Not enough time to be chippy

 Okay there is, but with so much going on in the world, it just doesn’t feel like it.

So much to say so little desire to say it all, yet lets get started.

First I do not know what it is about the world, but every day it seems like the news is the same thing. Are we that bad of a planet even the horror is the same day after day?

Did I under estimate the Dallas Cowboys? Who knows, but next week might give us a true idea.

And to add to the “don’t you hate it when” blog

Don’t you hate it when you get up and get to work even a bit early and work hard. So much so, that when you realize you are starting to get hungry, feel accomplished, and think you can start planning on what you want to get done in the afternoon then you turn and look at the clock and realize it isn’t even 11am. What the heck, it feels like it should be 12:30 and you are late to lunch. All you can say is damn and try to not get another cup of coffee. 

Is Mitch McConnell the biggest wimp in Washington? How did he get to be where he is today? I know if he read this he would probably think oh another jaded human being feeling jealous, but seriously, he has no policy except to screw other people so he can feel accomplished. People in this country seem to forget a leader either has a solution, creates a solution or finds a solution. He doesn’t do either. And quite frankly what does he do? Outside of acting important, I really do not see anything from him. How far our country has fallen that people who have no real idea how to lead are in positions of leadership. Someone made him and that person needs to go to jail for crimes against humanity. 

And so Mr. solutionless himself is going to let this country go down the drain so he can blame someone else, when he is just as much fault as anyone. Does anyone really care? I could tweet at him how much he is failing as a leader, but he doesn’t read his tweets, someone else does and they won’t say anything because they don’t want to be the one blamed for it. We live in such a blame the victim society which also shows how far from greatness we are.

And speaking of greatness, oh wait, I was about to reference Trump. Why bother? The sooner he drops out of the limelight the better. Is he not the picture of entitlement? And truth be told, he is a loser twice. He lost the Presidential election, then he screwed up the fake news coup so bad no one could really tell it was a coup. Talk about serious mismanagement, oh wait he is the picture in the dictionary for mismanagement. Wish someone would show his followers that picture, but blind is blind.

And now the Democrats desperately need to be on the same page and they can’t decide what page that needs to be. 

So we are at the point where both parties have factions so split that nothing is going to be done and 300 + million people are going to be screwed because D. C is so far removed from them from being so tied to K street for so long they can’t see the sewage they created flowing into the Potomac.

And one problem though is the 300 + million people have received such a lousy education they do not know how screwed they are and the value of what they are losing. 

And don’t ask me if I feel jaded much. The answers are simple, been discussed, been offered, been shouted from the rooftops by many, but listening is another story.

Which begs the question, why is it that when you tell a lie often enough people believe it, but when you tell the truth people run from it, even when it is the most obvious and most times the correct answer to the question. Humanity is messed up.

And on that note, let’s sing because the violin reference is so overused. 

And maybe one day I will get back to writing short stories in this blog again, it has been awhile. Just so hard to feel creative or having fun when everyday seems like a repeat of hell. Heck I am feeling down and the Cowboys won yesterday, pretty sad. 

Cheers 

To be the gentry and the serf at the same time

 So if you ever want to start your own business or enterprise from scratch you are going to be responsible for pretty much everything at first.

Back when I was young and ambitious I did try to start my own business, I was somewhat successful for about a year. It takes much out of you so thinking about it again a few decades later is causing some confusion internally.

First of all, why bother? Yet this isn’t really a business, but an enterprise. I do not plan on trying to sell or build or be in service, but start a PAC. I do not think it will get off the ground and I have much research to do, yet somewhere in my burnt out synopsis something is crawling around chewing wires like a rat looking for higher ground that escaped the floods in N Y City. 

What to do? Quit my job and go full in? Register it and see if I can get someone to create a website with a purpose and see if anyone shows interest? To be successful currently it takes a serious understanding of creating an online presence and after ten years of this blog you would think I might have a sliver of an idea of some marketing, but no. I haven’t tried so I never spent time learning anything. 

I have no idea why this is spitting and sputtering through my brain. Well maybe a bit. I occasionally follow Nick Hanauer and his Pitchfork Economics website and blogs. Sometimes I hear information that I enjoy, yet lately I am frustrated with him and his organization. Now I do not dig deep, but for all  his pushing out of his agenda I am not really seeing a national uprising or at the very least a plan to put better public policy in front of legislatures or Congress. The little bit I do check it seems he may be pushing some ideas locally for him, but I do not see a large lobbying group in Congress to counter all the people he seems to attack or complain. 

Maybe I am missing something, but no where do I see large sums of money being spent on developing a new group to lobby Congress or whomever to put some better ideas in the public discussion. 

Nick Hanauer apparently has some wealth so he has the capability to do some of the work he does do, but I would think maybe him or people like him really need to put their money where there mouth is and start creating something more active, proactive and maybe akin to the Lincoln Project, well maybe not. There is another problem. We have some well connected people with some fun ads, but no real plan to develop some change. They love throwing Trump and Trumpism under the bus, but that does not get us anywhere, especially finding ways to get past Trump.

So this frustration creates a misfire here and there in my brain that maybe I should step up and create a better voice. The reason for the PAC is I could raise money to spend on ads etc. And my ads would attack the Republicans and Democrats for failing us across the board, but also offer alternative solutions or at least point some out. It would be an actual plan of action from all my ramblings over the years. I would also try to reach an audience that might be tired of politics in general to show them they are still needed for all of us to do well. Yes, folks, need serious messaging help here. 

Then again I am not young anymore, so I can do the research, but how far can I force myself into the water?  I am curious about myself now. Who knows?

Out of curiosity, any thoughts?

Here is a thought or two

So you are sitting around being unproductive or out for a walk or trying to decide what is for dinner and you wonder, is there a Federal Statute that says it is illegal to falsely claim a fraud or a hoax to perpetuate a fraud on another person or group.

The problem is how do you phrase this to enter into a search engine so you find out if this exists. Phrasing can be everything.

Anyway you can get a general reference, but is it enough to do the trick.

18 U.S. Code Section 1038. False information and hoaxes.

(a)Criminal violation

     (1) In general-whoever engages in any conduct with intent to convey false or misleading information under circumstances where such information under circumstances where such information may reasonably be believed and where such information indicates that an activity has taken, is taking or will take place that would constitute a violation of chapter 2, 10, 11, 39, 40,44, 111 or 113b of this title, section 236 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954(42 U.S.C.) or section 46502, the second sentence of section 46504, section 46505(b)(3) or (c), section 60123(b) of title 49 shall (A) be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years or both; (B) if serious bodily injury results, be fined under this title or imprisoned for any number of years up to life, or both; and (C) if death results be fined under this title or imprisoned for any number of years up to life, or both.

Now what does all this mean? For my purpose it was trying to read through all the sections listed and I haven’t yet, but look at the general principle. If I were to perpetuate a hoax saying that an election was stolen and here is the first kicker, was my hoax reasonable to believe, so think back there have been a few times and I think even Senora Kracken lawyer said no reasonable person would believe what was said(she even got in trouble for that)j but if it was reasonable to believe,,,how do you determine that, will the fact that large swaths of the general populace believe it make it reasonable to believe, practical sense suggests yes, but we are not dealing with practical sense we are dealing with law. Going on though an activity has taken or been taken on January 06 where people believed something, acted upon that belief and a death has resulted. Unfortunately this Code Section specifies the chapters that must be violated for the statute to be utilized. So do any of those chapters talk about fraud in general to a group of people or people in general? That is my next step.

Now this is a criminal statute so the burden of proof is also more difficult than a civil action, and we have quite a bit of abstract thinking to push us to what is believed by a reasonable person because the majority of the people do not believe this hoax is based on reasonableness, but fraud. So if you know it is fraud, what is a reasonable belief? Tricky and seems I am talking in circles, but the trick is to get out of the circle so you can show there was reasonable belief and that a specific act took place that caused (C) death and the person or persons responsible should be punished accordingly. 

And again we are stuck with this title specifying it has to violate the specific chapters listed. Or does it? If you think not, then you are asking the Judicial branch to legislate, most legal scholars and people do not think the Judicial branch should engage in legislating from the bench and that is correct, but if you could get a Judge to accept the first part of the statute can stand alone without having to bring in the listed chapters (and I still need to research them to see if one might apply) you could basically put Trump, half of conservative media, a slew of Republicans, assorted Qanon believers  and a few other Rudys in jail for life. 

Just  a thought.

Yes I am tired of election fraud nuts, anti vaxers, anti common sensers, anti respect your fellow man people, so you know, the brain starts wandering and wondering. 

No one wants to hear it, but the majority of this country is still moderate to moderately conservative and if anyone ever figures out the vocal minority of the right wing and the pretentiousness of the progressives is not the majority of this country then we might get back on track. 

Fix Social Security and I have espoused ideas, but open to others

Fix public education,  and same as above

Larger and more aggressive infrastructure plans and I have them with public private partnerships and still open to ideas same as above

Tax reform along with social security reform, it can work

making the transition to clean energy is more than legislating it and have espoused ideas and open to other ideas

Health care reform, not insurance reform, again same as above

Flatten the wealth growth of the super rich and spread it throughout society

Work on programs for mental health and the homeless

create public policy that supports families

These are just a few public policy needs that most of the moderate to moderately conservative Americans would support. There is definitely more.

It isn’t difficult people, just takes the realization that the middle is still the best road to hoe.

Just a thought. 

Ever woke up with too many thoughts to say anything

 It seems we are so overwhelmed nowadays with so much coming at us we cannot decide what to address first.

So I am going to try and keep it simple. 

Everything we need we avoid because people prefer to hate each rather than sit down and determine what is our priorities including the most simple priority to respect each other.

I want to blog a thousand page post on a ten trillion dollar infrastructure program we need.

I want to blog a thousand page post on improving education across the board.

I want to blog a thousand page post on the benefits of the economic benefits of transitioning to clean energy.

I want to blog a thousand page post on water management.

I want to blog a thousand page post exercising the demons of hate from our society.

I want to blog a thousand, thousand page posts to help make the world a better place.

As you can see, I feel a bit overwhelmed at the moment. People say everything is in God’s hands, yet sometimes they forget God uses our hands to get things done. Apparently we are dropping the ball.

When I first started this blog I had an introduction that basically said I wanted to discuss our world, maybe offer some ideas for solutions. I never thought I had all the right answers, yet just wanted a forum to discuss ideas. It seems like the last few years has made that very difficult. I still want to write to create this discussion, some days though, it seems a bit much. 

We cannot control the world, yet we can control how we address problems or how we approach the world. And so it goes back to the top of this post, if you respect each other you can do what you can do. Too simple sometimes.

Catching up on a few things

 First of all I recorded the game so catching up, yet I still haven’t had much chance to get too much of an idea of what to expect. I am still going to predict they will go 9-8 and finish second in the NFC east. If things go well, they might end up 10-7 and tied for first in the East. It won’t take much to win the East unless there is some marked improvement from a team. Hopefully it will be the Cowboys, but we will see.

Have you noticed you have to jump through hoops to access your account online, however, hackers are able to get into corporate information at the drop of a hat. Corporations act like they are protecting your information from your own incompetence in giving away your information, but all in all, if you screw up it is a giant headache, yet there are massive back doors real criminals exploit all the time. Yes, the T Mobile is the latest hack, but this just happens way too often. So quit making my life a headache and spend the money saving all our back ends from the holes in your back ends.

We all know Republicans are not a real conservative party anymore and have been giving lip service to conservative policy for years. And yes the new bill Governor Abbott signed into law to prevent abortions was written so pro lifers who do not understand what is really needed will think he is doing something when we all know this bill is so badly written that it will be shot down by the Courts. The part about rewarding people will be found unconstitutional. The true problem is these political games do not create the policy wanted. And the real issue is social conservatism is based on moral ideals and the only way to implement morality is to teach it, ingrain it into people’s hearts. Legislating it always fails. If people do not understand the importance of protecting life at all, or the importance of all life, they can be swayed by what sounds like rational arguments that takes life away. Yet this post isn’t about this argument, it is really just to note, there is no conservative policy being effectively implemented and the Republicans are too blame. So the question is not if the Republicans are truly conservative anymore, but what date do we put on the gravestone of the conservative version of the Republican Party. Just curious.

Cheers

Football season preview, ugh

 First, Happy Labor Day in case I do not get back to this blog beforehand. The ugly irony is the people who most deserve to celebrate Labor Day are the people who are most not able to have the day off. Ever since we became primarily a service sector economy the service sector workers get screwed the most. They should be the ones to have the day off. Could we not eat fast food or buy groceries or eat at a restaurant for one day? Or can the Amazon delivery people, or the furniture sales people, or the warehouse stores take a break. Unfortunately the people who need a break the most because of the last 18 months, the nurses, cleaning people, assisted living facility workers, doctors, first responders, etc... never get the day they deserve. We need to remember what this holiday is all about. Sure it is a general holiday, but we have way too many people that are not one percenters not getting any recognition as humans so lets give them the day.  Back to the post.

Well you know how I feel about UT leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, yet that won’t happen for a couple of years I guess. So what to expect this year?

Do I still want them to win the National Championship? Of course I do. Are they? Absolutely not. In fact it would be a large stretch for them to even make the 4 team playoff, a big maybe, but do not hold your breath.

And now for the Cowboys. And I do not have a clue this year. I do not make predictions every year, yet usually my predictions are within a game. I cannot remember if I made a prediction last year, but even if I said 9-7 or so we all know what happened so I am not going back to look.

Yet this year, too many unknowns. What is the real health of Dak? What is the real mental drive of Zeke? What is the offensive line? Seriously what is the offensive line? And by any chance is the defense remotely better even by a small percent? I haven’t been paying attention to training camp or any local articles in general or national commentary about the team so I have nothing to base a prediction. I will try and pay attention some this week and throw out a semi-educated guess before the season starts. No promises though. 

I have put $2 down on them winning the big game earlier this summer, but I think I lost the ticket so I may have to do that again. I always make my token bets on the Cowboys and Mavericks. Actually this year I made more than token bets on the Mavericks, and if they had won just one more game, hmmmmm?

I could bet on the Stars and the Rangers, but I just don’t have even the slightest bit of confidence in the Rangers for the next few years so that long shot is just too long. I just do not follow the Stars well enough to make a guess where they might land. I admit to being a very casual fan and the one person I trust to keep me up on the details of what is going on with the Stars may be moving out of state soon. What in depth info I trust I do receive will be gone. I tell you one thing though, I have been to many Stars games, well all teams, but the Stars fans do love their team. It is fun to go and watch the crowd.

With Luka, the Mavs have an outside chance of winning and the Cowboys are the Cowboys. If I don’t bet on the Cowboys, my children would start wondering if they need to put me in a home. It is just I am tired of being disappointed. It is one thing to screw up your off season, it is another to try and sugar coat it year after year trying to convince your fans you have a chance. Jerry has just spent that dime way too often. I do not trust any publicity info coming from the Cowboys even when it might hold a shred of possible truth. So for now I bet my $2 and hope. Again maybe in a week or so, I will have a better idea and will make my prediction. 

Cheers