Category: General

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Just a random thought about Twitter.

I’ve noticed that more and more politicians are claiming that Twitter is becoming more bigoted.

I’m looking at you Adam Schiff!

Adam schiff

What I wondered is this;

What would happen if people just randomly sent a tweet to people like Adam Schiff, Maxine Waters, John Fetterman, Katie Hobbs, Nancy Pelosi, and whoever else popped to mind saying, “I Don’t like you.”

Nothing more than that. I realize that my list is all Democrats but hey why not give every politician the same treatment equally?

What would happen on Twitter? It’s not hate speech, it’s not a threat, it’s not a call for violence, or any of the other “banned” interactions. It’s simply telling the person in question unequivocally that you, as a person don’t like them. 

This could be for any reason, you don’t like their politics, you don’t like their stance on gun control, you don’t think they’re doing a good job, whatever the reason, a simple generic, “I don’t like you,” shouldn’t be banned, it’s not bigoted, and it leaves the interpretation of your message open to the recipient.

Given that so many of these people seem to live for the adulation of the press, and attention from the public. I’ve wondered what receiving thousands or millions of generic messages like this would do to their collective psyches.

These people claim to want to protect democracy, how would they react to a completely egalitarian registration of people simply not liking them? What would they do if a preponderance of “I Don’t Like You” messages was all they received via their Twitter feed? I wonder if they’d get the message.

In the case of Adam Schiff who is claiming that he’s getting more bigoted remarks in the wake of Elon Musk taking the helm of Twitter, I think that perhaps Mr. Schiff is missing the point. Perhaps it’s not bigoted, perhaps the negative comments have nothing to do with his religion or appearance, but instead have to do with him personally. 

I find Mr. Schiff to be a thoroughly unlikable person. Every time I’ve seen him giving speeches or appearing on chat shows he simply comes across as a nasty piece of work. So I don’t like him. Politically, he’s milquetoast except in his rabid hatred of all things Trump. To see him whining on CNN about bigotry on Twitter does nothing more than than confirm to me he’s a weak individual struggling to hold onto power.

Most of the rest of the Twitterati, (of which I was one,) have lived under draconian, arbitrary, capriciously enforced “rules”. Twitter users could say, “I wish Trump was dead,” or “All infidels in Synagog X should be killed.” But other Twitter users couldn’t say The Transgender agenda is more far reaching than has been said and I think they’re after our kids. A Twitter user who said something negative about transgenders would be banned instantly.

Now that censorship is not protecting Adam Schiff from real people that don’t like him, his feelings are hurt and he views people speaking their mind as an affront.

I think Adam Schiff should grow a pair, and perhaps should grow some thicker skin too. If he actually believes in what he’s doing and is committed to his position, then it doesn’t matter what people say about him.

That’s what I mean by saying he’s proving to me, with every single appearance where he’s bitching and whining about bad things being said about him or to him on Twitter, that he’s a terribly weak individual with weak commitment to his values. He’s changeable as the wind, last month he liked Twitter, because he was protected from the slings and arrows of the American Public. This month Twitter is bad, for no other reason than he gets to see what people really think.

Politicians getting direct engagement from their constituents could be a good thing. If for no other reason than politicians would have a less filtered and isolated view of what is important to the people they govern.

I suppose this was why I was thinking about a simple concise message, “I don’t like you,” might be useful. It’s up to the politician to reach out and ask why. If they choose not to engage, then the American People would have another valuable data point for the next election.

On the other hand, if a politician chose to ask why 900,000 people sent him or her, “I don’t like you,” on a particular day and found that their position of a particular issue had been misreported. They would have the opportunity to explain themselves and perhaps get a message back from the American People that said, “Okay I get it. Thank you for the clarification.” They may not win everyone over, but at least they’d be in contact with the people and not acting as if they lived in a bubble.

If we’re really all about democracy then let’s be democratic.

It is things like this thought that make me almost ready to engage in Twitter again. I just can’t quite decide if it’s worth my time or effort yet.

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I was updating my calendar today, when I remembered new gas car sales in California would be banned in 2035.

As a lark, I thought, “Well I should probably put that in the calendar.”

After pressing “save” I wondered two things.

1 Would I be around to give a crap?
2 What will the world look like then?

It’s possible I could still be around, It’s unlikely that I’ll give a crap about it. This is potentially a two fold issue. It’s likely that I’ll be in an old folks home griping about the consistency of my pudding. It’s also likely that I’ll not be in California. In either situation, I doubt I’ll give a crap.

That leaves the second question, what will the world look like in 2035? I’ll be somewhere in my mid 70’s. It’s possible that I might still have my mind in more or less working order. Being a male at that age would be a bit of a rarity in my family so I might be well on the way to checking out for the long dirt nap.

In the 1960’s there was an optimism about the new modern wonders of science and technology. I remember magazines telling us we’d all have flying cars in 20 years. I’m glad I didn’t hold my breath on that one. When I moved to Los Angeles in my 20s and saw how messed up the traffic was, I knew we weren’t going to have flying cars.

People were incapable of driving on a wide, well maintained road, without hitting each other. The thought of those same people flying overhead was truly terrifying. Flaming wrecks raining down on unsuspecting neighborhoods is not something I’d sign up for.

This observation was made well before the distractions of cell phones, and text messages. As those devices became more ubiquitous the accident rate went up, even though the average speeds on the freeways went down. Honestly, how can you have accidents on a roadway where everyone is creeping along at 20mph?

Barrel Racing

If the California freeways get much slower, horses will become the preferred method of travel again. At least then, people will be able to text and play games on their cellphones without worry. Horses aren’t likely to run into each other because they’re paying attention.

I suppose there would have to be horse sex insurance policies though. I’m not sure how copulation of your transportation would affect your morning commute. However, it might settle the question of just how many genders there are, an added bonus would be that nobody would have to be a biologist to get the picture.

Funny thing about it, is that might be the best case scenario.

The way things are going, I’m actually beginning to wonder if Mad Max, Escape from New York, The Omega Man, or Book of Eli, is a more likely scenario. It’s possible that gas powered vehicles and electric vehicles may end up being moot points.

If WWIII happens, humanity if it survives at all, might be knocked back to hunter gatherers sitting around a fire pit burning books that no-one remembers how to read or bits of furniture that nobody wants to carry around.

190620 Nuclear test iStock 936338912

We might not even need WWIII to get there.

It could all go the way of Atlas Shrugged. Inconvenient science and / or truths could simply be placed under some overarching government control and suppressed.

Why would people keep working, innovating, and making discoveries if they knew the government and over-regulation would create hurdles so high they personally couldn’t profit from their efforts?

In a way, I wonder if we’re not already on the leading edge of this sort of thing. We’ve heard of quiet quitting in businesses. Is it possible that all the people who are not participating in the workforce are engaging in some unseen herd mentality, a.k.a quiet quitting?

Why should people continue to seek employment in a system that keeps taxing income at ever increasing rates to fund wars, or government entities that they have no control over, and no say in? Why bother to open businesses or create something new, if the state or federal government is just going to take a substantial chunk because the government believes they’re entitled to it?

Isn’t this, at least in part, what happened in the old USSR?

I find the Atlas Shrugged scenario far more disturbing than WWIII. In a nuclear war, it would all be over pretty fast. In Atlas Shrugged it took along time to crush the human spirit into the dust. It was brutal, systematic, and normal.

Good ideas were nationalized, or legislated out of existence. The powerful people in control continued rearranging the deck chairs on The Titanic until everything completely broke down. They’d dis-incentivized knowledge to the point that even when the stole the patents on Reardon Steel, they had no-one who could take over the foundry, and no raw materials to use even if they’d had skilled people.

The politicians in the story, all believed they were doing the right thing. The believed they were the good guys right up to the end, and had no clue why everything broke. In should be noted that Hitler, Stalin, and Chairman Mao all thought they were the good guys… Just Sayin.

That to me is far more frightening.

In that scenario, there were still large populations in cities who were suddenly plunged into the dark. The story of the morning after would be very interesting. I’ll have to check if Ayn Rand wrote a follow on.

I see the morning after as a period of shock and confusion. Then when water stops running from the tap, sewage backs up, and enough people are hungry, looting starts. At first it will be all the bright shiny things that average people couldn’t afford. That would happen because they’d be hoping things would return to normal and all those luxuries would once again have value.

Lomaprietaquake

Then as hunger became more intense, practical things would be looted from grocery stores. When the stores were empty, the populations in the cities would turn on each other. As the resources dried up, the survivors would spread out. The most brutal of these would be on top as full anarchy and tribal warfare blossomed. After that, it’s anybody’s guess how society would change.

I suspect we all saw what it might look like when Seattle allowed the autonomous zone called CHOP, or CHAZ, (whatever,) to come into being.

There are those who flippantly say, “Well I’ll be fine, I’ve got food, I’ve got water,” them I ask, “how many bullets do you have and how good a shot are you?”

The implied question is, “how many people are you ready to kill?” This doesn’t even address the fact that bullets are a finite resource. When you run out, what do you do then?

This is why the Atlas Shrugged scenario is more scary to me personally.

It’s also why, if I were offered a way off this planet I’d take it in a heartbeat. I’d prefer to live out my days quietly even if it was among an alien race. I don’t want to watch or participate in my own species destroying itself.

Alliance carrier tereshkova class by euderion d9i88m2

In the second or two after I had these thoughts, I closed the calendar application.

Somewhere on a server 500 miles or so, away from me, a notation has been made that sale of new gas vehicles will be illegal in California in 2035. I’m curious if I or anyone will care when that notification pops up.

It’s possible we’ll all have far more immediate concerns on Jan 1, 2035. Alternatively, I could be dead by then and not care about it in the least.

Funny how I get sidetracked from the simplest of things. At least this time, I’d updated my calendar before I thought about the 2035 deadline.

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What’s with all the hand wringing about Twitter? OH! Right…

I admit that I’m still on the fence about Twitter personally. I did enjoy it and participated in some great discussions with people, in its early days.

Dead Twitter Bird

That being said, I’m “Meh” about it going the way of MySpace. Nobody ran in tight circles or lit their hair on fire when MySpace wound down to whatever it is now. (Is MySpace even still around?)

Celebrities, Pundits, Wags, and all kinds of other people appear to be having a melt down over Twitter “Melting Down”.

Elon Musk probably went too far with his email asking for, (or demanding) fealty to the company long work hours and whatever else he asked for. Clearly he pushed too hard too fast resulting in a lot of his staff resigning.

This makes me wonder though if he’s “souring the milk” just to get rid of self important dead weight.

It’s long been a tactic of employers to make a place a tough work environment that forces employees out the door rather than have a mass layoff. Especially with the WARN Act and all of its constraints, having a mass voluntary exodus works for Elon and the company.

Now he can hire employees to replace those that have quit, and not have to pay unemployment either. This is financially better for the company rather than have to keep those employees around for 60 days and pay them to screw him.

I’d imagine that he’s looking very hard at the H1B1 workers who remain, and considering simply not renewing their H1B1 Status. I don’t know all the ins and out of the visa system but I do know that without sponsorship the H1B1 Visa expires. At that point, the individual is supposed to return to their country of origin unless they’ve become citizens of the US.

Elon may be trailblazing in showing how H1B1 and other visas can be cancelled while limiting liability. I don’t know.

I know that there are a lot of American software engineers that can certainly do the job, who’d be willing to take on the challenge of working at Twitter. I’d guess that American software engineers would be willing to ensure freedom of speech as long as they were from outside the Silicon Valley bubble.

That so many people not involved directly with the company are commenting and wailing about the changes at Twitter is interesting to me.

Journalists specifically seem to be making a lot of noise, and I couldn’t figure that out.

I began to wonder if these journalists are realizing that they’re actually going to have to research what they say instead of relying on “Tweets” to write a story. That could explain why they’re so up in arms.

Are these people saying, “My God, I’m going to have to actually do research!”

Once that realization sinks in, I’m guessing they’re going to be pretty pissed off that they’re going to have to pick up the phone and speak to someone, vet their sources, and at least partially verify their facts before running off to write a one sided hit piece on someone or some event.

Social media is hearsay not fact. It’s always been hearsay, rumor, innuendo, and in some cases complete bullshit.

When so called journalists began using platforms designed for social media and conversation as their journalistic sources we got Journalism that looked like social media, instead of fact.

Funny how that works isn’t it?

So journalists… Get to fucking work!

I’m going to be waiting for the want ads to come out to see if there’s a position for me at the new Twitter.

If I could work from home, or in an office outside California I’d work pretty damn cheap. If I have to move to San Francisco, well the job is going to have to be really “Cherry” and the pay will have to be significantly more.

That’s because I don’t see the need to live in a Studio Apartment for 5K a month, to be in a place where I have to step over shit in the streets to go to work.

I absolutely love the thought of all the rainbow colored hair social justice warrior types finding that their “playpen for pay” is being taken away. I’m half tempted to drive up to near San Francisco, take BART to Twitter headquarters and ask for a job application.

I’d fill out the application in the lobby and laugh my ass off watching the tearful goodbyes as the children left the building.

It would be very hard for me not to say to them, “Welcome to the real world, parasites!”

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Please Don’t

I wish I could speak directly to Donald Trump.

If I could, I’d tell him the following:

Please don’t run for President again. It’s nothing personal. The last two, maybe three, years of your presidency I did feel hopeful, I felt that the country was on the right track. I loved your “Mean Tweets” and almost always enjoyed hearing you smack down the media.

I felt that finally someone was at least half way concerned about the American People in Washington and waited with gleeful anticipation for Nancy Pelosi’s head to explode when you pissed her off. That woman literally hates your guts!

That being said, I don’t think you should be president in 2024. Had you won in 2020 I’d have a different opinion and be looking forward to maybe a DeSantis presidency in 2024.

You see, after watching what Congress did in the last year of your presidency and how laser focused they were on destroying you, instead of doing their job, followed by  four years of the shitty Biden administration. I think that, should you get elected in 2024 you’ll be a distraction and unable to force Congress to do the work they were elected to do.

America can’t handle another four years where nobody is at the helm. Or where there’s constant distraction for the business of the nation. I personally believe that you have the best of intentions  and that you’d be trying your level best to steer the country away from the shoals. The Biden administration has in my opinion set course directly for a large reef and lashed the wheel to that course.

Sadly, I think that if you won the election you’d be limited by the enemies you’ve made. There are far too many people throughout the government that would happily throw a monkey wrench into whatever plans you have, no matter how good or beneficial a plan might be. These people are so vile they’d happily destroy themselves just to make sure you don’t succeed. They’re also very willing to take the rest of the citizenry to whatever hell they end up in just to see you fail.

Our government is no longer for and by the people. I don’t know who, or what, our government serves, but it isn’t us. Apparently, there are an unbelievable number of frankly stupid Americans running around that want something much different than the America I grew up loving and believing in. 

Admittedly, I may have a somewhat nostalgic view.

I don’t think another Trump presidency can fix what’s wrong in America. I’m no longer believe that what’s wrong can be fixed. The fractures are too deep, the wounds too infected.

Honestly Sir, I think you’d be better off just walking away. There are times when you just have to let a dumpster fire burn. 

Spend time with your family, enjoy the grandchildren, play golf and enjoy your successes. Don’t expose yourself to the parasites and vermin. They’ll destroy themselves in due time. It’s not for either of us to try to stop the lemmings from running off a cliff into the sea.

You have the wealth and resources to go anywhere in the world. I wouldn’t blame you if you liquidated your financial holdings in America and took your family to another country entirely. Switzerland seems to be pretty free, albeit expensive.

For my part, I’m looking for a quiet corner of the country where I can live in peace, relative safety, have the ability to defend myself, and hopefully die, before the inevitable destruction of America comes.

Respectfully Mr. Trump, all the best.

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I knew I should have bought that PowerBall ticket!

Oh well, 2 Billion dollars would probably have been more of a pain in the ass than it was worth.

That’s how I console myself anyway.

Winner

Then I really started thinking about it. 2 billion would actually have been a pain. Okay so you know you’re going to lose at least half to taxes. If you’re in California you’re going to lose 2/3 because California has to fuck you as much as possible.

But then after that, you’re going to have to take the millions you’re left with and put it into some kind of savings. I don’t know about you, but my bank would probably tell me “no”. Even if they said, “yes” the full amount of deposit wouldn’t be insured against the bank failing. (Not likely, but in this economy something to think about.)

So that leaves you with investment accounts. Have you seen the stock market lately? Crypto-currency? Oh hell no!

Let’s not even consider all the scam artists trying to get their paws on your winnings with “Can’t Lose” business propositions.

You can’t really gift money to your relatives because then the gift gets taxed again.

I could see myself paying off the house, credit cards, and other debts then hiring reputable contractors to do some maintenance and improvements to the house. After that, I’d be wondering what next?

I suppose I’d spend some time traveling. A tour of National Parks would be fun. I could see getting a 4×4 pickup truck with room for the dog and setting off on an adventure. Part of that adventure might be to explore with an eye to finding a quiet out of the way place to just live quietly. I’m not talking completely off the grid, but someplace with space and open natural vistas.

Nothing fancy or anything, but I’d like to be able to have a mailbox, postal delivery, and look out a window while having my morning coffee, occasionally seeing a deer or elk wander by.  I’d like a place where I didn’t have to put clothes on for the sake of nosey neighbors, and I’d like a garage, or a barn for vehicles but that’s about it.

The funny thing is that I could do these things with far less than the post tax-rape leavings from a 2 billion dollar win. I’d probably have a lot less headaches too.

Maybe I’ll just buy a couple of California Lottery tickets…