In The News (09/28/2017)

The wheels of justice turn slowly--but they do turn
The U.S. Department Of Justice Filed A Lawsuit Against New Jersey Defense Contractors Over Alleged False Claims--"According to the complaint, Shubhada Industries described itself as a manufacturer to the Defense Logistics Agency and agreed to manufacture two light assemblies, a type of turn signal for munitions vehicles. But instead of manufacturing these assemblies, Shubhada Industries allegedly purchased them from someone else for $1,351.62, charged the military $73,842.00 for the same items—a 5400 percent markup—and pocketed the difference."

If true these guys have demonstrated far worse then some sports figures going down on one knee. Talk about disrespecting the military. Question is since this is a "civil fraud lawsuit"--if proven guilty--will any one go to jail?


Rural Police Chief Supports His Immigrant Community

Storm Lake, Iowa-- Population 14,000


More Food For Thought

There are areas in urban decline where Americans want no part of. For many of these immigrants these areas are twice as nice as those they came from. Many driven out by fighting leaving their homes and cities devastated. Some were highly educated. Others owned shops. Many who would appreciate us giving them another chance to start over. No doubt a great number who are more grateful then we who never had to endure such hardship.

I'm not advocating an open border policy. What I am suggesting is we not slam the door shut without giving this due consideration. Somewhere in between NO IMMIGRATION and TOO MUCH IMMIGRATION there is a middle ground. A commonsense policy. Not every rock contains a gem--but if one looks hard enough some can be found. Such as it with these people. Just maybe the next great research scientist or innovator may come from among them.

With good planning and policy it can benefit us all. At the very least it has to be better then continuing to let our cities buildings be abandoned left to rot If these people are willing to paint and fix them up a bit why not?


Speaking Of Left To Rot

As of 09/28/2017 1,000's of containers with aid are sitting on Puerto Rico's dock

Talk about bureaucratic screw ups!
It was also reported hundreds of volunteers are mulling around awaiting orders in an air conditioned rescue center. Somebody needs to get their shit together--fast!


Wanna Help?
Hispanic Federation has launched the UNIDOS Disaster Relief Fund --"to help meet hurricane and earthquake-related needs and recovery in Puerto Rico and Mexico. 100% of your gift to UNIDOS goes to help children, friends and families recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria and the Mexico City earthquake. In our dropdown menu below, you will be able to directly select which disaster relief effort you're giving to

In The News (09/26/2017)

Round And Round The Blame Goes.
Where It'll Stop Nobody Knows
'The Daily Beast' reports, Team Trump Prepares the Shiv for Mitch McConnell: ‘He Needs To Go--"One senior Trump administration official told The Daily Beast that the president is “well prepared to” shovel blame onto McConnell if and when the latest Obamacare repeal effort goes down in flames later this week."

For a so-called lousy plan it sure seems replacing Obamacare is no walk in the park. Why is that? Could it be the cure is worse then the disease?


Equifax CEO--YOU'RE FIRED!
'Bloomberg'--"may get at least $18.4 million in retirement payouts"

Oh the pain, suffering and indignation. All the companies I worked for employees lost their pension rights if they were fired. I wonder if all employees of Equifax enjoy the same rights as the now former CEO?


If You Like Their Vacuums You Might Love Their Cars
'Bloomberg' reports, Dyson to Spend £1 Billion Making ‘Radical’ Electric Car--"Dyson Ltd., best-known as a manufacturer of vacuum cleaners, hand driers and air filters, will build an electric car by 2020, founder James Dyson said Tuesday.

Hmmm- I wonder if they'll be as uniquely shaped as their other products having clear doors and hoods. Dyson is a privately held company based in the United Kingdom. No word yet if some will manufactured here in the United States to help MAGA. Currently the vacuums America loves to buy are made in Malaysia and the Philippines.



Football Ratings on 09/24/2017Donald Trump Says...

"TV By The Numbers" Says They're Up...

Somebody is FOS.
Hmmm--I wonder who it might be?


What Do You Think Sean?

Oops Sorry.. He's on commercial break
Maybe later

In The News (09/25/2017)

Don't Succeed The First Time Maybe The Second Will Be The Charm
The New York Times reports the Commodity Futures Trading Commission thinks it's a swell idea to now let commodity traders report themselves for wrongdoings. In other words the CFTC is reducing oversight once imposed by the Obama administration. Keep in mind this was the same bunch that almost bankrupted the economy back in 2008 costing taxpayers billions of dollars driving up our national debt. Drain the swamp--what swamp--I don't see no swamp.


Addressing Gun Control
Reuters-- Secret Service arrests man with guns near White House on Sunday. There were a slew of charges. The one that drew my interest was having "a dangerous weapon outside of a home or business". I understand this was near the white house and all BUT what does this say about "equal protection under the law" for the rest of us? Why is it OK to for the feds to oppose gun rights they aren't willing to live with for themselves? What am I--chopped liver?


CBS New Series ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ HERE WE GO AGAIN !
Sunday night I watched this new program on CBS. First off I think the whole story (lacking in depth) could be summed up in a sentence or two. The starship came across a Klingon beacon. and a mothership. Should they attack or not. That's when 20 other Klingon warships arrived threatening them. It's also where CBS left us hanging. Viewers will have to choke up cash for CBS all-access to see will happen.

Three problems. (1) It's lacks a story line and the humor Captain Kirk once brought to the series. (2) If writers can't wrap up a story in 1 hour they're obviously pandering to the network to get us (3) TO PAY FOR THE DAMN THING.

This is the way CBS is starting to roll. They give us one episode for a new program--for the second season in a row--what amounts to nothing more a one hour promo to buy what they're selling. You guys own 4 cable channels you're already making money off of. Let me sum this up in two words--"greedy pigs".


Today Megyn Kelly Debuted Her New Show



Check out my post on 09/23/2017
I was heightened with the people attending and speaking at the "Global Citizens" rally in New York's central park on Saturday. There are so many other things I read where people have made a positive impact. I've posted several pieces on the most amazing things some people are doing from time to time over the years. By and large I remain convinced the good deeds people do outnumbers the bad.

In the coming days I will attempt to strike a better balance commingling the negative with the more positive stories within my reporting. Upping my game--if you will. These shall also consists of more informative items I come across. Those which have little to do with the drama playing out daily along with a comment or two. Take this as one such example...


COMMENTARYIf our mind held predominance over our physical world (if it were a illusion unto itself) we would be born with the ability to walk and talk. Since we aren't I conclude it's just another organ which develops to sustain a need for our bodies to survive. Wouldn't it be great if it were otherwise?

In The News (09/24/2017)

Revisiting Webcams In Key West, Florida
Checking out the SLOPPY JOE'S BAR WEBCAM I see they've reopened their doors for business since Friday (09/22/2017). I assume the people watching are locals since tourists still aren't being allowed back in.

HOG'S BREATH is starting to show signs of life too. I also noticed the SOUTHERNMOST TOURIST STOP is a bit banged up but it too seems otherwise to be in fine shape.

Same goes with MALLORY SQUARE and RICK'S BAR.

So it appears things are starting to return to normal for the hardy stalwarts who claim Key West as their home. No hurricane can keep the "Conch Republic" down for long. They're a unique bunch. Good for them!


Temporary Inconvenience--Permanent Improvement
TPM--The border between San Diego is closed this weekend to vehicles as part of a $741 million expansion expected to be completed by 2019. Rather then making it harder the project is designed to make it easier for 40,000 vehicles to cross daily. Ssssh--don't tell Donald.


Not Everything Attached To The Obama Name Being Taken Away
TPM reports on Friday --"The red plaid shirt, jeans and sneaker-wearing first lady was venturing out into the South Lawn garden made famous by her predecessor, Michelle Obama, as part of her “Let’s Move!” campaign against childhood obesity. Mrs. Trump had said she intends to keep the garden going."
Ssssh--don't tell Donald about this either :-)



I Noticed This On My Credit Card Bill

Wow!
Lucky for me I've never been late.

If this ever happened they should enclose a note telling me how much they appreciate giving me the business. Hell I'd be better off using a check cashing agency then these guys. One thing is for sure--it would make a cash user out of me PDQ. I'd sooner take my chances getting my pocket picked by a stranger. One who couldn't mess up my credit score.



Donald Trump Thinks Some Football Players Are SOB's

Wonder how many players are going to sit it out for a different reason?

Does Trump actually believe he will receive respect in return for calling them SOB's?
Wonder how many athletes in future days will accept invitations to the Whitehouse?

What if at every future event Donald attends we do this...

Hey--why go half way ?
:-)
I was against this mixing up politics with sports. I didn't approve when they sat it out--but when the President calls them SOB's--well that puts a whole other spin on it. It's human nature to feel challenged when called a SOB. Yeah this guy is a real champ when it comes to de-escalation. I'm sure players--competitive in nature--will see the error of their ways. Question is how many more groups of people can Donald insult before it bites him in the ass?


Problem With Credit Agencies Like Equifax Is...
They never seem to gather enough data on people who are unaware nor approved them for doing so.

'New York Times'--"From birth to death... Decades’ worth of addresses and identifying information, including drivers’ licenses and Social Security numbers. Utility accounts like telephone and cable subscriptions. Criminal records, medical debt, as well as rental and eviction histories. Equifax’s records on any given individual, scattered throughout dozens of databases, typically stretch across hundreds or thousands of pages... Equifax persuaded more than 7,000 employers to hand over salary details for an income verification system that now encompasses nearly half of American workers."[Underscore is mine]

For years we've been told to protect our information. In short--what a load of BULLSHIT.

I don't know why anyone needs them anyway. If someone buys a car, a home or rents--each should require a certain amount of money upfront to cover the lender's loss if it becomes necessary. ZERO DOWN is reckless. It makes no business sense Nobody would have done it this way years ago. If I were lending money or renting I'd require whatever I felt necessary to cover my possible loses. Thus I wouldn't need some damn credit agency. Why would I care if someone stiffed the last guy They might have had good reasons.

If I felt it was appropriate to collect three payments ahead of time before a initiating a transaction so-be-it. Anyone willing to loan or rent w/o assuming the possible risks involved for doing so without the proper amount of upfront money deserves what they get. It's just bad business. Hence I see no need for these credit agencies.

On the consumer end--they're not your friend. They exist only to benefit companies willing to allow people to buy things they aren't able to afford. Companies who overcharge customers who shouldn't be charging in the first place making them poorer then they already are.


North Korea--Seismic Activity Detected
There's been seismic activity reported near where N.K. recently tested a hydrogen bomb. No one knows for sure whether it was an after effect of the test--additional tunneling they were doing for another--or a natural occurrence. Maybe it's just me but if I were Kim Jung-un I'd be cautious I wasn't undermining the tectonic plates beneath my own country. Who knows how things could turn out.

Global Citizen Festival LIVE STREAMING VIDEO

60,000 In Attendance @ Central Park NYC

REPLAY From 09/23/2017
(Pennsylvania's U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent speaks at the 3:09:13 minute mark)

THE GLOBAL CITIZEN WEBSITE

Saturday Music Break

I came across this cool tune by a group who calls themselves Scott Bradlee's "Postmodern Jukebox Band".


Check Out Their Tour Dates HERE

In The News (09/23/2017)

Behind The Scenes Of Work Going Into this Blog
Wandering around for news gets more time consuming. Last week 'Philly.com' put up a paywall after three articles. 'Lehigh Valley Live.com' discontinued their RSS feeds. 'The Morning Call' never did one single RSS feed for all the stories they publish and also uses a similar paywall. RSS feeds makes it easier for me to go through hundreds of stories each day without having to visit dozens of cluttered sites. Websites tend to get cranky with my AdBlocker, initialize popups halfway through reading or some auto-running video.

I can understand why each want visitors. So they can generate revenue from their advertisers. But I can honestly say I never ever once clicked or bought anything on one of them. So too 90% of the news content itself is useless to me. I like RSS feeds because I can choose from a list of headlines. I need only click on those of interest. Over a third are repeats of what others have already written. As RSS feeds start disappearing it's is taking up more and more of my time unnecessarily.

As a result of the ever increasing complexity of numerous sites I committed myself to making this blog as simple as possible. I'm attempting to get to the point short and concise as possible throwing in some humor alongside my opinions. Hell even this explanation became too windy. I'll try to do better. I'm still working on it :-)


These Are Suppose To Be Our Examples Of Leadership?
New York Post reports a legislative representative in Texas showed up for work hopped up on morphine. That ain't all. She has 19 other accusations being made against her. Check out the article. Texas voters seem to like what she's doing. She's serving her 12th term in office. Goes to show you can never underestimate the intelligence of voters. Wonder if she voted against legalization of marijuana?


James Comey Gets A Toast
Not in a good way. Reuters--Protesters chant, boo through Comey university address. Republicans or Democrats-- does it matter? Who doesn't like a good ole trashing of a present or former public figure? This is America's pastime, These speeches for many are more fun then paying the cost of admittance to the fair...


Yup--that's what it feels like for those who get involved with the public

It's like deja vu all over again.

People thrive on this kind of stuff for some reason


Senator McCain Ain't Going Along With It
Friday Sen. John McCain said he won't vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal repealing and replacing Obamacare. "“I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried." Same goes with Rand Paul for a different reason. He wants a 100% repeal of Obamacare in it's entirely Well this ought to go over like a lead balloon since they may not have the votes. Let the name calling begin by Donald Trump and his supporters. BUT BEFORE they do let us remember what Trump promised people who voted for him--he'd have a much better cheaper healthcare plan that will completely cover everyone.


Prosecutors' Criminal Lab Chemist FOS
Slate.com reports a lab chemist used by prosecutors in Massachusetts might have fudged some 18,000 lab results. She's accused of not only fudging lab results but also was a user herself stealing seized drugs sent to her lab. It shouldn't be any wonder then why I have so little faith questioning everything. Sometimes I ponder whether this world was created similar to a hologram by the "Gods" for their amusement in such foolishness.


Ye Gads--I have so many stories yet to get to
Check back later when I have time to get to them.