Category: Kevin’s Stuff

So, What’s The Answer? I Don’t Know, but Here are Some Random Thoughts

Don’t let item 1. tick you off from the get go.  I beat up on them in later paragraphs.  No, there aren’t any answers to the problem in the paragraphs below.  No, there aren’t any explanations as to why things are they way they are.  But somewhere, someone is going to read this and maybe an idea will pop into their head that WILL be the answer.

  1. The N.R.A. is not the villain in these mass shootings.  The villain is the person who pulled the trigger.  But, there are others whose actions, or inactions, have contributed to the problem (the N.R.A. included).
  2. Considering the capacity for the media, liberal or otherwise, to conduct investigations in GOP campaign donations received from the N.R.A. (in the millions !!!!) I find it odd the media hasn’t been able to show bribery took place in the form of cash for legislative votes.  So, continued posting of N.R.A. contributions is a distraction and waste of time.  We’re all looking for someone to blame, but its not the N.R.A.
  3. Howerver, the N.R.A. is a mega force to be dealt with.  Why is it that all of their experts haven’t been able to assist in solving the problem?  I’m not saying it’s their problem to solve, but I am wondering why they haven’t participated in the conversation.
  4. Part of the current conversation is, “Why didn’t so and so tell so and so about the thing he did yesterday, last week, last month, years ago?”  The ACLU and the peripheral entities like it have made it impossible for those in the know to release information.  Think about HIPPA laws.  Think about those, “Hi, this is the principal of so and so school.  Your child got beat up and his life was threatended but I’m not allowed to tell you by who or what punishment (if any) will be tendered”.  Think about laws (good laws, by the way) that don’t allow the local, state or FBI to share information (in some cases) nor chase down suspected criminals without probable cause (probable cause is the belief that someone has, is currently, or is about to committee a crime).
  5. Posting pictures on Instagram or any other social media is NOT probable cause nor does it make you a killer in the making.  Some people are into art, some people collect guitars, some people are into cars and motorcycles, some people are into dogs, some people collect snakes and some people collect guns as a hobby.  All of those people are proud of their possessions and like to show them off.
  6. Think about all those STUPID LAWS banning guns in or around specific public places (post offices, schools, etc).  As such, ONLY THE BAD GUYS HAVE THE GUNS.
  7. It is absolutely without any logical basis that a 19 year old needs a license to drive a car but doesn’t need a license to buy an AR-15.
  8. By the way, I fully support the need for licensing in relation to gun ownership.  That licensing will include mental and criminal back ground checks, safety information and firearms proficiency. This, of course, is a book in and of itself.  Those opposing licensing will argue about another layer of red tape, time delays, government involvement, etc etc.  Too bad.
  9. I am torn about the need for AR-15 ownership.  Ownership proponents will argue it provides self protection.  Usually, they refer to self protection from the government in the form of them coming to take your guns away.  Those people have their own paranoid issues to deal with.  On an isolated incident level, when the government comes to take your guns away, they’re not coming with one deputy sheriff and a Court Order, they’re coming with a tactical team that’s going to have fire power to make your AR-15 like a pea shooter.  And, they’re going to take your guns away.  For the legitamately scared home owner, the shotgun is the one and only valid self protection weapon for a violent break in.  I guess, what I’m saying is, there are better alternatives to the Assault Rifle – 15.
  10. From time to time I see posts referring to conversations between people and God.  They ask God, “Why did you abandon us during that school shooting”.  God replys, “Because you kicked me out of schools long ago”.  My analogy is if you’re going to ban guns, not only from the building, but from anywhere near a school building, then THE ONLY GUYS WITH THE GUNS WILL BE THE BAD GUYS.  Maybe it is time to stop worrying about the “lawsuits” and have at least one armed person on campus at all times children are present.  And, let’s make sure when that person calls in sick, there is someone else present.
  11. “No one should own a gun”.  Look at England.  Look at Australia.  Look at blah blah blah.  That ship has sailed.  And, if you’re really want a civil war, pass legislation banning gun ownership in this country.  All of you who DON’T have guns – I guess you’re going to be on the losing side.   For every chart, graph, study, and comparison of countries that don’t allow gun ownership in relation to mass shootings, there are plenty more supporting the opposing argument.  Numbers and charts mean nothing.

 

Wisconsin – Suffering Worker, I mean Slave, Shortage

https://www.wsj.com/articles/wisconsin-facing-a-worker-shortage-pitches-its-benefits-1518431400

Don’t we all recall how proud Wisconsin was when it passed it’s Right To Work Laws, essentially destroying unions.  Remember how the propaganda said the law prohibited businesses and unions from reaching agreements that require all workers to pay union dues.

Well, now that’s coming back to bite them in the ass as workers figured out their benefits were stripped, their pay stagnated, and their working conditions diminished.  So, where’s the right to work??

Is the big “protection” workers got from having to pay union dues?? Or, was it really a chance for super rich business owners to strip their workers from the ability to protect themselves through collective bargaining?

Wisconsin wonders why it has a worker shortage?  Well, we all have the answer as to why.

The Degregation of Democracy

There are, amongst many things, at least three core principals that have made our democracy the longest running one:

  1. free elections
  2. free press
  3. congressional checks and balances

Now, we have a president who continues to refer to our elections as rigged; a press that only produces fake news; and a congress that is a lap dog rather than a watch dog.  We have a president who wants to be either a king or a simple dictator.

Donald Trump is a danger to society; a danger to the people; a danger to the United States and a danger to democracy.

Trump Was Right!! There Are Shitholes

And, they’re called Trump Tower, Mar Largo, and, rather sadly, The White House. The places where some of the most vile, corrupt, racist, and disgraceful people on the planet occupy. A place where disrespect, sexism, lying, corruption, and treason are rampant.

ATT Bonus Scam

ATT proudly boasts $1,000 bonus to roughly 22000 employees. A cost of 22,000,000. All of which they credit to Fake Presidents Tax Reform Scam. What they didn’t say was they also laid off 600 workers. At an average salary of $65,000 that paid for the bonus and left them with a $17,000,000 profit. Wow!!!

ALL THE SIGNS ARE THERE – But No One’s Reading Them

There is a great debate between those who believe is isolationism (full disclosure – I am one) and those who readily point out the weakness in such a position.

Perhaps we should start out with what my definition of “isolationism” is.  1. No foreign aid.  Keep OUR money here for our education; health; infrastructure; lowering the “debt”; 2. Forcing AMERICAN companies to build IN AMERICA to maintain our ability to manufacture things and benefit the workforce. Consider our manufacturing might in the late 1930s and early 1940s.  We could convert any factory to manufacture goods to protect ourselves militarily.  We can no longer do that.  3. Stay out of other countries “business” – as cruel as this sounds, if they want to kill each other, let them.  It is unacceptable for our kids to fight and die in another country because of that country’s internal strife.  4. Create a balanced immigration policy that lets in all whom desire to be here under strict guidelines.

Now, how immature is that.  But I’m not the only one who feels that way.

Fast forward to where we are now.  There are signs that our country is going the way of Rome regarding the horrendous nature of our politics and culture and, get this, of USSR.    If you were to consider USSR’s fall from being a world power in the 80’s, you would see some similarities to our country: 1. a corrupt political system; 2. massive foreign financial aid with little to no return on investment; 3. sticking their nose in other country’s “business” in the name of keeping out Colonial Americanism yet not being able to provide that country with anything but rigged elections and military might to keep those who “loved the USSR” in power; 4. a country where nothing was really manufactured and anything that was manufactured there was garbage quality (I should say, most of the items manufactured in the U.S. are of high quality); 5. leaders who were not respected on the international stage; 6. a weakened military from lack of financial support.

Hmmm.

As of today, China has 1 aircraft carrier.  The United States has 12.  China was been, for the last decade at least, establishing a pattern of “investing” in other countries, getting them “hooked” on the cheap labor and cost of manufacturing in China, having their citizens relocate to those countries, and then engage in interventionist policies when its citizens were “threatened” abroad.  China today is like colonial England of the 1700 and 1800s.  It takes natural resources from a country, brings it back to China, and then sells the finished goods back to the originating country.  All at a great profit.  Reinvesting in itself and building up a massive military complex.  But for the fact that China does not have a navy strong enough to enforce its will around the globe, there would be a Chinese flag flying around the world as did British flags in the 1700 and 1800s.

China is now taking it one step further.  Its foreign citizens are now digging deep into the local populace, especially in politics, and then acting almost like spies for the Chinese.  Consider Yang Jian, a politician in New Zealand with obvious pro-Beijing positions, for odd ties to the Chinese military and intelligence services, and Chinese donations to his political party.  Australia is experiencing a similar phenomena.

So, what does all the above have to do with isolationism and reading the signs?  We have to get better at “spending our money”.  If we’re going to invest in a country, it can’t be with the blood and sweat of American soldiers, the expenditure of our military supplies, and the financial “aid” given to administrations that simply pocket the money and do nothing in return.  We have to get a little more selfish and examine “what’s in it for us” before we start throwing our money and kids around.  We have to start contracting a little, consolidating a little, concentrating on ourselves first.  How can we go out in the world and solve everyone else’s problems when we are barely taking care of ourselves.

Maybe I’m the only one who sees this.

Maybe I’m just very ill informed.