The intent of this blog is to promote human equality, human progress, human peace and justice, and optimism. To accomplish this, to encourage the discussion of ideas after identifying and discovering problems, and then creating positive solutions for "we the people," in order to provide for the "general welfare" and "domestic tranquility" of America now and its "posterity" into the future. To encourage an emphasis on separation of religion and state for all, no matter if this is for those "of faith" in a Maker / Creator (Deists, God-loving people, Christians, various people of spirituality) and atheists or agnostics.

Archive for the ‘Gun Safety’ Category

Citizens Watch

My commentary to the Editors of the Press & Sun-Bulletin:

After 40 years away from Northern Tioga County and the Southern Tier (of NY), I am noting how much this area suffers from defunding of police forces here.  I recall when there was village police in Newark Valley and a NY State Troopers barracks in Berkshire.  No more for either of them.  Where is the closest troopers barracks to Northern Tioga County? I don’t even know.  Oh, that’s right, don’t find out from the newspaper, just do a dumb thing called “Google it.”  Or use your thumb on Facebook.  As a member of my own “Citizens Watch,” I wish to make a complaint about how Facebook and social media, Google, and condensing of local investigative reporting and information in news PRINT has destroyed America.  With such ideas for “Citizens Watch,” I can also provide evidence which supports what I say.

But without proper policing of the roads here, people go all kinds of speeds and tailgate.  They think they can use the shoulder of the roads for speeding (as I have observed) so much that four pedestrians in Northern Tioga have died, just over the past year or so. 

Tailgating on NY State Route 38-B is the worst.  Going up and down hills and with signs about deer crossings, it is a very dangerous thing for those who want to BREAK THE LAW and speed to do just what they want to do.  The only winter accidents I have seen with cars in the ditch were on Route 38-B.  They go so damn fast, they sometimes pass on the shoulder of the road.  They think, going up a hill, “slower vehicles i right lane” means all those going the speed limit, move aside so the jerks speeding at speed probably approaching 70 MPH or so can plow through – and kill someone.  Yes, and one pedestrian has been killed on
route 38-B.

Then, in one area of 38-B in Broome County, there is a hill where they put dotted lines going down the hill.  WHAT?  So someone who wants to break going down the hill, to maintain the speed limit, has to put up with jerks who pass going down the hill.  Maintain the speed limit and these jerks are allowed to pass going down the hill at 70 MPH.  Who the hell in the DOT put that damn dotted line there?  So, if we simply let it go down the hill and gain a fast momentum, it makes the illegal driver keep having to speed up to pass.  Makes so much sense. 

Then there is the thought that we should get on the shoulder should there be a tail-gating ass behind us.  No.  There are so many of them, I would have to travel on the shoulder of the road and give in to so many jerks who are doing this.  I refuse to give in and drive on the shoulder, so someone can speed.  Thus, the idea of “Citizens Watch.”

There is more.  Who in Broome County came up with the idea of 30 MPH in an area heading down to Oakdale Road (on a hill) where the population is less dense than where I live on a 55 MPH state route south of Newark Valley?  The area where I live is almost as densely populated as a long stretch of NY State 79 heading west into Ithaca where the speed limits are 40 to 45 MPH.  But drivers in front of my home are going  such a fast clip that when we pull out of our driveway, we don’t see a vehicle around the bend down the road from us and those jerks are going so fast, they come upon us and then tailgate when we are going the speed limit.

So, “Citizens Watch” and I am likely to be hated.  You know what.  I don’t give a damn.  Because I speak for community, not self and “me, me, me.”  I speak for being humane to one another and considering the CONSEQUENCES of behavior.  Now there is something which seems weird to many.  CONSEQUENCES?  As a college professor at the Associates degree level, we often gave students some action and asked them to do library, DATABASES, and INTERNET research (not just the stupid Google alone) to determine cause, effect, consequences.  Seems many people ;in the younger generations here have missed to boat in something Thomas J. Watson called, THINK – and THINK about the cause, effect, and consequences.  If you teach the kids this, they WILL learn it. 

I have more solutions to this problem than just Citizens Watch.  But no one wants to hear them, do they?  After all, “don’t talk to me about politics.”  OH?  Politics?  Solutions?  Politics is MEANT to DISCUSS, not ARGUE solutions and figure out cause, effect, and consequences. 

Besides Citizens Watch:

1. Bring back more police protection on the roads.  If oncoming traffic thinks it is so BRIGHT to flash lights as a warning to the speeders, then use helicopters AND SPEND THE MONEY ON THEM because it is far more justified than the stupid 60-year war on drugs which has yielded nothing (and rehab costs the government far less than a war on drugs, especially when considering marijuana is non-addictive! THINK about that before you shoot holes in what I say).

2.  Bring back more public summer school for students to learn some of the non-academic things in life.  Not only swimming and recreation, but also STUDENT DRIVER EDUCATION & SAFETY CLASSES.  I recall such classes.  I recall seeing the consequences of bad actions on the videos shown in the classes.  Really might make our stomach turn, but boy did it teach something about consequences – such as the truck drive who was not able to maneuver a road, ended up in an accident in which the big huge pipes in his load, came crashing into the cab of the truck and squashed the man against the steering wheel.  A very gruesome sight to see, but sure did teach something.  And maybe while we are at it, teach hunting safety with guns and bows and arrows.  We get the vehicular license for automobiles which recently killed four pedestrians here, how about teaching safety about guns and rifles?  Teaching that they could be used to hunt, but not on people.  It costs, right?  Well how much has the money for public schools, like police, been cut in this nation?  It is about time for us to take from the military-industrial complex and give to our kids, for the sake of future communities. 

3.  Officials in government use a little common sense regarding the roads and speed limits.  Why is there 30 MPH in such a low density population, but in a higher density population, people can go 70 MPH and never get caught BREAKING THE LAW?  Why is there no signal light and only a flashing light at the corner of NY-26 and NY-38B?  Why is it the same at the corner of NY-38 and NY-79? STUPIDITY and no one does anything about it.  Then there is the corner of NY-38 and NY-38B – NO LIGHT AT ALL.  Two times, I have come close to getting struck there by those running the STOP sign.  TWO TIMES – not only are people going to damn fast and have never learned the consequences of their actions, but no one seems to realize, as we learned in STUDENT DRIVER EDUCATION, that one comes to a COMPLETE STOP at a stop sign and TAKES THE TIME TO LOOK CAREFULLY IN BOTH DIRECTIONS.  With all the stupidity out there, all the more reason to put a signal light at NY-38 and NY-38B. 

Perhaps this all explains why there is so much pessimism here in the valley of Northern Tioga County?  And with the downgrading of business in this valley, we are FORCED to drive over that NY-38B hill and face the damn tailgaters, because so little can be found here in this area anymore, unlike more than 40 years ago.  And who is doing something about this for Northern Tioga County?  The Central Southern Tier Foundation? Who?  Who is helping to develop this area so it can become more self-sufficient and people don’t have to climb that hill into the next county?  Had Amazon built a warehouse on the site of the old factory here in this village, would it have helped?  Maybe some.  But alas, Amazon chose elsewhere. 

I am not a ranter.  I am not a bloviator.  I am a responsible member of the community who believes in humanity and coming together as community and concerned citizens.  We need citizen concern about the things I discuss (plus more).  So hate me as a ranter and a bloviator.  Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.  Gee!  So many are acting like Scarlett O’Hara! 

Category:

Commentary, Education, Gun Safety, human-rights

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Guns & Vehicles

In the last 2 years or so, in this tiny rural community, I now count 4 people who died as pedestrians along state road. Please correct me if wrong, but recall only 2 from this area who died in Vietnam. Not trying to say one is worse than the other. Just the facts, ma’am.

Vietnam is over, but other wars run by military-industrial complex are still going. After getting rid of Federal War Dept., we evolved to military-industrial complex. In spite of warnings from former Gen & Republican president, the costs for this have mushroomed over time. 

This exponential growth in expenditures for the military-industrial complex has been driven by hawkish paranoid ones with money-loving ideas and bent on the stupidity of Ayn Rand (virtue of selfishness) and Machiavelli (end justifies means). Stupid lunkheads with money and power. How many American lives have been lost, due to such lunkheads?

Guns. With the lunkheads of money-loving NRA dolts, these hawkish perverted paranoid control freaks stipulate how society should operate with guns, while society suffers, and not only by guns, but a reduction in tourist dollars because those from many other nations want to come to see America the Beautiful that is being converted to America the Gun-toting Bastards.

Back to my original statement. Four pedestrians killed on local roads, due to vehicle use. We have also thrust away, compared to Europe, the use of trainses and use individual vehicles. The rise of individualism, due to theer bitch named Ayn Rand, and others.  

Rick the Prick Scott was told by the people’s referendum to build a train system. He refused to listen to the people, proclaiming there is no money. Suddenly, he finds money to expand I-95 from 6 to 10 lanes, in the name of individualism. He did so with no concern for polluting atmosphere. Then what? Adds tolls to I-95 in some areas. 

He and others claimed no money to house homeless, but then found tons money – suddenly appears – to build stadiums go baseball players who often move into millions of dollars and could invest in such stadiums. Price of housing goes exponential, putting many on streets. This due to movement to slum Lord ownership of homes, due to values going up more than 150% in just a few years, under Bush.

All of this to explain. Individual vehicles can be just as dangerous as individual ownership of guns. We register vehicles. What is wrong with registering guns?

And for vehicles, public education has eliminated student driving classes which taught safety. Reminder. Three pedestrians just died, hit by 18-year-old driver. Was driver drunk? We don’t know. What safety violations were involved? We don’t know. But stupid Americans ban alcohol while reducing public safety education.

Now. Where is public school safety education regarding guns, as people register to earn license to carry one? Get a license for a vehicle which kills, but no license and training for guns? 

Where is safety training for alcohol, cannabis, video game addiction, sex addiction, gambling addiction? We can be a freaking lousy lazy society and ban and censor, not TEACH, TEACH, TEACH!

The results of what is NOT being done is to create a hell on earth we don”t need. Save the hell for God to put individualistic, greedy, selfish lovers of money into an eventual hell. If one believes God will… or not?

Stop fighting control of guns with desperate false crap regarding amendments in US Constitution

 Use some common sense and logic, before we all get killed… by other humans who are barbaric and lack a framework and paradigm for being civilized to one another and in the name of peace, human justice, human equality, and happiness. Love one another and dispose of hate.

Category:

Commentary, Gun Safety

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Blake Masters, Sicko of Arizona & Representative of Many Sickos who Call Themselves Patriots, in the Name of Violence

Blake Masters of Arizona. A patriotic sicko who is like many behind the guns advocated by the NRA. Seems I have heard those in the NRA try to claim we need to get rid of the sickos behind the guns. Go right to it. Get rid of this guy in Arizona. A 35-year-old ass about the age of some of my kids.

He wants to rid us of abortions. Who the hell is he to espouse HIS religious beliefs and dictate them to all of us? I am a pro-choice person against abortions, too. But I believe each situation needs to be weighed properly. This is MY religious belief which is protected by the U.S. Constitution and just shammed shamefully by people who call themselves “judges” and “justices” on the SCOTUS.

Masters wants to rid us of sex and porn. Why? There is already negligible amounts of sex and porn on broadcasting because we are inundated and shoved down our throats with images of many acts of violence with guns and weapons.

Masters wants to get rid of the “foreign corporate conglomerates.” He must favor the communists who put tighter restrictions on sex and porn. Yet in the Western world, the “corporate conglomerates” of Europe allow frontal nudity and other examples of sex. On Rick Steves’ Europe, he tells about how there is less violence in Europe than in the USA, so people, travel as tourists to Europe where you will be safer than in America.

Oh, that’s right. Idiots like Masters want to find blame and affixes it to peaceful LGBTQ and/or peaceful people who are immigrants. Just don’t stop at a wall in Arizona, you idiot, but make certain there is a fortress built along the shores of Florida where we have had MANY immigrants and don’t find the cause of the problem to be immigrants, but also oppressive white folks born in the USA. How about a quiet and peaceful neighborhood in South Florida, made up of multi-racial, multi-religious, and multi-ethnic people who live in peace. That would include some immigrants, too. Then some WHITE idiot in a pickup truck begins to constantly go through this neighborhood disturbing the peace and tranquility with a Confederate flag displayed in the back of his pickup truck.

The best way to describe Masters and the tRUMPICANS is with a book by Fyodor Dostoevsky titled The Idiot. P.S. The book title also describes a Russian named Putin, too. The other word is SICKO.

Category:

Commentary, Gun Safety, human-rights, Peace & Justice, Political Commentary, Religion

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Fix or Destroy?

The Beatles: “All you need is love… love is all you need, love is all you need.”

The Beatles: “With a little help from my friends.”

The Beatles: “Come together…” and coexist.

The Beatles:

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it’s evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world

But when you talk about destruction
Don’t you know that you can count me out

Don’t you know it’s gonna be
All right?
Don’t you know it’s gonna be (all right)
Don’t you know it’s gonna be (all right)

You say you’ll change the constitution
Well, you know
We’d all love to change your head
You tell me it’s the institution
Well, you know
You better free your mind instead

But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow

Don’t you know it’s gonna be (all right)
Don’t you know it’s gonna be (all right)
Don’t you know it’s gonna be (all right)

Stevie Wonder: “love’s in need of love today…”

Somebody says to me, “Americans don’t like change.” Oh, yeah? Then why is it that followers of propaganda broadcasting Fox are getting on board for a Trumpican type of change called DESTRUCTION? That is change.

There are two forms of change. (1) Destroy and (2) reform. Destroy is done with a dictatorship and leaves many people out. Reform is done with democracy and works to attempt to embrace as many as possible, even though it is IMPERFECT as humans and human institutions are. If the person who said this said, “Americans don’t like reform,” I would believe it. But too many Americans are giving in to the FUCKING … yes I said FUCKING…. Nazi fascists in the form of people like FUCKING Trump or FUCKING Palladino or FUCKING ROMAN CATHOLIC RON DESANTIS. FUCKING people who don’t deserve a life because they only want to destroy what is good in America, due to the imperfections THEY DON’T LIKE. Excuse me for using the acronym FORNICATION UNDER CONSENT OF KING (OR QUEEN).

It is not with arrogance I say this. It is with love of country and what the Founding Fathers of this nation gave us. Deists, not Christians, in the Founding Fathers. This is NOT a Christian nation, but a secular nation with the freedom to worship and hold spiritual beliefs each one of us chooses. That is part of LIBERTY and FREEDOM, protected by many people in the past who put their lives on the line to protect this LIBERTY and FREEDOM … LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. Trumpicans have no idea what LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, with all its IMPERFECTIONS, truly means. The arrogant ones are those who follow Fox, Murdoch the asshole and all those others.

Yes, Americans don’t like change. But the change they embrace is destruction of what has made this nation great over many years.

Here are the things which are being done to put in place CHANGE for the sake of the wealthy and the FUCKING puritanical Protestants and American Roman Catholic bishops – dictators, plus for the sake of wealthy fat pigs and the corporate welfare they continue to enforce CHANGE upon America for the benefit of ONLY corporate welfare. This list demonstrates how the person who made this statement about “Americans don’t want change,” to be an imbecilic remark not worth considering. That’s the STUPIDITY in America today. Rather than work to do change which is in the form of REFORM and considering how to make life better for America, theses fucking assholes devote our tax dollars and money to shit so as to destroy, destroy, destroy, not reform, reform, reform.

1. Abortion and Roe v. Wade. It has its imperfections, but the FUCKING AMERICAN CATHOLIC ROMAN BISHOPS, with money from FUCKING LOUSY AMERICANS just want it destroyed and ignore the young folks rape and date rape, from public schools to college and above. Destroy, destroy, destroy, not reform, reform, reform.

2. Rick the Prick Scott, Reagan and the privatization of America’s public hospitals. Destroy, destroy, destroy, not reform, reform, reform.

3. Betsy DeVoss and the Bush family with others (Jeb Bush) to endorse wishes of the Roman Catholic bishops and the fucking pigs who are recipients of corporate welfare, work to privatize public education by DESTROYING public education and then claiming, “it does not work.” That is bullshit because public education, if funded correctly, has proven to work in America. Destroy, destroy, destroy, not reform, reform, reform.

3. The Bush Republicans and their destruction of the FS&L system put in place by FDR and the Democrats. Change for the sake of whom? Neil Bush or George W. Bush and his money in the Cayman Islands rather than invested in America – you know, the fucking idiot who said, “what’s good for business is good for America.” Translated from the corporate welfare pigs: “what’s good for corporate welfare is good for America.” Destroy, destroy, destroy, not reform, reform, reform.

4. The Reagan deregulation and destruction and eventual destruction of PUHCA legislation under Shrub gave us supply-side economics and destroyed the ideas of capitalism called supply AND DEMAND. All of these CHANGES were done and many Americans just embraced them, like lemmings being led off a cliff. Destroy, destroy, destroy, not reform, reform, reform.

5. The change to thumbing practices with noses in cell phones was done with the net result of destruction of local newspapers and a claim, “no one wants to read newspapers any more.” Fuck that because when you remove the local content and DICTATE and PUSH nationalized news upon the people, of COURSE THEY WON’T READ IT. It polarized America in the process while stupid idiots in the lower classes simply went along with the changes and, in fact with this peer pressure groupthink they FORCE us to accept these changes, working with the change mastering destroyers. Destroy, destroy, destroy, not reform, reform, reform.

6. Local broadcasting destroyed in order to make room for the fucking THUMBING and NOSES IN THE MOBILE and for the corporate welfare system to be strengthened. There are people who live on the hills of upstate New York in lower dense populations than those in the valleys who get better reception of local broadcasting than those in the valleys where the population is slightly more dense. And there are those who are ready to defend these changes made, as if it is all for the “sake of money.” Go to hell. If it were, then we would have radio and television which was powerful enough to reach the hills AND the valleys. Fuck the FCC for allowing this, in the name of honor for cell phones. Changes, for sure. Changes in the form of DESTRUCTION. And lousy Americans just sitting idly by and allowing such destruction. Destroy, destroy, destroy, not reform, reform, reform.

7. Don’t pay taxes and place a heavier burden on those who do who don’t want to act like rats and turn in those who do not. In many cases, I am on the same side of those who don’t pay it, but I believe in this nation to try to do my best to pay taxes, not be a criminal and NOT pay taxes. I understand why they don’t want to pay regressive income taxes or don’t want to pay taxes on services, especially if it is a small business which finds accountants and lawyers hired to help them pay taxes are eating into their profits, something which did not happen before “Rocky’s Tax” in NY and income taxes anywhere. Tariffs supported American business and its domestic products, while putting taxes on imported goods which were commonly snarfed up by wealthy fat pigs and robber barons in America. Tariffs are a FORM of VALUE-ADDED TAX. But no, we have fucking lousy regressive income taxes, fucking lousy sales taxes, corporate welfare fat pigs keeping Social Security insolvent by not paying as much into it as the common folk (and resisting the change but endorsing the destruction of ALL Social Security, plus moves under Shrub to change Medicare for the sake of big insurance and big pharma so as to sabotage and create and atmosphere that the common folk jump on the bandwagon like a bunch of lemmings being led over a cliff). Destroy, destroy, destroy, not reform, reform, reform.

Need I go on? I could add a number of other things in which there is change, but change only for the benefit of the corporate welfare state, not for WE THE PEOPLE, the first words of the U.S. Constitution. Or not to create liberty and justice for all. Or not to endorse the ideas about “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” for ALL Americans. They do a better job in socialist-capitalist Scandinavia than here in America. Survey after survey says the Danes are the “happiest people on earth.” They don’t have dictatorships, but democracies, alongside the capitalist PRIVATE businesses like Volvo which operate in a capitalist SUPPLY AND DEMAND system, not pretending that robber baron-induced supply-side economics is capitalism. In America, liars, liars, pants on fire. And lemmings in the common folk who are so stupid and idiotic they go along. Silly me for being so mean in saying this. After all, with decades of Trumpican type sabotage of PUBLIC EDUCATION, I should feel sorry for these people. Not if they insist on digging in their heals and perhaps saying I am arrogant. I don’t feel sorry for them with their lack of ability to LISTEN and LEARN. Without the listen and learn, perhaps I should feel sorry for them. But what good does feeling sorry for such people do for America, the land I love.

In line with what I say, let us consider what Warren Buffett and others have said.

Warren Buffett says what? The results of a search in Google can tell us some. But he has recommended easy changes and fixes which might work. But even Warren Buffett is NOT PERFECT. He is just one of many Americans with suggestions for America. One thing I do recall is that the U.S. Code (the words which conclude all the legislation in this nation) is convoluted and that Congress needs to take a vacation from legislating for a time and review that U.S. Code, tossing out all that is part of it which is really too convoluted. Unlike the Trumpicans who want to toss out parts of the U.S. Constitution after taking an oath to defend it (like FUCKING Clarence Thomas and Kavanaugh and Barrett with regard to religious freedom in this nation), the aim should be the U.S. Code. Did Buffett say this? Seems like I recall hearing about it at one time. Read all about it. The results of a search on Google. Read all about it. That’s the way it was… Read and weep.

The Buffet Rule: This is how you fix Congress! – IMDiversity
https://imdiversity.com › diversity-news › buffet-rule-fi…
Warren Buffet is asking each person to forward this message to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

Warren Buffett didn’t endorse ‘Congressional Reform Act’
https://www.usatoday.com › factcheck › 2020/05/08 › f…
May 8, 2020 — The claim: Warren Buffett asked Americans to share a list of seven proposed reforms to the Constitution called the ‘Congressional Reform Act …

Warren Buffett and the Mythical ‘Congressional Reform Act’
https://www.usnews.com › … › Thomas Jefferson Street
Mar 13, 2012 — Warren Buffett and the Mythical ‘Congressional Reform Act’ · 1. No Tenure / No Pension. · 2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in …

The Warren Buffett Chain Letter – WSJ
https://www.wsj.com › articles › BL-TOTALB-58
Oct 28, 2011 — To wit: Make a Constitutional amendment that would make all members of Congress ineligible for re-election if the deficit exceeds 3% of gross …

Buffett says U.S. fighting ‘economic war,’ Congress must help …
https://www.reuters.com › business › media-telecom › buf…
Dec 15, 2020 — Warren Buffett said on Tuesday the United States is fighting an “economic war,” and that Congress must step up quickly to help struggling …
Missing: America ‎| Must include: America

Warren Buffett’s Statement to Congress on Estate Taxes – CNBC
https://www.cnbc.com › 2007/12/30 › video-and-transc…
Dec 30, 2007 — Here’s a suggestion: Keep the estate tax and its $24 billion, reshape it if you will, but keep the estate tax and its $24 billion. Then take a …

Warren Buffett says ‘never bet against America’ in letter …
https://www.cnbc.com › 2021/02/27 › warren-buffett-s…

Mar 1, 2021 — Next in line on this list is AT&T, with property, plant and equipment of $127 billion,” he wrote. Don’t overlook middle America. The billionaire …

This is the moment America met Warren Buffett – Yahoo Finance
https://www.yahoo.com › video › moment-america-met…
Apr 30, 2019 — On September 4, 1991, Warren Buffett sat before members of Congress and apologized. “My job is to deal with both the past and the future,” …

Opinion | Stop Coddling the Super-Rich – The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com › 2011/08/15 › stop-coddling-t…
Aug 14, 2011 — By Warren E. Buffett … and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our … Editors’ Picks …

Warren Buffett – InfluenceWatch
https://www.influencewatch.org › person › warren-buffett
Career · The Buffett Rule · Profits from Government Policy · Controversial Investments · Political Contributions · Democracy Alliance Associations · References …

Category:

Commentary, democracy, Economics, Regulated Capitalism, Commerce, Education, Energy, Gun Safety, Healthcare, wellness, medicine, History & Genealogy, human-rights, If it's broke let's fix it TOGETHER

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Local Binghamton CBS affiliate, channel 12

Dear Sirs or Madams (of CBS Sixty Minutes):

We regularly watch Sixty Minutes and appreciate having this news AND information source available to us. We despise Fox News with its lies. the National Association of Broadcasters needs to put Fox out of business. 

We have a bumper sticker which reads: “We get our NEWS from Comedy Central and our entertainment from Fox News.”  That about describes what we have to the nth degree in America today, due to the Republican destruction of the Fairness Doctrine which was put in place in the 1940s to guard against Nazi propaganda which had destroyed Germany.  In the 1940s, everyone was in agreement, so this was a bipartisan decision.

For some 20 years or more, I have written to publications and the media. I have used local newspapers and local television outlets, as well as networks. I write to Sixty Minutes, especially when I hear the recently repeated story about robots (Anderson Cooper?).  I write about many other news reports. With the demise of local news, by hedgefund lovers of money (also a recent story on Sixty Minutes), I have watched as my writings have not been published.  At first, I was puzzled. As time has gone by and with the wisdom of age, I have discovered the reasons.  Both your Sixty Minutes report and an article in The Economist and other publications have unraveled the mystery and puzzle to me.  When one relies only on intuition and observation of actual events at a Florida newspaper and elsewhere, it is good to find out that what I have been writing about what I KNOW has been correct, it is sad that no one pays attention to me anymore.  At one time, before the older great journalists retired – the people of good will running local newspaper – I was accepted. Now I feel as if I am on the outside looking in when most of what I have written has been correct.

Wat I am finding is that my distribution to a local Binghamton Fox affiliate has been read by such people at Fox. What do they do? Just as Trump does. Put a spin on what I say that is in line with their lies and re-distribute.  There is no teamwork among people of good will in the media business and that is a crying shame.  So, I have removed the Fox affiliate from my distribution.  I have removed Sean Hanity from my distribution list. 

With this being said, what about the other three Binghamton television network affiliates? NBC and ABC affiliates in Binghamton are run by one owner. The local news comes from one outlet: Newschannel 34, the ABC affiliate.  The PBS affiliate has no local news, only the PBS Newshour and other PBS network news analysis. 

This situation leaves the local CBS affiliate, WBNG, channel 12.  The local news is not always “local, but taken from “wire” stories on CNN and other news places. CBS Channel 12 had the best local news source in this area, back in the years when I was growing up.  Today, I would have to say this Grey Company local affiliate is not THE BEST, but it sure is better than Fox 40. 

What bothers me about local channel 12 is the fact it no longer accepts email. This is the device I have used to distribute what I write.  Why does channel 12 do this? Why does a news AND INFORMATION channel not read what I write any more? What the hell is going on? Here we are and I can say my likes and dislikes are pretty much on the same page as channel 12. But none of my writing is accepted there.  Don’t get me wrong. There is never 100% agreement with any humans or human organizations. But my judgment is that, unlike Fox, they don’t lie. They are not liars, liars pants on fire.

Yesterday, I was in an area in which a local Solid Gold radio broadcast (Equinox) was difficult to receive as we have a country music station interfering. So, in the car, we turned to another local radio station with music more acceptable to us, though it was NOT solid gold.  In this area, there are pockets where hills block one signal and from some valley comes another. Back in the days of my youth, with mostly AM broadcasts, that never happened here. Even when FM was introduced, it never happened. We received ALL Binghamton stations plus other smaller city stations. Today, we senior citizens are being relegated to purchasing, on a lower revenue stream in our family budget, Sirius XM. At one time, it was all FREE, FREE, FREE – supported by local advertisers.  But yesterday, in the car, when listening to this other station because we were FORCED to do so by rules emanating from the FCC which is controlled by big business when it should be a third party representing the DEMAND SIDE of the market or WE THE PEOPLE.  It is represented by those on the SUPPLY SIDE of the market. Period.  Money is used to validate this. BS on that because free broadcast once DID make money and could still make money, just not feed the already filled to the brim pockets of those with hedgefund investments like the guy Sixty Minutes reported on who now owns a multitude of newspapers and can buy a mansion in Miami when most of us have had to leave Florida because we cannot afford the housing there (along with factors of heat, humidity, and hurricanes with outrageous costs to put money into an insurance hole for hurricanes and never see it again).  But on this radio station we were FORCED to turn to, as a Cuban citizen might be forced when Castro put a block on many broadcasts from Miami, we listened to the news. At the end, we discovered we were FORCED to listen to Fox News. Fox News ended the broadcast with “all America loves Fox News.” Another lie because all America DOES NOT love Fox News. They say it to inspire groupthink from peer pressure and get Republicans elected. I call the Republicans “republicunts” and “repugnicans” because, due to Fox News, the Republicans have become perverted and are NOT like the Republicans I knew one time, associated with, and was a registered Republican. BTW. How much media is covering those of us who have found that “republicunts” and “repugnicans” have forced us to leave the party? Instead I hear crap about Democrats. 

Interestingly enough, the story on Fox News which we heard and which surprised us, was a condemnation of Joe Biden. It was absurd as this news report did not just report the news, as was the function under the Fairness Doctrine, but made a comment about how bad Biden was because he stood up to Big Oil.  In other words, he stood up to the Koch brothers, Texas slick oil men, and others.  Fox News did not say that, did they? They wish to force the Keystone Oil Pipeline and only do that by drawing a false picture of alternative fuels. Had we been more in line with alternative fuels, due to Fox News, we would not be stuck today with the a dilemma which mirrors the results of the 1973 oil embargo.  It was republicunts which put the axe on alternative fuels – for the sake of BIG OIL

This harks back to a Sixty Minutes report many years ago about the development of green technology and alternative fuels with the help of government “incubator” money for business in America.  The report was a great one in which we the people learned that America, perhaps being blocked by BIG OIL back in those days(?), did not have investors to buy up those companies because it required deep pocket-ed investors for the long term development of such alternatives.  Your report told about investors from China who were purchasing these “startups.”  And to Fox News people, they blame government dollars being thrown to China, while they never report on how much Big Oil was sabotaging Americans who may have wanted to invest, so as to hold the control in thic country. It is the basis for attacks against Democrats, while, as is always the case (and with gun safety and domestic terrorism), it is the Fox followers and their sabotage which are the root cause – with their evil love of money. 

With all of this explanation, I return to the issue of local news CBS affiliate, channel 12. Back in the days when television was first begun, I recall channel 12 being both CBS and ABC. The local NBC affiliate is now Fox40 and a new NBC affiliate was formed after that change happened.  Channel 12 was the only VHF affiliate at that time. It still really is the only “digital” VHF, except perhaps the local NBC affiliate run by ABC affiliate channel 34. Thus, in those early years, few people actually invested in a UHF antenna. I know my dad did not. It was stupid of the FCC to do that, especially when we compare to the city of Scranton where ALL the local affiliates have been UHF and VHF has not existed there. If there were smart people on the FCC back then, they would have handed all the VHF to bigger cities such as Syracuse, Rochester, and so forth. With the VHF affiliate in Binghamton and no one investing in UHF antennas, but purchasing huge VHF antennas to receive channel 12 of Binghamton and the Syracuse VHF stations, that station in Binghamton left the other network broadcasts in the dark as underdogs to channel 12. The news reporting on channels 40 and 34, quite frankly my dear, SUCKED.

When channel 12 was both CBS and ABC, we got to see, in the late 1950s when I was at pre-K age, Mickey Mouse Club. It was broadcast on ABC, so channel 12 picked it up.  (Ironic that ABC is now owned by Disney and the “mouse”).  Thus, my favoritism of CBS channel 12, which went to CBS only at the time channel 34 was created (WBJA) as an ABC affiliate (see the story about the history of channel 34: https://tvstations.fandom.com/wiki/WIVT ). 

Thus, with the sabotage of my stories conducted by Fox and the fact that a better news station (CBS 12 of Binghamton) rejects email, I have to protest this situation because good people are not coming together to solve this problem in America. This is not polarization. It is the news and information being taken over by one network when we have four networks. Fox operates in the same way as the communist party or Nazi party control of broadcasting in a dictatorship. 

I repeat. That is NOT polarization so bleeding heart liberals need to stop being so damn diplomatic about it all and calling it polarization.  I despised the Capitol 4th concert this past week (on PBS) because, once again, it tries to be nice and talk about a divided America. It is NOT divided. It is a nation with the stage being set for dictatorial control just like that of Hitler and Goebbels. We need to stop pussyfooting around with all this BS for bleeding heart diplomacy – as if that is going to fix the problem.  Given the evidence in history in other nations, THIS BLEEDING HEART DIPLOMACY WILL NOT FIX THE PROBLEM OF THIS NATION HEADING TOWARDS A DICTATORSHIP. IT WILL NOT. I have been correct in EVERYTHING I HAVE SAID AND WRITTEN SINCE THE ELECTION OF RONALD REAGAN IN 1980, so TO BE IGNORED NOW IS REALLY ASININE.  To not be able to write to the local CBS affiliate is asinine, too.  You people need to collect the information, not be concerned about how nice Fox or republicunts or repugnicans are treated.  Stop the BS of bleeding hearts.  Stop scoffing at people like me and ignoring what we are saying. 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. People of America consider what German Niemoller said: 

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.’

This quote was one of many which inspired the creation of the Fairness Doctrine in late 1940s USA.  Cowards are the ones who realize I am correct and use what I write to the detriment of people of good will among the Democrats AND true Republicans (i.e., the Lincoln Project).  It is about time journalism and media reared its head loud and strong against such actions. 

Why does local CBS affiliate channel 12 NOT accept email? What the hell is this in forcing us to do? All to go to ONE monopolized platform called Facebook? Or forcing us to go to social media only?  Forcing us to listen to the lies of Fox and other outlets of hatred?  Listen to the DEMAND SIDE of a capitalist market which SHOULD exist with balance between supply and demand. I speak about such balance and keep in mind this is just as the checks and balances are SUPPOSED to exist in our government between executive, legislative, and judicial, but has been SABOTAGED by people like Trump, Giuliani, McConnell, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Barrett, Kevin McCarthy, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Gaetz, and many other sodomites who enjoy rape of women, but not homosexuality. 

For the DEMAND SIDE, I am speaking. Now pay attention to many of us who want checks and balances in government and economics, not a dictatorship of the SUPPLY-SIDERS.

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Commentary, democracy, Economics, Regulated Capitalism, Commerce, Education, Energy, Gun Safety, Healthcare, wellness, medicine, History & Genealogy, human-rights, If it's broke let's fix it TOGETHER, Information Industry, Journalism & Media, Mister Doug Notes, Mister Doug Report, Music, Art, Culture, Peace & Justice, Personal Finance, Political Commentary, Religion

Life in America

Dear Editors:

Here we go again. Shooting in Buffalo, NY. Shooting in a Texas school. Everyone has to share their own ideas and what happens? Does anything get solved?

The stupidity of Ted Cruz means he needs to be removed from the U.S. Senate. To claim it is all “politicized” is done for one reason. Make sure everything is done his way. Of course, what ever he believes is “not politicized” from his perspective. Cruz is mentally ill. 

When I talk about mental illness, I need to mention Sean Hanity and Tucker Carlson, the Goebbels of today’s world. Tell a lie enough times and it becomes the truth. That is mental illness because mental illness is defined as “doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.” Cruz, Trump, Hanity, Carlson are all sicko as they continue to dig in their heels and not take a good hard look at this issue.

If Hanity and Carlson claim that “it’s not guns, but mental illness,” then they lead the charge regarding promotion of mental illness, so someone make sure they don’t get guns. But historical facts speak loudly and have been documented, but no one brings the issue up. The 2nd Amendment was created by plantation owners in out of fear of rebellion from the Africans whom they enslaved.  It has been proven over and over again. The fact that in Buffalo, it was a white racist who opened fire pretty much says it. People like the old plantation owners and the ones supporting gun rights by validating it by way of the 2nd Amendment are the ones who are mentally ill. White supremacists are mentally ill. So these imbeciles attack Democrats and others who are living in fear, not mental illness, from this domestic violence in the USA.   These people grab at gun laws while the white supremacists do everything they can do to speak against them and to sabotage them. Mental illness IS behind them. This is the reason to take the guns away from such white supremacists like the guy from Conklin, NY. But according to the newspaper, there are those who sell illegal automatic weapons from a gun shop in Endicott, NY, to these mentally ill white folks.  Those selling the guns are mentally ill, as they justify selling automatic weapons.  Personally, I feel safer walking the streets of Binghamton, NY, where there are a number of businesses run by black folks, than the main business section of Endicott, NY, where we can find a large number of mentally ill white folks. 

There are many hunters with whom I have communicated about this issue. Most of these people with rifles see no need for automatic weapons.  According to the media, the type used in the shooting in Buffalo, NY.  These hunters have a recreational purpose for shooting animals such as deer, using the meat of the deer (venison) to eat.  Mentally ill ones wish to keep very bad weapons on the streets and do so for a purpose:  to kill human beings as easily as possible and in large numbers. In 2012, a man in the Rochester, NY, area was not allowed to carry guns, apparently due to his prison record. So, how did he get one? According to newspapers I read, he got the weapon from someone who bought it for him.  An accomplice. Is this not true? Is anything I am saying not true?  Have I made some kind of mistake in what I say and that is more important than anything else? Then those who dwell on this aspect are mentally ill because they dig in their heels in order to be fans of the NRA. 

And then we have others like Wilson, like Cruz, the Republican who lacks any intelligence because he is working from what is considered the lowest level of intelligence when he speaks by giving crazy notions about human beings in which there is no evidence or facts to back up his opinions about a person.  “Wants to put criminals back on the street” is absurd to say about any person, based on the opinion of Wilson with regard to actions being made to try to CURB violence and criminals. The ideas used by one person might go against what Wilson and Cruz want to do, so they use stupidity and lies to soak over people and expecting different results the next time. Oh, but Goebbels said, if the lie is told enough times, it becomes fact.  That, too, is mental illness. I have made this comment many times, including two times in this article.

From this group of fascist right wing who have done more violent activities and damage with weapons in America than the left wing (prove it to me if this statement is wrong), are also the ones who want to tear down Roe v. Wade, Social Security, Obamacare, and Medicare, rather than reform any of these issues, as would be done in a democracy with people trying to solve problems rather than polarize everyone on one side of the political spectrum or the other.  Why do these people want to keep guns and destroy many of the other issues? Because they are white supremacists who are not consistent with their beliefs, as they have a hidden agenda with white supremacy and autocracy.  They are mentally ill because they are paranoid about the day when white folks in America might become a smaller number compared to the “colored” folks.  They can justify the use of guns to kill abortion doctors. How many times have I heard right wing christofascists defending these actions as if they are “pleasing to [a] god” to which they bow down.  

This is life in America. Too many Americans are too apathetic because “it does not impact them.” Yes. Why should such people give one damn about what is happening? Just be fearful and paranoid and succumb to the wishes of the christofascists.  

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Commentary, Gun Safety, human-rights

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Pass it on: From Eskow’s newsletter (reprint)

Absolute Zero: A Newsletter from Richard (RJ) Eskow

https://eskow.substack.com/

Barbarians and Breeders: To the Men of the New Old Order

A priesthood that preaches the right to life from the moment of conception until the moment you’re born Muslim.

Richard (RJ) Eskow May 4

Photo credit: Laurie Shaull

I can’t imagine what it is like to be a woman in the United States of America today. If I feel the blow of Samuel Alito’s draft opinion pm Roe v Wade in the pit of my stomach – and I do – I can only try to imagine how it must feel to have one’s own body assaulted, occupied, and colonized in this way.

Many people are repeating the line used by then-Sen. Kamala Harris in Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court. “Can you think of any laws that give the government the power to make decisions about the male body?” she asked. “I’m not thinking of any right now, Senator,” Kavanaugh replied.

But there is such a law, and it’s worth mentioning. The Selective Service requires all men of a certain age to register for military conscription. The draft hasn’t been used in many years — it affects men, who have more power — but it allows the government to take possession of men’s’ bodies and use them as instruments of war. My generation of men faced a high probability of being drafted and were ordered to submit to the requisite training and be sent off to Vietnam if we were chosen.

That was the old order. Men fought for the state, and when they returned home (if they returned home) they worked for wages to support the economic system. Women bred for the state, then raised the children that they produced. You played your role or you paid the price.

Now, they’re bringing the old order back. They call themselves “pro-life,” even as they clamor for war, for poverty, to deprive people of medical care and a livable involvement. You can’t be pro-life and call down death. 

We are once again ruled by a priesthood that preaches the right to life from the moment of conception until the moment you’re born Muslim. Or dark-skinned. Or poor. Or female.

The men who are shrugging off this development better think twice. Unless you’re privileged, they’ll devalue your life too. You can’t be anti-woman and pro-human. Some men will experience the pyrrhic pleasure of mistreating women, but at what cost? Watch out, men. They’ll make a barbarian of you soon. It may sound good to you now, but you’ll be a footsoldier in the mud and not a general in the great tent.

But I apologize. This is me, a man, trying to understand how it feels to be a woman today. But the draft wasn’t the same, was it? Sure, we could die. We, too, could be physically violated and be helpless to prevent it. But the intimacy of women’s subjugation, its linkage to the physical human core … that, I can’t picture. I can only empathize. And support. And fight.

The Greek poet CP Cavafy’s best-known work is “Waiting for the Barbarians,” which describes a nation-state paralyzed into inaction by the anticipation of an invading horde. That, to me, describes the mainstream politicians who have watched the rise in Republican barbarity, their wholesale attack on democratic process and their hijacking of the judiciary, and done nothing about it.

Why isn’t anything happening in the senate?

Why do the senators sit there without legislating?

            Because the barbarians are coming today.

            What laws can the senators make now?

            Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating.

Lofty sentences about political norms and senatorial decorum are the hollow talk of hollow figures in marble hallways, living statues waiting for the barbarians. They don’t act because they have chosen to become symbols, not living actors in a flesh-and-blood drama. And they don’t act, perhaps, because they can’t believe it’s really happening. Like the protagonist in another Cavafy poem, they paid no attention as walls were built to enclose and entomb them.

With no consideration, no pity, no shame,

they have built walls around me, thick and high …

I had so much to do outside.

The draft system was much easier to escape if you were rich or middle class, if you were white. There were doctors to certify you unfit. If that form of exemption became more difficult, your parents could always send you to Canada. People of color and the poor got the worst of it. They get the worst of it now. They’re far more likely to serve in the military, often because they have no other economic alternatives. There they must contend with danger, senior-level incompetence, suicide epidemics, and the abuse of their addicted comrades.

People of color and the poor will get the worst of this New Old Order, too, as disadvantaged women find themselves unable to afford the interstate travel that bodily autonomy will soon require. That will displease the Big Tech branch of the ruling elite, which has long been concerned with the problem of excess population. As I once wrote of Tyler Cowen, a favored economist of that set: 

Cowen promotes his idea of the “hyper-meritocracy” in “Average Is Over.” The brilliant and self-motivated (as he sees them) will become wealthier and more powerful than ever, while the rest of society (which Cowen pegs at 85 percent of the population) becomes a permanent underclass, dwelling in shantytowns and struggling to survive. 

With Roe v Wade gone, make that 95 percent. The tech tycoons may moan, but they’ll go along with it in the end. Barbarians use social media, too.

One of the most striking things about the Alito draft is its rage. These judicial moles have watched, and waited, and bided their time, pretending to be sober jurists until their moment came around. Now, the fury is unleashed. Chief Justice Roberts may tone down the language, but the lurking creature has growled deep down in its throat.

When they were building the walls, how could I not have noticed!

But I never heard the builders, not a sound.

Only one in four Americans wants the Court to overturn Roe v Wade. There are nationwide demonstrations against it. They’re doing it anyway. 

The Democrats in Washington – somebody – should be demanding that the courts be taken back from the antidemocratic minority. This is the battle we should be fighting. This is the line that should be drawn. Too many of them, however, seem to have another plan in mind. It’s the same one they’ve been following for years, and it goes like this: Why legislate? Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating. 

Night has fallen. The walls have been built. They’re here.

My additional comments. The two presidents who did not get the popular vote, yet had a hand in creating this SCOTUS today, had it been the “men of the new old order,” based on many, many years ago, would have had to stand on the front lines in front of troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other areas of the world. Think about that. The leader led the troops into battle at one time. LBJ of Texas, without even being elected president because of being next in line when JFK was murdered, should have been at the front lines of the troops in Vietnam. None of them were.

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Commentary, democracy, Gun Safety, History & Genealogy, human-rights, war

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Lethal Weapon Regulation

Dear Editors:

This written communication is about three letters to your newspaper regarding guns. (1) “Stored firearms help to save lives,” “Anticipates court’s gun case ruling,” (3) “Supports firearms insurance statute [San Jose].” 

As citizen who believes in common sense and humanitarian concerns regarding firearms, I wish to comment about these letters.

The first letter is about storage safeguards for those who have firearms. This is a very important consideration. Thanks for publishing this information which came from those who are involved in these practices. 

The second letter about “court’s gun case ruling.” To the author, Bob Way, I do hope I need to purchase many “adult diapers.” In that manner, I can collect what goes into such diapers and wipe The stuff in the diapers in the faces of those who push their emotionally-based and sensationalist-based ideas for free gun and rifle purchase and use into their faces. 

The 2nd Amendment is about militias, but not intended for personal individual rights. Militias were an important to safeguard against a government which squelches freedom of speech and does not abide by the U.S. Constitution.

How about if Mr. Bob Way becomes familiar with the Preamble to the U.S> Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to
form a more perfect Union, establish Justice,
insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the
common defence, promote the general Welfare,
and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves
and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.

Comments.

1. “establish justice…”

1. establish justice…  With people like Bob Way, they think like immature ones and consider the only justice is the justice in which they approve and only for their individual rights. They forget the responsibility required in order to maintain our rights.

2. “insure domestic tranquility…”  Domestic tranquility is also defined in a false manner by immature people who are not able to take responsibility for the rights and liberties they have. Such people simply want “law and order” defined in their way only. It is the reason why there are so many incidents reported in which, for the same law and order ideas for domestic tranquility is to arrest and charge African-Americans by dredging up a wrongful charge while letting white people go or just ignoring white people entirely and looking the other way. Case in point. Possession of marijuana and making certain that a black person is checked, while a white person is not.  Such measures do not insure domestic tranquility and often encourages the use of gun violence, in the process.

3. “provide for the common defence…” The important word in this statement is “common.” Militias are designed for the “common” defense, not individual defense for individual rights.  “Common” is not meant for a small group of people, but for the overall defense of the American government and all inhabitants of the USA who are depending on domestic tranquility.

4. “promote the general welfare…” The general welfare is far from being promoted by individualist ideas regarding guns or small groups like the KKK and Jim Crow despots in Dixie.  It is not promoted by those with guns who live in fear of colored people and minorities who might one day become more of a majority.  We all need to coexist, not be subjected to unsubstantiated thoughts of conspiracies by emotional and immature folks, based on sensationalist attitudes.

5. “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”  Liberties are not defined by one minority group of white supremacists with red necks and bigotry and hatred towards others and then they form a militia on that basis.  They deny blessings and liberty to others in society by use of fear tactics and guns.

Ironically, When a government defends civil liberties and other matters, in line with the preamble to the U.S. Constitution it is not to be faced by small groups of militia with guns in the USA. Whether it is white supremacists or the black panthers, it is small groups of militia with guns and these groups do not respect the U.S Constitution with words like this in the preamble.

Hunting for deer and other animals, in my estimation is all right. WE just need to follow guidelines offered in the first letter about safeguarding weapons.  There is also no need for automatic weapons in public. Hunters have told me they so no common sense for using an automated weapon on deer because the meat would be rendered of little use. I have heard hunters say that they are more challenged by using a bow and arrow, not a rifle. It is all about common sense approaches regarding guns.

Yes, one can argue that gun permits and other laws for gun control might not work. Correct. Humans and their institutions lack perfection so one would expect there to be imperfections. A mature person with common sense would take this into consideration. 

An example of the failure of gun control is the mentally deranged guy near Rochester, several years ago, who, on a Christmas Eve, set a home on fire and began a rampage of killing firefighters and police.  The mentally deranged guy had been in prison and not allowed to own a gun. The law is a good one. But, this mentally deranged person got a neighbor to purchase the gun for him. That neighbor then became an accessory to murder.  People against gun control mention it is the person and the mental stability at fault, not the guns. In this case the gun was the fault and the law existed for the protection of those who were subjected to killing by a mentally deranged person.  With this case, I hope I can have an adult diaper and rub in the writer’s face the contents. Sad to say that one of my great-great-grandparents was from the Way family which had settled on Long Island in the 1600s.  “…liberty and justice FOR ALL,” not just liberty for the individual rights of militias which represent a small portion of the population.

Lastly, the letter from Bruce Joffe regarding liability insurance for ownership of guns is very pertinent. The topic is about the mandate in San Jose, CA, for gun owners to carry liability insurance. Sad to say that we need to resort to such practices, but it is a practical solution.

One statement by Joffe needs to be emphasized. “Responsible, law-abiding gun owners risk being seen as extreme and crazy when lawsuits [as in the case of the mandate in San Jose] are filed to oppose such necessary regulation of lethal weapons.”  This is comparable to “responsible, law-abiding” rifle owners who hunt in the wild for venison meat and are portrayed as being crazy for their opposition to automatic weapons.  Perhaps gun regulation, based on common sense of human beings, is a more appropriate terminology to describe “gun control?”

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Daily News: MAGA My Way

Make America great again.Not like big fat piggish ways of Donald Trump fascists with love of money 1st.MAGA my way.

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Perhaps Clarification Necessary, From Historical Evidence, too?

Dear Fellow Community Members:

A very good letter to the editor appeared in the Feb. 2 edition of The Times-Tribune of Scranton, PA. From Richard London of State College, who writes, “Socialism bluster ignores reality.” London touches on the “knee-jerk reactions” of Republicans who are always clamoring for a fight with Democrats (as I interpret this; you can interpret it as you like). I have viewed this contentious attitude from Republicans since I was a Republican myself and EXPECTED to be contentious with all Democrats. I kid you not. I remained with that party in Florida for many years and am sad I did.

What my partner and I have observed is this. There is no goal of Republicans to solve the problems of this nation, but just act like dictators and force everyone to go along with their desires. It began under Reagan and we viewed it during those years. My partner and I did not actually meet until 2005, but when we compared notes, it was astounding as to how our notes matched each other. I can say the same thing about his now-deceased brother who had been a Republican for many years.

it is unbelievable to be in “Yankee-land” and have difficulty in finding people who are on the same page as we have been since coming together in 2005. This letter to the editor is one of the first we have read which demonstrates being on the “same page” with someone up north. Sad to see that this does NOT come from the Gannett Pravda of Binghamton which has condensed the size of its newspaper, reduced the information it once provided, and evidently does not provide information for those of us on this same page. We really dislike Gannett as it also took over the newspaper where my partner worked for some 33 years as a copy editor. That newspaper in Palm Beach County did the same thing – condensing the information to nothing and then claiming, “no one reads newspapers.”  Of course they don’t when the saboteurs at the top reduces them to nothing. Perhaps that also explains why it is so damn difficult to find people here in the Southern Tier who are on the same page? Just a conjecture on my part.

In light of what I just said, let me share that letter by Richard London (perhaps a professor? I have no idea, but his address is State College, PA).

Socialism bluster ignores reality

Richard London

State College, PA

The Times-Tribune (Scranton, PA), 2 Feb. 2022

Editor: An accusation that Republicans love to hurl at Democrats is that they are “socialists.”

Do Republicans understand what American socialism, also called “democratic socialism,” really is? Do they confuse it with Soviet socialism, from the old U.S.S.R. days, or modern socialism in authoritarian places such as North Korea or Venezuela?

Socialism, or socialization, is any structure in which a governmental agency – federal, state or local – collects funds from the general public via taxes, and uses the money to provide a service back to the population at little, or no, cost. The arrangement has been authorized by the people, though their representatives; hence democratic socialism.

Everyday examples of socialism include public schools and highways (state level), Social Security and Medicare (federal level), and public libraries (local level). Nearly all Republicans embrace and enjoy these benefits provided by the socialization mechanism, but many of them decry socialism in general.

Maybe it’s a knee-jerk reaction to Democratic social issue proposals. Maybe Republicans just don’t understand the term. Maybe they understand, but want to turn public opinion against proposals by using a loaded term from the past.

The difference between Republicans and progressives is not that progressives accept socialization and the Republicans reject it, since both clearly accept it. Both are willing to use the mechanism for examples such as education, highways and libraries, and even for retirement and health insurance plans (at least for the elderly); progressives want to use it for additional things to benefit the public.

There are some parts of this letter, I wish to place add-ons, but will not go to long length to do so. Being that i spent 40+ years in education and as a librarian, I feel there is one thing I wish to add regarding the statements about libraries being part of the “socialization.” The public library here in Newark Valley exists due to an endowment more than 100 years ago from two Republican families here in Newark Valley. I am told that it is able to run by means of dividends from that endowment. I speak of the Tappan-Spaulding Memorial Library in Newark Valley. The Tappan family, especially, was once a big family here in Newark Valley. Republicans, for sure.

I mention this because of the “bluster” surrounding socialism. This library was never one of socialism, but one of capitalist investment and return on investment, by way of dividends earned.

With this being said, Mr. London’s comments about Social Security and Medicare can be challenged as NOT necessarily being socialism. That is where people today, I believe, are confused as to what socialism AND capitalism are about. The aristocracy of the 19th Century grabbed hold of the ideas of capitalism and spun those ideas around so as to benefit the aristocracy and supply side economics. Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican “progressive” tried to spin the thoughts of capitalism to those of REGULATED capitalism. Remember TR was called the “trust buster?” Remember that Thomas J. Watson was nearly arrested, before founding IBM, for working at NCR and working to do a Trump-type of thing; “destroy the competition.” Regulations almost sent Watson to jail. He reformed when he created IBM and there are many who can be thankful for that. It was those idiots who took over the corporation after Watson who sent it reeling to North Carolina and Texas.

Social Security and Medicare have received funds, just like a CAPITALIST endowment, from the common folks like you and me. The “bluster” over socialism, in my humble opinion, has totally destroyed the ideas of endowments, dividends, and return on investments. Thus, we have Trump and Republicans working to destroy Social Security and Medicare, in the name of anti-socialism which is described by Mr. London in his letter.

It is damn difficult to find anyone on the same page I am with regard to the practicality and REALITY of capitalist considerations of Social Security and Medicare. I’ll be damned if I can find anyone who does not conform to the false notions of Karl Marx which blames capitalism. Karl Marx SHOULD have blamed the aristocracy of the day and its grip on promoting supply side economics which they called, “capitalism.” The stupidity of some economists of the 1970s and then Reagan in 1980 brought back this notion about supply side economics and today, we are falsely giving accusation to Social Security and Medicare as being socialism when, in reality… (REALITY is a word in the title of Mr. London’s letter to the editor), the money we all put into those government programs gets stolen from us, by both Democrats and Republicans alike, to use for government programs (like war and a war on drugs for the sake of drug lords which apparently now focus on the locality near the old IBM on Washington Avenue, Endicott) where they should not be used. We common folk forfeit the ability to gain dividends from our CAPITALIST investments, due to this false talk about it all. 

I know everyone wishes I do not make the article so lengthy. But let me tell you about how my lack of length and detail and no one understood my writings about the Ozempic med saved in a refrigerator for three months, rather than one month. Until I went into detail with a comparison of Ozempic in a refrigerator to milk in a refrigerator over three months, no one even tried to consider what I was saying and THINK, as Thomas J. Watson suggested IBM employees do.  THINK is for the sake of common folk, Middle Class, and democracy. Republicans today don’t want THINK, so they work to destroy public education, while Democrats sit around like a bunch of wimps and let the Republicans do what they want. That is REALITY, as pointed out by Mr. London of State College, PA. That is the reality to which I address.

In college at SUNY Potsdam History program (I minored in history, behind my major of music education), I was introduced to books by Dr. Daniel Boorstin. Dr. Boorstin eventually became the only decent part of Ronald Reagan of the 1980s. Boorstin was appointed as Librarian of Congress (after I earned my Masters of Library Science from Syracuse University). Dr. Boorstin’s book series is titled, The American Experience. Each book was about some different aspect. The Explorers. The Colonials. The one we read was about the American DEMOCRATIC experience, but I have purchased and partially read the others in the series. They are very interesting.

I am going into this detail as background for what I am about to say. Boorstin’s democratic experience includes a chapter about the first insurance commissioner in Yankee-land Massachusetts, Erasmus Wright. What does he have to do with what I am saying here? Because in the 19th Century, Erasmus Wright took on big insurance of his day who were run by criminals who took people’s money for life insurance but rarely had the money left over to pay when the people died. To me, this is no different than big homeowners insurance (especially in Florida) taking our money and never considering the capitalist investment and the dividends available when the money is not used. Instead, we always end up with a zero return on investment. Same thing with life insurance when Erasmus Wright of Massachusetts took it on. Same thing, too, with employer-provided health insurance for 40 years, many times with money contributed by ME, the EMPLOYEE, and nothing in funds to collect dividends. I am angered by Blue Cross & Blue Shield for the money I contributed over 25 years as a college professor and now being told by Medicare Blue Cross Blue Shield (Excellus) that “they cannot pay for pre-existing conditions;” while I pay premiums for six months.  UHC of AARP says the same thing, while I paid membership dues to AARP for some 20 years or so. That endowment with dividends works for the local library. But lawyers and accountants with their big fat wallets, make rules against the thinking about endowments into insurance for us little folks who pay all the taxes. I don’t recall the name of the health insurance coverage I had prior to 1995 when I began working for the college, but there is an investment there, too. Add to that privatized insurance what I have paid into Medicare and Social Security (FICA) over 40 years total and I should have enough of dividends to help pay for my health care and retirement.

But the norm is to only do this with big fat pigs of corporations, but not for the common folk. And then have to listen to the “bluster” about socialism which “ignores reality.” I write and write and write and write and write about these things and neither Democrats or Republicans pick up on it. I would expect that of lousy fascist Republican leaders who defend the fat pigs, but what about the Democrats? Nothing but wimps who are afraid of being blasted by false “bluster of socialism?” It is sickening.

No wonder a friend and colleague (professor) had to talk me out of leaving this nation back in 2016 when lousy Trump was elected, so I could live in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, or even Scotland. This friend said, “we need people like you who are willing to stand up against what is going on.” Here I am. All alone.

But then again, I cannot collect ANY Medicare in any of those nations, thanks to the bullshit of Republican fascist control. So why bother? The only options? Live in the mountains of Mexico and Central America where I have to live in heat and humidity, which I really is lousy for me.Should I have the dividends earned for Medicare, FICA, and PRIVATIZED insurance, over many years, I might have a chance of living in those other nations.

I might add that it was a Democrat who put that homeowners’ insurance crap in place in Florida. Shame on him. But then again. What the hell did Jeb Bush, Rick the Prick, or DeSantis do to reform it from that? Nothing. Yet, some miserable SOB in Pennsylvania will attack our Democratic Party governor in NY for trying to find a solution to the gun problem by way of “bail reform.” Why? Because those idiots in Florida have more interest in the wealthy fat pigs than they do about the impact of insurance criminals on common folk. DeSantis puts in place stupid ignorant rules to put down the teaching of history regarding slavery and sexual identity in the schools. No. He does not do something to actually help the common folk, only for the damn fundagelical Southern Baptists of the Baptist Conservative Network and other ultra right wing religious bastards. But for insurance? What does DeSantis, Rick the Prick or Jeb Bush do about that? Not one damn thing, as they gerrymander the state in order to maintain a one-party legislature and governorship (with TERM LIMITS, too), which were CREATED by gerrymandering for the sake of central Florida white supremacists.

I am obviously very angry about these situations and become angry at anyone who supports these damn Republican fascists.  So I write. And I write. And I write. And I write. Someone pay attention and stop leaving me all alone and not seeking the same page with me (common ground); or perhaps HIDING what they truly believe, especially if they are not impacted by racial or sexual identity issues.

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Commentary, democracy, Economics, Regulated Capitalism, Commerce, Education, Gun Safety, Healthcare, wellness, medicine, History & Genealogy, human-rights, If it's broke let's fix it TOGETHER

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