Curated newsfeeds

 Google News, Samsung News, NewsBreak and a few others.  You know the pre-installed crap apps that come on your devices.  They're anti-Trump day in and day out while Kamala gets a free ride.  No serious research they just regurgitate each other and spew out the same canned news items on a daily basis.  A common everyday theme is a quick debunking of every Trump utterance.  The so-called fact-checkers have become a cottage industry.  Joe Rogan speaking of them on his podcast said fact-checkers are full of shit.  I'm inclined to agree.  Do they go out in the field and do extensive research?  They sure come to their conclusions rather quickly.  Everything is binary to them there are no even partial truths.  All this and more is the reason why more and more people are gravitating to independent media.  Curated newsfeeds they don't just give you the news they cue you in on what to think.

I have no recommendations just do your own research.

Thuganomics

What do you think about Mark Zuckerberg's revelations that the Biden WH relentlessly pressured Facebook teams on a daily basis to censor certain Covid content that went against the narrative?  Zuckerberg now says he regrets caving into government pressure which btw when the government gets involved in these areas it technically becomes censorship,  Also Zuckerberg now admits FB demoted the New York Post's coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop story at the time which could have potentially influenced the election by suppressing information from the voters at least those who don't read the New York Post.  Do they read the NYP in Idaho?  Talk about possible election interference!

DOES KAMALA HARRIS SUPPORT GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP???

Is society becoming angrier?

 

Is it the election?  The price of food, 5G, something in the air or water, solar storms, too many boosters, Judge Judy?  The cost-of-living. the Middle East, Google, the weather, medical bills, bad digestion?  Trump......

The Rise of the Kens and Karens

I'm seeing it in retail.  From my end food service.  They come in for an item you don't have that day.  Instead of talking about with the department they go to the manager.  Manager gets involved.  Rookie deli clerk makes their sandwich slightly off as per their instructions they go to the manager.  You're short-staffed that day everyone called out that's not my problem.  Angry shoppers.  I'm a quiet shopper.  I don't make issues.  I don't get the workers in trouble.  Mild Z.

The blogosphere.  Everyone just calm down and let's talk about barn owls.

Is TikTok no longer a threat?

 Haven't heard much lately.  Where do the candidates stand?

Figured out a way to fix ad-hominem.  During the Trump/Harris debate give each candidate ten minutes of pure ad-hominem against the other.

Trump:  "When did you become black?"

Harris:  "What's that dead animal on top of your head?"

Then onto the Issues.

A kind of forced retirement

They did the same thing with my Dad but he drove a truck and didn't want to run the country.  Joe Biden drops out of the presidential race and endorses VP Harris.  The Democratic Party has yet to nominate her.  When asked by CBS News if he would debate Harris in September he said he couldn't decide because he's not sure if she will be the nominee but then went on social media and said Fox News should hold such a debate and lambasted the other networks.  This is why they make fun of us.  Social media is like oxygen to him.  Cringeworthy moment.  Even if you don't like the msm at least respond in a civil manner.  Especially with recent events if I were Trump I'd be going with the gravitas and not the cheap insult.  It's times like these that I might go back to blogging about frogs or something;)

The one thing I don't like about Google is you have no privacy

The other thing I don't like about Google is you have no privacy.  Say you want to post a video from YouTube on a blog or forum your whole video feed comes up but maybe you don't want people seeing you have a recommended video for natural home remedies for hemorrhoids.   I suppose you could go incognito but I don't trust that.  The other day I went to an Urgent Care center for a UTI.  Couple days later I get a link in my email to give a review but I'd be posting publicly under my real name instead of say something like Cyclops 78.  I chose not to post a review as it would then be a matter of the public record I had a UTI.  Google also won't let me create my own lexicon and make up my own words.  Also on more than one occasion it has ruined a text message to a friend with its spelling authoritarianism and now ai influence.  The list goes on.......

Other than that I think it's great;)

I got 99 problems but my eyebrows ain't one

 In the heart of the mall where I work is a very popular eyebrow threading kiosk.  Day in and day out people of all ages sitting in the chairs.  I don't get it.  You're pressed for time and money it's not on my to do list.  What are some social fads you don't get?  People with the mini phone things in their ears expecting that all important call walking around like they're contractors.  Why not use your cell?  Are they gonna climb a utility pole?  Smart watches.  The point?  Can you watch a movie on one?  Constantly monitoring your BP with arm or wrist band thingamajigs.  Tattoos are more than a fad of course and in some places you're in the minority if you haven't illustrated your body or at least a part.  "I've fallen down and I can't get up" I can see.  All I need is a meter to let me know I'm running low on the Christian Brothers.

I saw this idea posted on a forum once

 The Government already knows how much we owe in taxes or how much they owe back to us.  They have our numbers on file.  How much we paid in state and federal etc.  They pretty much know everything about us already.  Why not just send out letters or notices stating how much we owe or how much they owe us?  If you disagree then fill out a tax form and do the work yourself and send it in.  Why do we even need this behemoth of a tax preparation industry?  Let the government do the work.  They have the computers and the information and now we have ai.  Crunch the numbers and everybody else can get back their lost quality time.

Charity begins at home

Unless I find out I had a rich aunt that lived in Chicago and left me a million dollars I have to be careful with my money. I don't want ConEd to flicker my lights. St. Jude, ASPCA, the Vets, Mercy Ships, Catholic Charities, Fellowship of Christians and Jews etc. etc. There's no way I can give to all of these groups on a regular basis. Of course you also need Car Shield, Life Lock from Norton to protect you from the dark web and American Home Shield in case your washing machine explodes. Got a letter from our parish recently if we can increase our weekly donations. I'm sorry what?

The proposed ban against TikTok seems rather strange

It's weirdly authoritarian.  Govern me harder Daddy.  I'm not getting this one.

Thoughts on self-driving cars

AAA envisions a self-driving car reality and sees this as pretty much inevitable in the near future. I get their news magazine and they seem completely on board with this. I'm not. The level we're talking about here is not fully autonomous so a driver has to be behind the wheel at all times but then he/she mostly lets the car do its thing at least on open highways although I've seen other videos on YouTube showing folks driving cars with adaptive cruise control with the self-driving feature in slower stop-and-go traffic. I'd rather have a fallible self-aware human being in control of the car at all times instead of relaxing and letting advanced tech take over which can and will go wrong. I can probably come up with a list of other reasons why I'm against. What with ai robots and self-driving cars trucks and buses just around the bend and now flying cars on sale for the bored rich and some people on jetpacks (you can easily search all of these on YouTube) what can go wrong???

Technology is getting weird

Can the Singularity be far behind? Give me the 80's. What's going on in the Cloud these days? Now they're talking 5G. What's next on the technological horizon?

What's next on the technological front?

Should be sometime in the near future we'll have a quantum internet whatever the heck that means. Supposed to be virtually impervious to hackers and then there's something called the personal jetpack. It truly is a marvel but not for me. I prefer to be stuck in traffic thank you. Also I'm not a fan of autonomous vehicles at all. All it takes is one bad microchip to wreak havoc on the highways and imo AAA should take a stand against. Not a fan of AI robots either. I always think of Yul Brynner in Westworld. Wireless charging as it stands now is said to be slow with promises of fasting charging speeds in the future. Don't know, ya got anything?

The bogging down effect of social conservatism

I've been reading a lot lately from various conservative writers what they consider bad social trends. It could be millenials delaying marriage and then further delaying having children. Some couples don't want children at all. Another conservative opiner will note the to him disturbing trend that Americans don't move as much as they used to (as if it's easy), go to other better jobs across the country. This leads to ossification and lower wages etc. etc. The list of social concerns for these writers/pundits run the gamut and is quite long but I always find myself asking what does it matter? Why are they bothered by these things? Modern conservatism should stick to the pillars of limited government, free speech, economic growth, a strong defense, lower taxes etc. etc. What matter how people choose to live their lives? Is that really of our concern? Naomi Schaeffer Riley and Kyle Smith are two of these social-type commenters. Another common complaint is people especially the young'uns are on their gadgets too much. My friend and I were walking around White Plains one day and practically everyone was walking but looking down at their smartphones. Yeah you wonder what the hell are they looking at to the point where they can fall down an open manhole but again this is what people do. IMO conservatism has strayed heavily off the straight path into these by-roads of cultural concern which can actually lead to other conservatives feeling alienated if they don't share their complaints. Laura Ingraham too has done this in books and whatnot heavy on the social commentary, trends that bug her, social quirks and patterns that don't meet her approval. I think this is where the word "reactionary" comes from as in reacting to everything. The conservative movement seems to be stagnating at the moment with everyone having their disparate concerns with no common thread except things like hatred of Obama, hatred of Hillary, hatred of whoever. Despite all this I think we won the last election by accident. You won, what are we complaining about?

The FBI predestined conclusion re those Hillary emails

Yes said FBI Director James Comey it was wrong and reckless of Hillary to discuss classified and sensitive info on her private servers but you know what?  We're not gonna bring charges.  I call this Charming Rogue Syndrome (not an exact fit because it is Hillary) to describe someone who skirts the law time and again and gets away with it meanwhile Joe Shmoe gets hammered.  Anthony Weiner sends penis pics over the Internet and doesn't have a career.

So Facebook doesn't like the Drudge Report

Now they're calling for a federal investigation.  I thought the main attraction of FB is to socially interact with other people on the web.  Where else can you have 1,000 friends?  Always going after Zuckerberg.

Shazam it & get pulled over

I absolutely love the Shazam app because so many times I'll hear a song on the radio and don't know the group or artist.  Only thing is it's an issue when you're driving.  Reverse phone lookup - I don't like it if I accidentally call another person's cell and they can find out everything about me.  Creepy.  Police tips apps by Citizen Observer - chances are your town or city has one.  I've used the YPD tips one and you get a fair response.  Google + I avoid like the plague.  It's all public and out there if you rate an app let's say so you might wanna delete that sex book from your library first.  I actually see men in the stall gabbing away on their phones and if there's ever a hepatitis outbreak you'll know why:)

Tim Cook traveling down Creepy Road

The latest news from the Tim Cook vs. Federal Gov't fight over Apple encryption is the FBI may have found a third party way to open up the dead San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone. I'm fairly libertarian myself and at first blush his position sounds good and brave and other swell things but I got to thinking. Our country is already rife with perverts, the mentally unbalanced, online predators and yes I'm sure there are some terrorists scattered about and he would seem to be saying these groups need to have their privacy and data protected as well. Cyberstalking is a big subject these days and feminists have been a driving force behind the ever-evolving legislation but strangely I don't hear them criticizing Tim Cook and Apple. Another huge terror attack today in Europe this time in Brussels but Mr. Cook continues to dig down deeper into his Snowdenian position which is somehow supposed to get us to buy more Apple products. I for one am sticking with Android with its myriad problems from incompatible apps to slow-charging Samsung tablets but at least it's a stand. I have long agreed with Hannity, as soon as the government or law enforcement wants to get inside your head and police your mind that's totalitarianism plain and simple but these other folks I'm talking about ain't just thinking things they're already breaking the law in some fashion. I'm not taking a pro-government position here, I'm at best sometimes ambivalent about law enforcement in this country but do you want to give the worst elements of society that high-tech advantage?

What's app with that?

NYS State Governor Cuomo announced the launch of the See Something Send Something app for iPhone and Android.  I'm probably gonna install it but just the same is a Muslim man and his friend allowed to take pics of the GW Bridge at twilight or of the Croton Dam?  Meanwhile Charlie Sheen who's a public health menace could be having sex in both places and it'd be no biggie.  I'm gonna go to the Play Store right now and check it out.

The French 9/11 and limited intelligence

First off there should be an investigation of the French intelligence agency to rule out any radical Muslim sympathizers in some top spots. President Obama plans to forge ahead with the G20 Summit in Turkey anyway which will focus on climate change naturally. Yesterday's ISIS-coordinated multiple terrorist attacks in the heart of Paris - NBC News is going with the planners involved probably used social media codes to pull it off to escape the usual cell phone and other surveillance. I agree and thank you Mark Zuckerberg. I've always felt and made the point that a disturbingly high % of users on social media are a bad element and in particular a terorrist element. IMO ISIS terror is coming to the shores of America and that very soon. The Xmas shopping season is just around the bend, it's a definite Christian ritual and ISIS has said this is the first of a storm. Personally although I never did I would not go shopping on Black Friday. Don't participate in the madness. For the near future I am no longer going to the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack and the Danbury Fair Mall in CT. is a definite soft target. I'll also see Mockingjay not on a crowded weekend showing but on an off-day. The Russian jetliner and now the Paris attacks, these are highly trained professionals who know what they're doing and some of you have made the point you're not concerned with what's happening over there because we have other things to worry about over here like Pat Robertson. Mistake. On another related note it has always been my personal view that the famed vision of the Third Secret of Fatima publicly released on June 26, 2000 pertains to a future terrorist event of enormous magnitude perhaps even involving Pope Francis himself. ISIS itself has a peculiar theological fixation on the city of Rome if you've noticed. The Sodano Interpretation is so much bullshit and it's just as well Benedict XVI who should know better retired when he did (bad conscience?). I've always maintained ISIS deserves our top priority and attention and not things like processed red meat causes cancer and the latest doings of the Kardashians. ISIS has upped their game when our world's intelligence agencies are woefully lagging behind:)