade to the watch 7. I originally got an Apple Watch Series 3, then upgraded to the 5 and thought a 2 year upgrade cycle would probably be reasonable. Looking at the Series 7, I see no compelling reason to upgrade. Okay, it’s got a bigger screen and what else does it get me?

Apple’s presentation was even Ho Hum, it was almost like Apple themselves was “phoning it in“. Every Apple event they’re gushing about how impressed they are with their own technology. How each product, “…is the most advanced Technology Apple has created…”

Every time they say that now, I fight not to say, “Duh” out loud.

I’m always way more interested when they compare their technology to the competition.

I find myself wondering why I wasn’t excited, or even disappointed with Apple this year. I’d have expected to feel something one way or the other, I just don’t.

Early iOS adoption statistics might be indicating that I may not be alone. I caught an article last week, (which I can’t find now,) that said the one week adoption rate for iOS 15 was substantially lower than for iOS 14 in the same period last year.

Why have I not updated? That’s simple, I dealt with bugs that messed my phone up on both iOS 13 & iOS 14. I decided that this time around I’d wait. But when you add the whole issue of the CSAM scanning and privacy issues that honestly feel like an about face for Apple…

Well, I guess it feels a bit like betrayal.

It’s akin to that feeling you have finding out your spouse is sleeping with someone else. When you find something like that out, you tend to get angry, then when you calm down, you start evaluating the choices available to you.

Divorce is messy and ends up hurting you as much as your spouse. That’s kind of the nuclear option.

Ignoring it and hoping it doesn’t happen again, is another option. Sometimes that works, but can you ever really trust them again? Do you find yourself questioning everything they say or do for the rest of your life?

Couples counseling is another option. But that only works if both parties are willing to realize that a) they’re in trouble, b) the relationship still means something, c) are willing to give it a go and mend fences.

To some extent, Apple has behaved like the spouse that was caught screwing around. They’ve quietly admitted that CSAM requires more work. Their decision to hold off on rolling it out feels like, “I’m sorry I got caught. I promise I won’t do that again.“

No spouse, ever totally believes that. The one saying it, knows that there will be an opportunity in the future that simply can’t be ignored. The one hearing it, knows this too.

(I’m specifically being gender neutral above, because I’ve seen women cheating on their husbands and men cheating on their wives. Interestingly, I’ve been the third wheel in both equations. Not really proud of that, it’s life, it just happens sometimes.)

I think right now, I’m personally at the “Ignoring it phase,” with Apple. I would consider the “Couples counseling,” phase. But I’m wondering if divorce from Apple is in the cards.

I have to wonder if this is the way a lot of Apple users are feeling. The article I mentioned, was trying to cover the lower adoption numbers by highlighting that unlike previous years Apple is going to be supporting iOS 14 and iOS 15 bug fixes concurrently. In the past when Apple released a new iOS they stopped development on the previous version.

This meant that there were no security patches or bug fixes for the older version and if you wanted to close those security holes, you had no choice but to upgrade the OS. This year is different. Apple has said they’ll continue the security patches indefinitely.

I’m sure that some of the upgrade hesitancy is due to this, but I seriously doubt that all of it can be explained away. This feels more like “coming home from somewhere you never should have been,” (Thank you Garth Brooks) and finding your pillow and some ratty blanket on the couch.

I’ll admit that pillow on the couch is way better than a confrontation in the driveway and a gun shot under cover of thunder in the distance. But it’s just as much a statement. (Yeah, I’ve gotten the pillow once or twice too.)

Right now, I’m giving Apple the pillow. We’ll have to see just how contrite they are, and how willing they are to keep my business going forward.

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I rewatched Elysium the other night…

I’d seen the movie a while ago. It’s from 2013.

Matt Damon, Jodie Foster.

The first time I saw it, It was pure science fiction.

Now, well, it was unsettling to rewatch.

The premise is that the elites of the world live in a marvelous space station. They have the highest technology and medical devices that can instantly fix whatever ailment someone might have. The elites living on the space station live in opulent luxury and ease.

The folks left on Earth, not so much. That’s the set up.

It’s a typical underdog makes good despite the odds, scenario. Complete with an abusive supervisor and shitty worker safety. The movie depicts abusive police and parole officer robots and a criminal element that is generally criminal out of desperation, not any particular desire to commit crime.

The folks left on Earth are treated as if they’re unclean and generally left to squalor and hopelessness.

At the time the movie was made, It was probably a commentary on wealthy countries ignoring the poor.

Eight years later, with our current political situation, the movie has a somewhat different tone.

I’ve noticed that a lot of the older movies in my collection are changing. It’s not that the movie is being re-edited, it’s that my perspective is changing.

What was once escapist fantasy and easy to dismiss as unthinkable is becoming more thinkable, perhaps even possible.

GATTACA from 1997 springs to mind.

That movie was pure fantasy when it came out. Entry to workplaces and venues was restricted based on DNA “purity” testing. But watch it now with vaccine passports needed to enter certain venues or travel, and it’s suddenly not so fantastic.

There’ve been a number of references to Orwell’s 1984 but there are a lot of other science fiction stories & movies that are equally unsettling against the backdrop of events we’re living through.

The weird thing is that a lot of my personal collection deals with these themes. Okay, so perhaps I’m a sick puppy. Whatever!

I suppose it’s proof that whatever we as humans can imagine, we will be able to achieve.

Jules Verne in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea imagined a submarine that was powered by some mysterious power source.

We named the first nuclear submarine after Captain Nemo’s Nautilus. Verne had no knowledge nuclear power but he imagined a dangerous and unending power source.

Later, Forbidden Planet from 1956, explored the price of hubris.

The Krell, learned everything and then turned inward. They destroyed themselves in a single night accidentally, because they forgot about the darkness within their own souls.

Arthur C. Clark explored the human condition in many of his stories, I like his books, but I like his short stories more.

All these stories have at their core, kernels of much older stories. Human stories, from cultures across the planet.

Stories that at one time were teaching stories designed to instill values into whatever culture they existed in.

These stories explored right and wrong, good and evil, and I think we should listen to those ancient voices as much today.

We can and have modernized many of those stories but somehow the lessons contained in them don’t have the same impact in today’s society.

The notion that greed is a trap is explored in the story of King Midas and also in a Native American story of the eagle who became imprisoned by man because the eagle would not let go of a fish.

Two entirely different cultures separated by thousands of miles and years, and yet the message is the same. Greed leads to ruin.

We, Humanity, can no longer afford to allow hubris to blind us.

Our technology is marvelous and magical. A thousand years ago steel was the metal of the gods. Technology at any point in time is always the most advanced.

Human drives though, remain just as primitive as they were before we ventured out of the Olduvai Gorge in Africa.

I think it’s time for us to rediscover the stories our ancestors left us. There are lessons to be had, and enjoyment in learning those lessons.

Go grab a copy of Greek Tragedies. Look to Shakespeare, read Verne, or Clark, or Orwell, or rewatch any of the old movies in your library. Enjoy the entertainment and take a moment to consider the meaning behind the story.

Be warned, your pride might be bruised when you find that you’re different from your ancestors only due to your iPhone.