The 2020 random thoughts begin and even one from the paranoid posts

Okay been picking up this morning and went from old Austin Punk rock to Simon and Garfunkel for the music choices. Huge disconnects going on in the world nowadays. Yet, in my warped head which music you listen to doesn’t matter as long as it is good.

Where to start? How ‘bout them Democrats?! or.... hard for me to understand why you would want to shout out the crazy when you are trying to win over an audience. Whether or not someone said if anyone votes against Trump their head will be on a spike it is irrelevant to the case so why bring it up. Let it filter out for the public to hear and let the media bash it to death. Or Nadler insulting people on the first day so much so that our semi illustrious Chief Justice had to participate more than he probably wants to. 

This impeachment never should have happened. The people that support him have gone blind to reality; the Republicans are lining up behind the blind to keep their jobs and as always the Democrats are clueless by letting Trump stand up in front of the nation after all this is done and gloat he is exonerated after the Senate acquits him. Trump is morally bankrupt, devoid of principle, all talk and no action, and a narcissist. Yet there are enough people in this country who won’t accept it because the very same people who will acquit him have failed them to the point they are angry at Washington D.C and have this false belief Trump is going to fix it all. Well, we have mentioned this numerous times so moving on now. The Democrats should be working hard to find someone to ignite their own grassroots movement that actually supports some practical policy to at least move the needle a bit on Trump’s base. Instead, they have gone to multiple grandparents to provide new answers of which they don’t have.

The only way to remove Trump from office is to neutralize his strength which is the anger of millions of Americans that he has now directed at the Democrats and mainstream media. I am not saying he is right, but that is what needs to be addressed. Grandpa or Grandma ain’t going to get you there.

Speaking of moving on the Mavericks had to rather quickly. Dwight Powell had worked his way into being a valuable piece to a playoff-bound team and his efforts to get there need to be recognized. His work ethic is definitely something to praise. Then comes the one second that derails the best of careers; a season-ending injury of major significance. Mr. Powell, we hope that you are able to come back. Your efforts to get you where you are is something all parents need to show their young children who want to be athletes. Mavs fans pray for your complete recovery. 

And yet in sports, the team needs to move on. I am on record as not wanting the Mavericks to make a trade this year. As always rumors start being spun this time of year in the NBA and I hoped they would be ignored by Mr. Cuban and Mr. Nelson. Now we have made two trades, which in reality is one, it took two moves to get there. Apparently, we have or are about to have Mr. Willey Cauley Stein. If Powell wasn’t injured then this would not have taken place. I would have preferred to have maybe gotten lucky and traded for a very young piece who had the same work ethic as Dwight Powell and coached him up. WCS, as he is known in some press reports, fits in some ways. He is somewhat young headed into his prime years. He has talent. The unknown is will he step up his efforts and let the Mavericks game come to him or will he inject sidewise issues into very good team chemistry. Hard to say because he has not been given this opportunity on a team yet, but also he won’t be starting. Which affects him the most will have a telling effect on what he does for the team. Cautiously I will be optimistic based on his talent level and hope the success of the team instills in him the desire to be part of it.

Election year is upon us and I still rant and rave the duopoly of the Republicans and Democrats have failed us. The Impeachment trial is more proof positive of this failure. We need new parties, yet for now, we are stuck again with clueless Democrats and greedy Republicans trying to convince us their incompetence and lies are the answer. Sheesh

Finally today, the paranoid posts rear their ugly head for the first time this year. Is the Coronavirus SARS 2.0, an overreaction, or another Chinese failed development of germ warfare that got away from them? Why is it that two unusual and unique viruses come from the same region and apparently spread quickly around the world? Is this actually what they say, some version of an animal to human virus that mutates or are they doing top-secret work there and someone left the door open? Who knows? Yes SARS and Coronavirus are years apart, but coincidence isn’t always based on time. Let’s hope the paranoia in me is working overtime. 

And I much prefer the Corona virus from Mexico, specifically Corona Familiar, “la cerveza mas fina”. Hmm, I have a few in the frig, oh wait still got a few things to do.

Cheers

Don’t even think about it Donnie

As we approach the NBA trade deadline more and more articles are appearing saying who the Mavericks might trade for. Who? Well, the answer is absolutely no one. Why give up good players for what another good player? Yes, the Mavericks do not have a “third superstar”. So.

Or some articles keep saying they need a “3 and D” guy. Yet, all the names that surface are not superstars and their statistics do not say WOW!, this guy is so much better than our guys. They just don’t. And yet all these articles want us to give up two or three players and a draft pick for a player that isn’t moving the needle. There are no earth-shattering trade possibilities right now that work for the Mavericks. 

We don’t want Chris Paul, we don’t need Robert Covington, we definitely don’t need the two or three centers being mentioned. Kevin Love can play elsewhere. There isn’t a Laker that is going to be traded that will benefit the Mavericks.

Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Kemba Walker. Joel Embid, Jimmy Butler, Karl Anthony Townes are not coming to the Mavericks. The very few players that would make a difference for the Mavericks are not coming here. They didn’t come last summer, or trades weren’t available last summer and we do not have first-round picks for any package to get one of the players that would make us automatic Championship contenders. 

The Mavericks are a good team that is surprising people and could continue to surprise people as they stand right now. Keep the 8 or 9 players rotating behind Luka and sometimes KP and keep them as they continue to delight Mavs fans for the rest of the year. 

Courtney Lee’s contract expires this summer, JJ Barea may or may not play on, and just about everyone else has at least another year with this team. Let this team playout for the rest of this year and next unless something so astronomical changes in the NBA that one of the 5-10 difference makers in the NBA want something different so bad they force a move like Anthony Davis did, and even then don’t give up half the ship to get one player. 

At least 80% of this team is in their prime or moving into their prime and all are competitive players. Let this team enjoy playing with each other. This gives this team two years to overachieve and the potential is definitely there and spend the time evaluating players for free agency or a trade when it comes time to resign Luka. If the Mavs over achieve then the right trade(s) will come about because then you will know which players work best with Luka and which are maybe duplicates or not the right fit and another team may be a better fit and then everyone is happy. 

We have a good team, borderline very good team, borderline super surprise team, why screw it up because some GM wants to unload a player so they can rebuild. We have done a good job, why make it easy for another team.

Cheers!

More on term limits

First, I got another quixotic corporate complaint going on today. Over and over again the customer is not right even when solving the problem or not even a problem is simple. Until I do more I will remain quiet, but I am chasing another windmill and hopefully, I can tear off a bit and get some satisfaction. Or better yet, what should be done in the first place. 

I struggle with so many people being for term limits. I don’t like talking negatively, yet term limits are a weak and ineffective way to solve a problem. I have talked about term limits before so I am going to focus on two aspects of why I do not think they will accomplish the goal people who want term limits think will happen.

I have two concerns and one only affects the House of Representatives. The first concern is term limits are not election reform and especially if you are trying to limit the effect money or lobbying has on politics. In fact, it will make it worse.

Nowadays people think and rightfully so that because people are in Washington D.C. they are more influenced by lobbyists or because of the amount of time they are in office the lobbyist relationship is stronger. The goal is to hold the people we elect accountable to the general population not special interests. It seems some people believe if we create a revolving door these relationships wouldn’t be so ingrained. 

This to me is naive. In fact, the opposite will happen and especially if the duopoly of the Republicans and Democrats continues. Money will find a way to protect money and by thinking you push back more control to the people you are doing the opposite. The lobbyists, the powerbrokers behind the money and the parties at the National level will find ways to groom and vet future candidates long before they run. Young people that show any political ambition will be conditioned to represent the power brokers long before they are in a position to run. Careers will be developed for these people so they can rise to become electable. And electable to the public, yet to the benefit of the same lobbyists’ relationships, we are trying to curtail with term limits. This is probably already going on to some degree, yet it will become even more entrenched. 

Lobbying is an investment for special interests. The people who invest expect results. So instead of cuddling up to the current representatives they know can stay in power indefinitely they will realize they need to get ahead of the curve if the person voting on the laws only has a limited time to achieve their desired result. They are smart people. If the person coming into office is already married to their money and influence then the results of their efforts will be felt immediately. This is a much better investment for the power brokers and like I said is probably already being done to a degree. It is a larger investment because you have to do more research and more recruiting, yet once in office they are working for you from day one. The elected representative may think they are truly representing the people, yet the grooming will have produced so much cognitive dissonance they won’t even realize exactly how their votes in office truly affect their constituents versus the benefits to the benefactor. 

Is this an extreme scenario? I do not think so, but if you want to believe term limits are going to solve problems you might think so.

The other concern is a bit harder to grasp and more simple, but it definitely gets in the way of saying that term limits will improve the actions of Congress and specifically the House of Representatives. The Senate would avoid this problem because it only turns over 1/3 at a time. The House turns over every two years. So if you limit people to five terms in the House and two in the Senate, there is ongoing change in the Senate. The House though could end up turning over once every ten years. If the lobbyists and National Parties control who is elected which they will, then the only time voting matters will become when the current Representative’s cumulative total is finished. So every ten years we will get a whole flock of new Representatives that basically are the same as the old, but with new names. It seems a stretch that every elected Representative will fall on the same ten-year cycle, but if the power brokers continue to thrive in this environment they will find a way to make it happen. They only kink in the works would be if an official went off the chain and either went rogue or did something so egregious that the public went and found someone different for a term or two. And looking at the current level of public interest in actually how bad our politicians are, it would take something extremely egregious for anyone the powerbrokers put in place to be removed from office by a vote.

As always the real way a successful democracy or representative republic or something similar is going to work is to have an educated and engaged electorate. And the duopoly of Republicans and Democrats have done a great job of keeping the public uneducated and limited in the engagement aspect of voting. The parties keep moving to the extremes year over year so the candidates must satisfy the few who vote in the primaries which leaves us a limited choice in representation to the general populace. As always this leads me to say.....wait for it......wait for it......We need new parties.

We need serious election reform, the money out of politics, better candidates and more. And I have posted ideas on that topic and I have some new ideas for election reform that I could add to that post soon. For today, I just wanted to spit out a few pitfalls that reliance on term limits to solve our problems may present. 

Cheers

Corporations aren’t our best friend

Right now there is much to unpack around the world, yet with all the misinformation, disinformation, conflicting information, etc, how can a person make an honest determination of what just happened. I know some will say their opinion and have an answer, but quite frankly things are so crazy I just read an article that Solelmani was actually trying to become a channel or set up a channel between Iran and the Saudis through Iraq. How true is that, I do not know, but it shows how much is out there and shows making informed decisions is virtually impossible. Who do you trust for a source right now?

So let's deal with our ongoing problems closer that are closer to home today. I expect that this has happened to you in some shape form or fashion and it drives me crazy. Whenever a corporation makes a mistake that costs you, somehow or another even the correction to the problem still costs you something. Many times with a physical product they will replace it and still, there is no acknowledgment of your time having been used or any other effort on your part to either go to the store or whatever you need to do to get have a good outcome. Sometimes at a restaurant, you might get a freebie on your bill or something. Overall though the concept of actually matching the effort you put out to resolve the issue is not reciprocated. And the larger the issue or the more inconvenient the problem the less you receive to equalize your efforts. In fact, most corporations’ policies are so restrictive and so protective of their interests that you are going to be out more than their costs to fix it. They ain’t paying for their mistakes, period. 

Or even if you have to fight them in court and win, you won’t be made whole. Their solution of paying some money does not cover the amount of angst, time, effort, patience, nor does it completely replace what was lost half the time. And what was lost can be a myriad of items including your health, but they have what they will accept in costs and will wear you down to get to where their expense is acceptable to them. 

This is one simple example of their advantage and this is not the reason I am posting this today. I have a couple of other fights going on and one I know I am losing badly. The second is developing and may or may not cost something more than what it took for them to make the mistake, but as of my last conversation, it is going to. Anyway back to the example, you buy a product on a credit card and your card is charged right away(debit card transactions are a bit better in some places like grocery stores), then you have to return it. They credit the same card, but it takes 3-5 business days for the return to show on your card. Only a slight inconvenience, yet it exists. Let’s say though you check your statement and it was never credited. We pay off our credit card bill every month so we do not lose interest, but we have to pay the higher amount to pay off the bill then go back to the store, and here is those intangible expenses, the time to go to the store and show them the receipt for the credit so they can “research” what happened and hopefully credit your card within 3-5 business days again. 

So you are out lost spending power for a time, come up with more cash to pay a bill so you won’t be charged interest while you resolve it, or lose time calling your credit card company trying to get them to look into it, or if you do not pay off your bill in full you pay more interest than you should, and if you drive back to the store your time and gas have been spent. Does the corporation begin to compensate you for all this? No. Now should they? Honestly, I do not know, but something should be addressed because the more they screw up the more it costs you. 

If if the original situation, you received the credit promptly then the only cost to you is going back to the store to return the item. If you made the mistake, well that is on you, but if it is a defective product, then you are spending your time at a cost to you.

As Americans, we tend to accept that this is the cost of living in the modern world, yet why should we. If the product is defective, the manufacturer should have some skin in the game. They will say they took the product back and they are already losing money. Too bad, they made it, they need to address their issues, but not at a cost to you. The funny thing about it is if you yell and scream enough the store might give you a ten percent credit or something, but the yelling and screaming still cost you energy and the manufacturer still is held harmless. They lose my business, my trust, etc, but it still comes at a cost to me. I will return the defective product and use the credit to buy another brand of whatever item I originally purchased. Yet all this took up time and effort. 

And you may be wondering why I am going to such great lengths for such a simple problem. Again, this is the simple example and something similar to this happened over Christmas. There are two much bigger issues going on that I do not want to talk about which will cost us immensely or even significantly even if they resolve the problem. Much more than the example above in time and effort. And I am going to lose in one of the battles because of the rules of the game and it is a huge loss. I can try to sue them in court, but it is the type of case I need to pay the attorney up front and winning is not guaranteed and the best evidence for my case has not been provided to me and the people that might have something are in no obligation to give it to me, much less make the effort to actually obtain it. 

The Corporations have got it down to a science and either we lose some even if we can win and or worse even sometimes if you are right you lose.

And it is these same corporations who lobby Congress to kill consumer protection laws. 

And we let them. Write or call your Representative or Senator anytime you see legislation being watered down against your benefit. They are not representing you unless you make them. 

And there is much I would like to say about current events, however, uh...well... let's leave it alone for now. 

Cheers

It’s a good day to get excommunicated.

Happy New Year everyone, and well it is the 8th day of Christmas so Merry Christmas. 

So what gives, why today do I seem to throw my faith away? 

Today is the day I ask the world for a new name. The word God has become so cheapened by society that God is losing influence over us at an astounding rate. 

And why now all of a sudden do I think the word God is overused and has lost touch with our real creator. I mean we have had false Gods, mythological Gods, people will say wow that girl looks like a goddess all throughout history. And we have had societies lose their moral compasses before, decline, yet mankind comes back and the belief in an all-powerful creator comes back to lead the reemergence of new societies and countries. 

Christianity has survived many tumultuous events and still the Bible written in the 4th-century guides Christianity today. Yes, there have been some rewrites to change some practices yet generally, the same message and stories remain.

The Scrolls have survived and the belief of one God continues even though the believers of Judaism have been scattered throughout the world. 

Some people will tell us the end is at hand and the second coming of Christ is right around the corner. And that started in the first century. The story has changed, but just ask around sooner or later someone will tell you you do not have much time and must repent.

I do not know much about Islam, Hinduism, Buddism, and other religions yet there are always some teachings that will lead you to a better world. Now I do know Islam believes in the same monotheist God Christianity and Judaism does, I just don’t know enough to comment on their interpretation.

Yet with all this talk of God, what God has taught us doesn’t exist on the planet anymore. Okay, I exaggerate, but our moral decline around the world is plainly obvious. 

So am I losing my faith? No. Actually, I have spent this Christmas season trying to follow more of the practice of my religion to reinstill faith back in me. And yes if you put me above a burning pit and say if I renounce my faith I won’t be dropped into the fire. I am a weak enough human being I will probably denounce, who knows I might be strong enough to state what I believe as I drop to my death. As a human though I must confess that is much to ask. Any human that says they would thoroughly die dropped into a burning pit and not renounce their faith is either a true saint or I would never trust them with anything. Most honest people know that kind of moment would test any person’s faith.

The real issue started when people started saying President Trump was the chosen one. This scares me at a new level. There have been false gods before. Why should some nutjob spouting this nonsense scare me such? I don’t know, but it sure does and at a very high level. Maybe because we can transmit nonsense around the world in nanoseconds. Or maybe because the people who are agreeing or making the argument are potentially my neighbors or co-workers. 

They have removed the concept of God from rational thinking. You cannot now in the 21st century think for one moment that Trump has any semblance of acting in a manner that God would choose him. And choose him to do what? One argument I read was that God uses all of us including Judas so Trump could be the chosen one. Uh, no. Judas was in a unique situation and he eventually committed suicide for his actions. Everyone else God has chosen tends to have a higher purpose. Sometimes it doesn’t materialize right away, but in general, the person themself exhibited some degree of humanity.

President Trump doesn’t even come close to showing himself as an instrument of God. I am not a believer in the rapture theory. The second coming will not be what we expect or makeup. We have no idea and wasting our time trying to convince people of this is so short-sighted. Our goal is to teach God to others so they can build their own relationship and let the relationship grow.

Everything else cheapens God and weakens God. We have no idea about the extent of the power of God. Anyone that says they do, run. Run away very fast. Truth is we are devoid of any real concept of the power of God.

Our creator created life. Think about what it takes for you to read this post, make a decision about if you agree/disagree, like/dislike, and if you want to respond. You cannot sit there and think life is a fluke. We are created and our life is a gift. The above is just one aspect of free will. You like, you dislike, but you decide. You decide about God, following God, how you follow, what religion you may decide to use to follow God. All this exists, but it does not answer to who is God. 

And these arguments could go on for centuries, and as you know they already have been down that path. So this is why I think we need a new name for God. Everything about what makes God wonderful has been lost by all the people who weaken the absolute truth of God by using the name God for their own immoral purposes. I am just tired of trying to sort through the madness to get to the truth. 

And realistically this argument is just a symptom of a much larger problem. “A rose is a rose by any other name.” Or something like that, I am too lazy to go internet searching to make sure I got it right, yet it says enough to make the point. The name God isn’t the problem, the lack of the understanding that we have lost touch with God is the problem. So many people scream they have a relationship with God, yet their actions show something completely different and this includes the people saying President Trump is the chosen one. 

I cannot sit idly by and watch God be cheapened so if I change the name I can continue my relationship with a being I do not understand, comprehend, fail as a human for such, ask forgiveness, have no understanding the depth of love given to me when life was given to me, cry to, ask favors of, helplessly plead for others, and yet strangely understand that because this life was given to me and others I need to do better, treat others better, take care of what is given better, follow what is truly taught, attempt to make the decision to choose right over wrong, try to teach this to my children and others, and most importantly have a relationship with so I can make my feeble attempts to be what is wanted from me or asked of me whether I know what that is or not. 

I have my will, my choices, yet deep down I know I must listen to a voice that cannot be heard to find what is right. Unfortunately, the word God has taken away what is God. And nowadays it seems it is worse than any part of history that I have read. Am I right or am I wrong? Who knows, yet I see we are missing something on this planet that should be blatantly obvious. 

Some people prefer science, some say science disproves God, some say God is more important than science, yet all miss the point we are created so we must accept both till there may come a time when the entire truth of the universe is revealed to us. Until then we must keep our minds open, God is not a fairy sky monster, tyrant, hippie, commie, magician, or whatever. God created us on this dynamic planet and for some reason, we have to go with the flow and choose love over hate. Yeah, some 1960′s song or something...no.

Anyway, people will argue till the end of time, but till then we are stuck with a name that no one appreciates anymore because of what everyone else decides not what our creator decides. And yep there isn’t any religion on planet Earth that wants to change the typeset so God please forgive us all.

Cheers and have a blessed, peaceful, and prosperous New Year.