Conspiracy theorists amaze me

 

I am a bit perplexed even though I understand the technicalities behind it as to why so many conspiracy theorists on social media make so much money. Sure advertisers will pay them to be on their sites since they have so many followers, but really. Whose at fault here?  And what gives? Corporations will market to what they think is their target audience, but are corporations relying on the gullibility of people or are they just going where are the numbers.

And complaining about corporations is not why I started this post. It amazes me how a conspiracy gets started and subsequently gains traction. I have not researched it, yet I feel confident there is an enormous amount of reading material on this subject so maybe the answer is there or partially there, but in some ways I doubt it fully comprehends how bad it is on social media. Yes I do get on social media mainly to follow a couple of topics, but there is so much madness in the way of my browsing. I am not sure what I did to cause the algorithms to target me with some of this madness, but the little I do receive is beyond the pale. And in curiosity I read some of it and all I can say is wow. People believe this madness?

And some of you may ask, am I jealous of what they make and I don’t. To a degree yes, but I started this blog years ago knowing I would not obtain massive amounts of followers. It was more to allow myself to write what I wanted and since my topics have a limited audience I knew I would be extremely fortunate to gather a following. I started because I was mad at the world around what happened in 2008 and 2009. Eventually I decided I needed to do something to make me feel better so I started this blog to complain about how bad public policy was for the market crash and recession that happened at that time. And I tried to offer other ideas that I thought were better. So instead of just complaining I tried to make it a positive. And trying to write better public policy in the United States has never been a game changer when it comes to attracting an audience. And to this day I still try to offer alternative or variations of a theme ideas different from what the duopoly of Republicans and Democrats offer. And add in, I spout my personal opinion about a variety of topics so I knew I would never rival the Kardashians in a following.

And I know conspiracy theorists have always had an audience throughout our history, but the degree to which they are taking advantage of social media amazes me. Are there that many people who cannot fathom what these people are saying? What drives them to this madness? And again there is much written about this topic, but deep down what are they so afraid of that they need this sense of community to be apart of that they will believe the most unsubstantiated nonsense. And of course to them it is not nonsense, or at least on the surface of their brain.

And how much do the actual writers of these theories believe themselves? Or are they just laughing all the way to the bank? Who knows, some might, but really how deep do they go in their own brains to promulgate this charade?

One of my favorites is the new world order and all its variants. How does anyone think whatever billion people on this earth is going to let themselves be ruled by one government. It seems ironical that conspiracy theorists postulate this idea yet they prove themselves incorrect by telling their audience to question any hint of a NWO, so if people don’t believe in a new world order then how could one come to fruition. And then throw in all the different types of cultures, religions, governments, heck even terrorists, and the capability of a NWO seems far fetched at the least. Yet these types of conspiracies run rampant and people spend money listening to all these people explaining how they are saving them.

So here we are in 2024 with so many real problems that need to be overcome, so many people actually doing good work in a variety of endeavors not getting half the attention needed nor the recognition and nut jobs making a fortune telling us only they can save the world. Oh yeah, then there is Truth Social. Smh

Have a better day

 

Stop, there will be a Tuesday

Time flies when you are stressing out.

So tomorrow is the big eclipse day. Some will get to see it some wont’ yet it is a pretty big deal.  I have a love/hate relationship with all the people saying there are signs of the end times happening including the eclipse, earthquakes, lightning striking the Statue of Liberty and so on. First well they are calling themselves Christians in most incidences, so that is good, but do they even know what is Christianity.

One of the biggest prophecies is the second coming of Christ, yet what did Christ say about it all. You ain’t going to know when. Okay maybe not like that, but generally there is no earthly designated time. And for all those that rely on signs such as the above, well we have always had the same signs.  So what is new. Honestly the end could be tomorrow, but not because of the signs, but because this was the time God had planned all along. So generally get your special glasses, head outside, pray for a break in the clouds if they are forecasted in your area and enjoy a down to earth astronomical wonder.

It is a wonderful sunny day here in North Texas, but high clouds are starting to drift in. I am hoping that we do get a break or very thin clouds so I can enjoy the moment. Life is too short to miss out on the wonders of the universe. 

Whether you believe in God or not, you do have to accept you know not the time you will pass, but have faith that if you do well you can live a remarkable or wonderful life. And for those that believe, have faith that God has this, whatever this may be.

Cheers

Unhoused versus homeless, words do matter and secondly a completely different topic on life.

 

This combination post shouldn’t go together, but both thoughts filled my brain this morning.

First I do not like the word unhoused. It sugar coats a major problem in this country in there are way too many homeless. Homeless may sound stark to some people, but the problem is stark. It needs to slap people in the face. People do not like feeling uncomfortable, yet we need to make people feel uncomfortable so they know the reality facing homeless people. So many times we allow ourselves to let homeless people be out of sight so they are out of our minds. This needs to change.

Do I have some magic answer? No and as part of my ongoing platform efforts I will try and add some ideas. I have posted about the homeless before even touching on some public policy. We need something. And homeless like Latinos are a much larger variety of a group of people than the labels suggest. People are homeless for a variety of reasons so there is no one solution to homelessness. Which means there are no easy solutions to address this problem.  

Yet for now I wanted to state words do matter and saying unhoused is just too woke. I certainly understand wanting to give people dignity and it is especially important to give dignity to those who are struggling, yet saying unhoused instead of homeless to me just doesn’t accomplish this goal. Recognizing them as people first and foremost and going to meet them in their situation to so they can tell you what they need shows much more dignity to them than changing descriptive words. We need to see them for who they are, not hide behind pleasantries.

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And strange but true in thinking about life, I made one of those so profound to me, but probably everybody else has thought of it too thoughts. Yes life should be fun.

I have made tons of mistakes, either I or my family has had to crawl out of self inflicted wounds or sometimes the wounds came from other sources. No matter the reason or cause somehow or another we have survived and throughout it all I have to say I and my family have had tons of fun. I stress, I worry, I fret, I have no idea what to do, but at some point we found a way to just have fun no matter how bad we thought we were having it.

Also it shouldn’t matter if you believe in a creator or other higher power or you are just secular. You need to make sure you have fun in life. Because no matter which way you believe, life is too short as the saying goes. And fun can be different for different people, but whatever it is, make sure you enjoy it as much as possible. Some days may be all work, but that is okay because when you can relax and let your hair down it makes it all the more enjoyable.

I struggle with people who work all the time or think they must suffer. There is enough suffering, stress and things you have to do not to enjoy as much time as possible. And if their only goal is to work for money, that is sad.

There is so much to do. Anywhere from the proverbial gone fishing to the highly charged adventure life. I fall somewhere in between overall, yet many times fun has just been laughing with the better half and the kids maybe driving somewhere or eating out or all of us just sitting at the dinner table long after we finished eating. All the kids played sports at various levels and had other school competitions and those were fun also. I do not know how many Saturday mornings were spent on a field, gym auditorium, cafeteria or somewhere else yelling and screaming or trying to be quiet for the academic events, yet we all enjoyed cheering each other on. Or the Sundays we spent teaching faith formation and the kids either having to go and giving us grief since they went to parochial school or finding ways to get out of taking a class that year. Weekends were always extremely busy as the kids grew up, but would never change a moment. Sure our garage was never the cleanest, can’t say house since the better half may read, lol, but did it really matter. Actually cleaning the house was a family project and everyone had their weekly or alternating daily chores. Most of the time it got done so why worry when it didn’t. People take some things too seriously.

And yes summers were just as busy even though school was out. The kids had their activities or played or were running around with friends while the two so called adults worked. One of the grandparents always stayed with us during the summer to be home while we worked which added to the things to do. Grandparents always need to be running errands or needing special things of their own which means Mom or Dad is driving around until 8 or 9 at night. Yet nothing slowed us down when it came to enjoying the day. Or taking the grandparent along for the infamous family vacation always added to madness that we laugh about until this day. And with any family sometimes you can say three words and everyone laughs, but the one who stuck their foot in their mouth at the moment. Somethings are just etched into the family dynamic.

Find something you enjoy and make it a hobby or a treat. Do not waste this life beating yourself up that things aren’t getting done or you haven’t accomplished what you want in life. I am much older now and am at least still trying to knock some things out. That is all you can do and while you are doing it, go fishing or climb a mountain or plant a garden or scuba or snorkel or ski or paint or write or have a mimosa at 9am on a random Tuesday, but don’t sit around bemoaning how bad things are because as you well know shit happens.

So I thank God I finally learned I have had a good life young enough to go out and enjoy it more even if I am walking a little slower.

And like I mentioned sometimes you are too busy and today I didn’t get the beer I was promised, yet Cheers anyway

I’m mad at Hotels.com hence Expedia, and other corporate gripes

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, hope you are having a wonderful spring day. A bit chilly here in North Texas.

Not sure what other corporate gripes are going to come to mind, but for now a general gripe since it seems we are stuck with them and their madness.

For Hotels.com it is more specific. They use to have a pretty straightforward rewards program, but lately it is pretty puny. And why does this matter. I can go to any number of hotel brands and join and have a rewards program which is true. Yet that means choosing a brand and sticking with it.

The reason I like Hotels is because I could have choices. I wasn’t restricted to one brand. And that is important to me for a variety of reasons.

Sometimes we travel from point a to b and it takes more than one day so we have to stay the night somewhere on the way. And since the midpoint location tends to be a moving target it allows us to be able to look at reviews of different hotels for the city or town we end up staying. So many times one brand will have good reviews in one city and not so strong in another city. By having a choice we can price and quality compare. This gives me strength as a consumer, or at least in my mind. If I pick one brand to gain reward points I may be stuck with an inferior product in one town compared to another brand.

Another reason is because of the end destination. Many times with Hotels we can choose a local hotel instead of a corporate hotel. And this has worked out well for us. We have enjoyed staying in some unique hotels over the years and this adds value to any vacation or trip. There have been many wonderful memories created by having this option. And with Hotels we would still get the reward points that were equivalent with any other hotel we stayed.

And this last point leads me to the corporate gripe in general. If you like a rewards program to help save you money then many small hotel chains or individual properties are hurt by Hotels’ reward program being so weak. And if these individual properties etc lose business then this only increases the wealth gap in this country even further. When there is more competition in business, more choices then people have to work harder for your business. If a few corporations can hook you into their rewards program then you are more likely to stay there. Yes this can be good in some circumstances such as familiarity, comfort level, certain perks, but you lose out on corporations competing for your business more dynamically. And like I mentioned small chains and individual properties lose business. The corporations already control too much of the market and for them to swallow up Mom and Pop businesses, then this hurts our economy in ways not often considered in most economic or business articles including increasing the wealth gap. Many small businesses created wealth for people, maybe not billions, but individual wealth. With small businesses being eaten up, more and more people are relying on a few billionaires to provide products and services. And of course they manage their businesses to achieve more profits not provide better customer service.

You may say their rewards program gives me customer service, but in the long run, those rewards and apps benefit the corporate bottom line more than you as a customer. It takes a bit of study and comparisons to realize this, but the bones they throw you are a small cost to the amount of real work they would have to do if there were more competition. And you lose out on originality, value for the dollar spent, meeting and interacting with locals who thrive and can tell you more about the city than some person hired working at barely above minimum wage just getting through a shift. Yes people who own their own business tend to care more about the customer experience than corporations.

And this watered down program from Hotels shows what happens when corporations have all the power, they can take away something from you if they expect you will still be their customer. Again Hotels.com has one advantage and that is choice of brand so they still offer some value, yet in a value conscious world that value is watered down with the loss of monetary reward such as a free night.

I have been a customer of theirs for years so this hurt when Expedia came out with this watered down program. I am struggling with how far I want to redefine where I stay. Again we have enjoyed some wonderful experiences in independent hotels. I hate losing that because if you like to travel it is the experience you are wanting. There was so much more discovered by either what the hotel offered or the information the people provided about where to go or best routes to take when sightseeing or just generally experiencing the town. Nothing like knowing the best restaurants to go in a small town instead of eating at another chain for breakfast or lunch. Small businesses need all the help they can receive nowadays, and the more business the better.

This is a sad state of affairs that for this one industry. One of the perks independent properties had was that Hotels.com gave them business and now if people like me feel the rewards aren’t worth the effort what else can they do. So for now we still us them, but I hate to think what the future brings. I am cheap so I like my free nights and struggling with a budget in today’s world that unfortunately matters.

No cheers for this madness

Cabrini: some thoughts and I have a critique of Father Mike Schmitz’s one critique

 

If you have not seen the movie Cabrini, go see it even if you are not Catholic or Christian or any religion. It is a well made movie and it is great. Yes, it is about a Catholic Saint, but there is much more to it than a pious film about a Saint, which leads me to my critique of Father Schmidt’s critique.

But first if you haven’t seen it, stop, see it then come back to this post. I am about to describe some of the scenes in the movie and I don’t want to be the spoiler guy.

Father Schmitz overall is right on target with his thoughts on this movie. He describes it well and presents an excellent discussion. His review is on youtube so you can see for yourself. He states his one critique with the movie is God or Christ is not emphasized enough. He then states this is not a Church film, this is a main stream film. Yet this is not the point I want to make. And my point is God is in the movie, it is the quiet part not said. The better half put it well, this is a movie about a Saint in action.

And that is one part of what is Christ in the movie. We revere God, Christ, yet we do not always have to say it. One of the primary teachings of the Church is to live our life as Christ lived his. Mother Cabrini does this and it is in the film. Her actions, her acts of love made in the face of all her adversaries and adversities show something that she has, faith. I too came out of the movie and wanted it said somewhere in the movie that it was her faith that gave her the strength to do what she did. Like Father Schmidt wanting more emphasis on God in her life, I wanted some recognition of her faith emphasized. Yet as I now critique Father Schmitz I realize the strength of the movie. It is the unspoken faith, the unspoken devotion to following God’s will that gives the movie more power.

Sure some people who do not want the Church to succeed or want to criticize the Church are saying this movie is more about a strong woman and will not concede what is behind her strength. Yet the movie is so well made a person has to ask themselves what gives her this strength, what helps her persevere when no one is behind her. You have to ask yourself how does a woman in the late 1800’s go to an all male world and conquer them and obtain what some will say what she wants. We know in reality it is God’s will that marches her on. Who says to people I want to create an empire of hope? Where does this come from?

And when you see that her actions have a foundation of love, it becomes obvious that there is more than just one determined woman involved. For people who may not believe for whatever reason though this movie can open them up to asking themselves these questions. Her life, her work, her love for the children and the sick are all what Christ asks us as Christians to do. For a person who has not been brought up on Christian teaching the movie can inspire them to think, reflect and ponder what drove this woman to such efforts. This is where God or more specifically the Holy Spirit comes in. Once a person starts asking questions, once their heart opens a tad, once they think, what is behind all this, then they will look for answers. We, as Christians, know the answers, yet if we try to force them it does not always work.

We are to evangelize, and in this case and all cases the we is spelled with a capital “I”. It is our responsibility to bring souls to Christ. Yet telling people about Christ so they know he exists is one approach, yet a true conversion a true understanding of the need for repentance doesn’t come with the vocal word, it is when a heart opens and lets the Holy Spirit touch on the longing we all have to what can truly bring us joy. This movie shows a Saint in action and gives the fence sitters, the non believers, the atheist, the agnostic food for thought.

I do not want to compare myself to any Saint, and I say this to illustrate a point. The greatest compliment anyone has ever given me was when I left one of my employments the person in charge said you could see Christ in me in my work and what I did. I never went around telling people they needed to convert to save their soul. I never preached, but this recognition that I do try to treat all people with real respect and it was noticed in the little things I do every day is a compliment like no other.  By no means at all was I like Mother Cabrini, but it was the notice of the simple things I did for others each day and recognizing it was one of the best moments of my working life and it left me speechless. Again it is us living as Christ that shows the world Christ. Mother Cabrini does this so well and the movie gives us this in all Christ’s glory without ever having to say Christ.

So Father Mike Schmitz, you know so much more than I. And I know this because I do listen to your work and teachings, yet I truly think you missed this very important nuance. I ask you to remember the final scene of where she is drowning and then comes a man that sees her and reaches down to her and you see her looking up to see the help she needs and then he rescues her. This scene comes at the point in the movie when she received the strength she needs to overcome the final obstacles to get what she needs to start the success of her mission. Just because no one says God or emphasizes God, you see God, not in the individual man, but in the help, him pulling her up to live so she can become the Saint we now admire. The example she gives us to emulate. Many of us may never become Saints like her, but if us who are already Christians become inspired to be more Christ like similar to her or those who have not yet seen Christ in their lives open their hearts and begin to ask the questions then the emphasis of God is seen and hence is there.

YBIC

 

Cheers!.

I am supposed to call someone dumb or stupid or whatever or worse

 

Yet YOU are not dumb or stupid or whatever or worse. It is not that I feel I have to insult someone, it is just society seems to relish in it. And that is not correct. It is not society that wants me to insult someone or some thing, but rather I wonder have we just devolved to that point. And I think not. So what gives?

Is it social media? Is it the media? Maybe.

I would love to have tons of likes on “X” what use to be Twitter. Why can’t it just be twitter? People change things for reasons that make no sense or it gives them a sense of power. I affected your life by my action. Yet is that true? I still say the same thing I would have no matter the medium. Maybe some people are affected. There seems to be even more hate on Twitter I mean “X” than before. Is it because the name changed? Or because the owner changed? Or because we are just going further down the crazed rabbit hole no matter what you call it or who owns it?

People are obsessed with being accepted by their side. And I am not sure what that even means anymore. Politically we have two sides and everything is geared for those two sides to control our lives. I personally have railed against this for decades and in print for over a decade now. Yet what do the great unwashed masses think is their side. Certainly not the political sides, but are they accepting that the two sides as their only choice or have they gotten to the point where they don’t even care anymore. Of course that presumes that at some point the great unwashed masses cared.

Polls say the majority of this country does not want a Biden v. Trump rematch, yet we are staring at it in the face. We got it no matter what we wanted. So what gives?

Did Ms. Haley make a valiant effort? Or was it just a waste of media space all along? I am perturbed she dropped out. I wasn’t going to vote for her, but I was routing for her.

Yet as a person that posts on some type of social media, do I fail because I do not have a thousand likes and is it because I do not play the hate game? Do I succumb to insulting the other side to make a bigger name for myself? Yet I am against both sides. I do say both sides have failed this country, but I do something “weak” and attack them on points, try to come up with something better, argue for policy changes, patter for new ideas, but it falls on deaf ears or unresponsive ears. Why? Do I need to say horrible things to get noticed?

Some people might call me a Mike Milquetoast, someone who acquiesces or lets others run over them because I do not attack, yet those same people do not define on what hill I should die on. That is for me to choose. I feel no matter what age you are, whether you are 33, 43, 53, 63, 73, 83 acting like the 13 year old mean girl is not the answer. And just because I do not act like the 13 year old mean girl does not mean I am not ready to fight. Again I choose what hill I die on. And quite frankly like 99.999999… percent of humanity I am not ready to die on a hill, any hill. I may have an inkling of what that may be, but like most everyone except the Saints I am not that strong, yet it is mine to choose. And it is definitely not joining the crowd and spewing vindictives against some imaginary enemy to make me feel good.

Yet here we are staring as a country at something we say we do not want. The hate, the candidates, the public ridicule some people are suffering through for no reason are some of the current madness we say we don’t want, but open your local social media outlet and what do you have.

Invite someone to a barbecue, a back yard cook out, a dinner party, and we can talk about everything, but what it is we don’t want. Sports, books, movies, recipes, how to build a better deck for the backyard, cars, makeup, the list goes on, and we might even disagree about some aspects of it like what is the best sauce for barbecue, but what is staring us in the face right now we cannot bring up. People who normally like each other have been set on fire with angst about someone being on the other side. There is no compromise because it has become sacrilegious to say lets get something accomplished. I am willing to concede a point to do something better is criminal behavior. You have failed your side. And quite frankly we are all on the same side just looking differently at the answers. Does our side’s answers make us feel better? What gives?

I will continue to offer my version of sanity. Some type of idea that normalcy, what ever that may be, still exists. I will not create more hate just to get a name, yet I still want some success. How does a person create space for themselves in this environment by trying to jolt people awake to something better? What can give?

I hope to find out, but for now have a good evening.

The independent platform part 4: taxation

 

I think I want to keep this simple. I have written proposals before and as time goes on it becomes more apparent to me that we do not much hubris in the tax code, we just need something everyone can understand.

If you think we should have a flat tax I disagree and have spelled out the specifics in an earlier post, however the headline is flat tax rate is significantly primarily detrimental to the working and middle class.

Yet if you want something simple like a flat tax and want to stick with the concept of a graduated income tax, here goes. The numerical examples are totally for illustration. They can be adjusted to what works best, however this illustration should give you an idea of a simple graduated income tax code. They are going to be a couple of differences that will be spelled out below the example. Otherwise this should be the code. Just keep it real simple for all.

Income                                              tax rate

$0-25,000.00                                    0%

$25,000.01-150,000.00                  5%

$150,000.01-500,000.00                10%

$500,000.00-2,500,000.00            15%

$2,500,000.01-5,000,000.00         25%

$5,000,000.01 and greater           35%

 

This tax schedule applies to individuals, small businesses, corporations etc. and encompasses all types of income such as earned, passive, short term capital gains, dividends for example.

A couple of caveats:

No social security income is taxed.

Long term capital gains would be moved to 24 months and for people up to $150,000 in income there would be no taxes. For people with income $150,000 to 2,500,000, it would be 10% and then 20% for income over the 2.5 million.

Hedge funds, investment banks etc would be taxed 90% on short term trading, algorithm trading and probably need to go a bit deeper in how this is addressed or define some specific parameters, but basically it has to hurt to manipulate the market for immediate gain.

I am open to some slight changes in the actual numbers once they are plugged into they system, but the general principle would apply.

And if you want a flat tax rate and do not like this instead then you are just a very wealthy individual who doesn’t care about the vast majority of this country.

More platform ideas to come.

Cheers