Okay I’m really over this!

California retailers are responding to the insanity of legal thieving ($900).

Stealing is okay according to the morons in California’s legislature, as long as you don’t steal too much. (They should heed their own advice!)

California retailers are locking the damn doors, even though they’re open. So someone like me. You know, a decent law abiding person for whom stealing is the furthest thing from their mind, can’t just shop.

No, I have to ask permission to walk into some stores. I have to be buzzed in, or I have to be escorted while I’m in the store.

People don’t understand that when I’m shopping I’m moving. I’m not lingering over something unless it catches my eye. My mode of shopping annoys retailers who’ve had to open locked doors and give the super secret hand shake.

I’ll zip through a store in 5 minutes or less, if I don’t see something I like, I’m gone!

If we’ve gotten to the point that lawlessness is the rule, not the exception, we’ve got serious problems. Problems that might only be solved by gunfire.

Unfortunately if retailers are resorting to these tactics in my area (60 miles away from Los Angeles, 500 miles from Oakland and San Francisco, 100 miles north of San Diego), then in California at least, crime has apparently become the norm.

I remember being told in school that one major difference between America and Russia was that, in Russia there were lots of criminals and high crime. In America we had law and order, we could safely walk the streets.

40 some odd years later and i find myself asking is that still true?

I found myself enjoying that the Russians had found four of the assholes who shot up a music hall within 2 days. They didn’t give a shit about those pieces of filth. The Russians went ‘old school ‘to get information out of the criminals. One dude had his private parts wired up to some electrical device. Another had an eyeball fall out, (oops), a Third had an ear removed, the fourth was beat senseless and appeared for his arraignment unconscious.

Apparently, these criminals started singing like birds. So the Russians knew who to hunt down next.

The Russian people walk the streets of Moscow tonight safe. They get onto and off of subway trains that are clean. They walk through stations that are brightly lit, clean and beautiful.

We used to be the same.

If you’ve ever been to San Francisco, you may have seen BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) Stations. There was a time 30 years or so ago when me going to the Bay Area meant riding BART. I loved it. The stations were all clean, the trains were clean, it was safe and I think many, if not all of the stations were unique works of art. it was a pleasure to use the system, and I looked forward to my visits.

San Francisco was a beautiful jewel of a city. It was safe. It was a walking town, and if you got tired there were always the Streetcars, MUNI busses, or BART. On a sunny day, walking the streets of the city was a joy. The color and vibrancy, the oddball businesses tucked into old buildings made every block a new discovery.

I wanted to live in San Francisco. I wanted to get rid of my car, use mass transit, live in a quirky old building, work in the city, and watch the sun set over the bay every night. Of every place I’d been, San Francisco was the first and only city I’ve ever fallen in love with.

The last time I was there was about 10 years ago. I felt unsafe from the moment I walked into the BART station from the airport. At every station, there were people who were obviously ill. Either from drug addiction or psychological impairment, they appeared to be homeless, living in the stations. It was necessary to run a gauntlet of mentally ill or “high” people just to get to a train.

The trains formerly, sparkling clean and comfortable, were filthy as were the stations. When the train I was riding entered the tunnel going under San Francisco Bay, I hoped that at least the tunnel maintenance had been done properly. That had never been a concern for me before.

That was the last time I was in San Francisco. Now in the post COVID era I have no desire to go back since it’s gotten so much worse. It’s heart breaking what has happened to what was a model of efficient transportation, and a spectacularly beautiful city itself.

Permissiveness, has destroyed or is destroying California. It has been eroding all aspects of the state for a very long time.

I’d really like to see police allowed to do whatever it takes to put a stop to crime. If that means nightsticks liberally applied, or saving the taxpayers money by putting down criminals with a bullet I’m good with it.

I suppose I’m saying, I no longer see criminals as humans. They rip through stores like locusts and I’m all for them being exterminated like locusts.

Probably a little harsh… I’m just really tired of accommodating criminal behavior.


Update: 3/29/2024

Well, I’m going to be looking for a new barber. The owner of the shop has decided that they need to charge 1/2 upfront for an appointment.

This was slightly annoying when I booked my every 4 week appointment. Then I thought about it.

My Barber said the upfront charge was because of excessive cancellations, without the individuals having the courtesy to call.

Okay, but… I’ve never missed an appointment, and the 1 time in a year that I needed to reschedule. I called to reschedule 2.5 weeks ahead of the appointment. In contrast, due to health issues my barber has rescheduled on me 2 or 3 times.

I really like my barber, but I really don’t like being punished for the “crimes” of other people. I understand that the shop has a problem with the appearance of preferential treatment so they have to treat everyone equally.

I on the other hand, can express my displeasure with this new policy by not making appointments in the future. This will likely mean I will take my trade elsewhere. Being able to walk in for a haircut isn’t something that works because as the only barber shop in town they’re pretty busy.

OR maybe they were busy. I honestly wonder what this new policy is going to do to the business.

I can say, they’re pricy. I’ve stuck with them for two reasons. 1) I like my barber. 2) I like to support local businesses.

I’ll not be making another appointment. Especially since perhaps Sports Clips will work out better for me. I can combine a less expensive hair cut with shopping for groceries, and puppy supplies.

This is just another example of how the breakdown of civil behavior, courtesy and professionalism, negatively affects us all.

Good Golly, It’s almost April!

I’m losing time. It’s time for me to bite the bullet and get a massage. I don’t want to spend the money but having my lower back in spasm every other day is just not cutting it.

It’s not new damage it’s just spasms to the point of inflexibility. It’s also been taking the wind out of my sails when it comes to doing anything. I swear sometimes lifting a coffee cup is painful.

The last couple massage folks were nice, but I failed to make a connection with them. I’m not sure if that was because of them or me. Meaning I never let my guard down with them. The other issue is that I have to drive to LA or to Palm Springs and then drive back. Either option is a pain in the ass due to traffic and the general stupidity associated with traffic.

I’m going to have to do something soon. I’m tried of being in pain.

Speaking of pain…

I believe that I’ve finally collected up all the necessary tax documentation for the accountant. I’m not looking forward to dealing with the tax crap. I know it’s gotta be done, lest the unbridled raw power of the State and Federal governments be unleashed upon me.

I hate like hell, the thought that I’m going to have to write these fuckers a check. Why, when I’m unemployed, forced into retirement, and living on only what’s in the bank + SS should I give these morons what little I have so they can spend it like drunken sailors in Singapore?

One of those questions you’re never supposed to ask is, “What exactly do I get for my tax dollar?

I’ve never been alone in asking that question. Regardless of the party in power, the people have always believed taxes were too high and the politicians have always found ways to spend beyond the available budget, then raise taxes to fund shitty pork filled bills.

Usually, the government, (State or Federal,) has failed spectacularly at performing their basic tasks. In the midst of failure, the politicians are asking for more money to fund non-essential tasks which they also fail at doing.

I’ve always believed that if a legislative body (State or Federal,) couldn’t pass a balanced budget, the entirety of the body should be flushed. I believe that would light a fire under their asses to do their damn job… If they wanted to keep their job.

There is no accountability, and no recourse. The feds talk about impeachment of this idiot or that idiot, they censure each other, they badmouth each other, but at the end of the day the same idiots are still sitting in their fancy offices, collecting their obscene paychecks, and doing nothing but growing fatter like a tick that’s found a sweet spot on a dog.

Yet, we all keep writing the checks. Or they keep deducting from our paychecks and we have no way to stop them. I’ve been feeling like we re-entered the, “Taxation without Representation,” phase for a long damn time.

Sure, we have elected representatives, but when they get to the state or federal capital they don’t represent the people that elected them anymore.

Instead, they represent themselves, and are willing to sell their grandmothers to a Chinese sweat shop for $5, and their sisters to a whore house on the Barbary coast for $2.

Hmm. maybe the whole tax thing and my back hurting have been why I feel so damn hopeless these days. I thought it was the endless bullshit over the upcoming presidential election.

That’s one of those things that I wish would just shut the hell up. Drop the damn bombs, kill us all, just fucking STOP. Biden, Trump, Al Sharpton, or the idiot brother of your second cousin who’s also your uncle.

I don’t fucking care who’s President anymore.

Absolutely NOTHING will change.

Hmm, I felt exactly the same at the end of the Obama Administration.

Disillusioned and hopeless, wondering if there was another country I could to move to, where I could enjoy a functioning government that wasn’t always in a state of chaos and scandal.

That may be a pipe dream.

Russia? At least there you know the rules.

I have to admit that I like their style when it comes to dealing with criminals, as exhibited by their handling of the terrorists that shot up the concert hall killing 140 people.

Cutting off ears, electrodes on testicles, beating the fuck out of a prisoner to the point his eye “falls” out of its socket?

Yeah!

If we had some of that kind of law enforcement here, I have to wonder if we’d have less crime, less corruption, maintained roads, and a generally peaceful society.

Hell I’d probably be more willing to pay my taxes too. At least then I’d be able to see what my “protection money” buys.

I wonder if we’d have problems at the border if we were known for fucking up lawbreakers?

As we hurdle on towards banana republic status, I suspect these questions will never be answered.

Just to be clear, over at least the past 24 years our government has been degrading. I don’t believe this degradation is party specific, it’s about lowering the bar, turning a blind eye toward crime, corruption, a “not my job” attitude on the part of elected officials, and government departments filled with unelected bureaucrats.

I wonder if Russia would allow an old fart like myself the opportunity to have a small house in the countryside with my dog for my last years.

Harvard isn’t what it once was

And now I have a partial explanation for how COVID-19 became what it was and how vaccines that don’t work came to be foisted on the world as “Safe and Effective” when apparently they are neither.

An ars Technica article is reporting 37 questionable studies at a Harvard affiliated cancer research center.

For goodness sake. 

What the hell happened to data integrity? 

Anyone incorporating these research papers into their own research might be led down a research dead end not because their original theory was incorrect but because they used “facts/proofs” from these papers. 

That wastes time, money (in research grants) and potentially, lives of desperate people participating in clinical trials.

I suppose this is how we end up with snake oil being sold by “real” Doctors. I suppose it’s also how “real” Doctors can stand by, knowing that the “approved” treatment protocol for a disease, (For example COVID,) was doing more harm than good.

It’s how we get scientific “Consensus” that is almost entirely incorrect about a wide variety of things. Obviously, it’s not just medicine. The spooky thing is, if this is happening in medical research, where the highest level of diligence next to nuclear bomb research is supposed to be in place, then it’s probably everywhere.

Is current geologic research just slap dash and missing the signs of a 9.0 earthquake in Northern California where Mt St Helens, and the Yellowstone super volcano all blow at the same time? Are those signs being missed because the actual observation data doesn’t fit a shitty research paper, or papers and is being thrown out?

Have we missed new energy sources, or warp drive, because of some copy / pasted incorrect data dampening a brilliant mind that perceived an anomaly but decided not to research that anomaly because the literature said it’s an instrumentation or computational error?

SCIENCE is about truth! Above all else. 

Science is observing and recording what is. Science is using those observations to predict behavior of the natural world and once that behavior is understood, science can tweak the input variables to change the outcome.

Science is also about understanding and accepting that when we’re on the boundary of the “known” sometimes science can go no further. That road block is not failure, it’s a sign that either we missed something fundamental, or our tools aren’t sophisticated enough to proceed. While the initial data is checked, the sophistication of the tools increases and the road block turns out to be only temporary.

If so called scientists and researchers are willfully fucking over the integrity of data and disseminating false results, then the basic underpinnings of science and scientific process are contaminated and at risk. 

It is possible that Academia has sunk this low, and failed humanity in selfish pursuit of money over knowledge?

A reasonable question to ask at this point is:

Is the lack of integrity and principals confined to Harvard?

I strongly suspect that it’s not due to the competitive nature of grants and donors.

Can anything MIT, Yale, the entire UC system, Stanford, or in fact any “Top” research center or college publishes, actually be trusted?

Sadly, I think not. I say this with a heavy heart and ask you to consider the following.

Can we trust the climate change folks, or the climate deniers? We know that a large percentage of the “Climate Change Data” was falsified. The simulation used to claim the planet had 12 years left was rife with errors and inconsistencies where the data was manipulated to produce a dire outcome.

The reason for this appears to have been more research money, fame, & fortune! But it spawned the “Consensus” bullshit on the one side and the “Climate Change deniers” on the other. 

The impact is that instead of having real data that was as good as it could be, presenting that data to the people of the world and using it to become better stewards of our beautiful planet. Really good and accurate research was thrown out with the contaminated data by 1/2 the planet.

There are a few people like myself who think we each should do our best to limit our long term effect on the planet. At the same time, we must intelligently assess and balance human needs versus planetary ecology. We should also be able to place our faith in our advancing technological capabilities, because if we’re all thinking about using our resources wisely then our “mistakes of necessity” today can and will probably be mitigated by technology of tomorrow.

That only works IF SCIENCE is indeed TRUTH.

There’s danger in bad or politicized research too. Look at COVID. We were actively shutting down scientists, real scientists who had actual data describing the dangers of mRNA. They weren’t blue skying or theorizing. These scientists had actually used and in some cases abandoned mRNA because of its inherent instability.

Instability mind you, that made mRNA unsuitable for their research on rats.

The world censored them, and ignored their real world experience in the matter. That’s like ignoring the man with the charred hand telling you that fire is hot.

Our society did exactly that. This is not to say that at some point in the future mRNA therapies won’t be safe, stable, and effective. However, right now we just don’t know enough to call mRNA therapy Safe. The scientists warning against the use of mRNA weren’t saying it should never be used, they were saying that it wasn’t ready to be used, YET.

What about CERN? Those folks are playing with stuff that could really go awry, can we trust that they’re not faking data, or worse yet unknowingly using falsified data in their experiments? If they are using bad data, where might that lead given the nature of their investigations and experiments? I’m not in the “CERN will create a black hole that destroys the world camp.” But there’s a whole lot of energy CERN uses, and directs, I’d hate to think their math is wrong. 

I think that no scientist should be censored, and the politics has no place in scientific endeavor. I also think it’s time for cut / paste researchers or Phds to pay a price for their deceit. I believe they should be tossed out of their field and never allowed to work or teach their subject of study again. 

I know that’s super harsh, but the consequence should be so terrible that no-one would risk it. Mistakes are one thing, actual deceit for a grant is criminal.

It’s the only way I can see to restore the integrity of science.