Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Assorted Thoughts

Thought I would mention that I'm leaving Friday for the Caribbean. It's time for a break! I will be back after the 8th and there will be articles next week... I have not forgotten you! In the meantime, let's hit on a few things for this week.

● So Stormy Daniels was a bust... no pun intended.

● Several of the NFL kneelers (in particular the leaders) are discovering that no one wants to hire them. Imagine that! They disrespected the American anthem, the military, cops and the public. They accused us of racism. They accused their bosses of racism. They caused a ratings nightmare for their bosses and wouldn't stop. They stoked racial hate. And they swore they wouldn't stop until "somethingsomething everybody in the world does what I want." And now they are shocked and dismayed that no one wants to hire them. Ha ha. They've even said they will stop kneeling, and still no takers. Actions have consequences. Enjoy what you've sown, jerks.

● Every parent I know has the same story. Their kid invites X kids to a birthday party. No one RSVPs because, why do that? Then half or less of the kids show up and the rest never even call to say they aren't coming.

In my evil generation, if you got an invite, you went. Even if you didn't, you sent a present. And you sure as hell told people if you were coming or not. These kids don't. These are the kids who worry about bullying, and who think they're more morally evolved than the rest of us. They even have phones sewn to their hands which let them communicate in an instant. Yet, they don't bother. The papers are full of stories of kids who invited whole classes only to have nobody show up. You want to know why people become school shooters? We are made to suffer by the monsters we create.

● I still find the idea that Facebook "misused" data rather astounding. Apparently, these people never read the privacy statement which reads something like this: "Hit that agree button and we own your f*cking soul. We can impregnate your wife, sell your children, do medical experiments on your parents, and tattoo dirty limericks on your anus. We have the right to take anything you own for the rest of your life and do whatever we want with it and you can't say sh*t. Sign here ==>_______." Not exactly a lot of room to complain when they use your data to figure out what you are and use it against you.

18 comments:

Anthony said...

1) I agree the interview about what everyone already knew hasn't made much in the way of a political impact, but seems like it was a big rating success.

It sounds like the secret pre-election payoff to Daniels could have been illegal. I'm sure the Democrats will be happy to dig into it if they take back some or all of Congress.

Like with Clinton, the specific law broken isn't really important to anyone involved, and making too much of it would probably trigger a rally round the flag effect.

2) Like Tebow, the football players' actions were hailed by fellow believers, but like Tebow, most football fans just wanted them to focus on football, so now some of the kneelers are paying the price.

3) I agree its a problem. One just has to try to make sure one's kids aren't part of the problem.

4) I'm sure companies regularly leave themselves lot of legal room in those multipage agreements consumers click to agree to. However, if a big chunk of consumers suddenly decide what a company is doing is a problem, the company has little choice but to make adjustments.

5) The reaction to the Stephon Clark shooting indicates Black Lives Matter isn't quite as dead as I had thought (at least not in Sacramento).

While I agree there are squirrely shootings and bad cops out there (not necessarily the same thing) shooting a guy who was running/ignoring orders in the dark and had something in his hands strikes me as reasonable.

I am trying to deepen my understanding of the phenomena of police protests. Previously, I have stated official reaction matters (investigations tend to cause a milder public reactions than sweeping something under the rug). I stand by that but another big variable seems to be families. Their actions can impact not only the amount of protests, but the tone of protests.

Unfortunately but unsurprisingly Clark's family seems to think that confronting cops in the dark with something in your hands is like kids playing tag or something, a game where no one should get hurt. They also think that thuggery is the best way to commemorate his death.

Anonymous said...

Andrew; Have a great trip.
GypsyTyger

BevfromNYC said...

Andrew - Have fun on your holiday. Take a holiday. Disconnect and enjoy your family. I promise to start contributing again and next week seems like the perfect reason to find something to write about. Blogging-block is a real thing...

Also, take a carbon monoxide detector with you...just to be safe.

BevfromNYC said...

It's kind of shocking that the NFL players were not away that football is a money-making enterprise. Where do they think all that money to pay their multi-million dollar contracts comes from? I understand that most are under 30 yrs old, but seriously.

I agree with you wholeheartedly about the whole Facebook/social media thing. Seriously, have they never noticed that when you click on any...and I mean any website, somehow ads for that website w/the product you were looking for just happens to appear on every single page with advertising after? Duh...if they know/collect info on your shopping habits, how can one be so daft as to think they weren't following your political trail too?

Stacy said...

We just went through the same thing with RSVPs back in September for our daughter's wedding. Even people of our generation who know better and realize how much a wedding costs REFUSE to give you an answer because they don't know their work schedule, so-and-so might be visiting us then but if they don't we'll come,....blah, blah, blah. You know it comes down to I'm waiting to see if I have a better offer for that day...one that benefits me and doesn't require I spend my money on a gift. Then on top of that, we had guests steal the centerpieces and the leftover booze. Nice.

Unemployed NFL players. Waaah! Snowflakes.

Any thoughts about Utah's becoming the first state to legalize "free-range" parenting?

Enjoy your trip!

BevfromNYC said...

If "free-range" parenting is anything like "free-range" chickens on restaurant menues, I can tell you it doesn't turn out well. Just kidding. ;-)

Is free ranging parenting the kind of thing where you will be allowed to feed your child white bread and/or let them go to the park across the street all by themselves/with their friends and the parents won't get arrested for "neglect?

Stacy said...

Yes, it gives parents the right to decide when their child is capable of doing certain things unsupervised. When did it become illegal? Holy crap, my parent's entire generation should have gone to jail. For that matter, I should have, too.

BevfromNYC said...

Stacy - that is so true! My parents and frankly our entire block of parents would have been thrown in jail/sued and run out of town for all of the trampolines w/o netting, tree-climbing, bike-riding w/o helmets or knee guards, and the horror of a skinned knees/elbows. AND WHITE BREAD!!!!

Stacy said...

It's a wonder we survived, isn't it? LOL

AndrewPrice said...

Stacy and Bev, My parents were worse than Hitler. They put me in a hammock in the back window of a Corvair... they let me play football... they gave us cake on our birthdays... we ate peanuts... they let us buy sugar cigarettes at 7-11... and worst of all, they taught us right from wrong and expected us to succeed!

They were fantastic parents! :)

AndrewPrice said...

Stacy, That is really obnoxious about the wedding. People are ridiculous! How hard is it to say yes or no? I don't get it.

Thanks on the trip! I'm really looking forward to it. Their pool looks amazing.

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks GypsyTyger! Thanks Bev! I need the break from reality! LOL!

That's creepy about that family.

AndrewPrice said...

Anthony,

1. As we saw with Clinton, attacks like this do nothing but help the person attacked.

2. Yep. People don't want politics in their sports.

3. We've definitely taught our kids better. And I always call to RSVP and the parents are usually really grateful. That always makes me a little sad. It should be expected.

4. True. I just think it's stupid and a stupid basis for Congress to act. "Gee, you were stupid? Let me save you."

5. BLM isn't dead, but it's irrelevant. What's funny is how they spend so much time being offended that they get ignored. The latest is Selena Gomex refusing to back BLM because "hashtags don't help" but now supporting the gun thing and their hashtag. So BLM is whining about that.

ArgentGale said...

Enjoy your vacation, Andrew! You've definitely earned it! For the topics at hand...

1. No surprises here. Most of the chatter I saw and heard about it was along the lines of everyone knowing what they were getting with Trump and a few jabs at Democrat hypocrisy comparing their current attitude towards theirs with Clinton. Back to the drawing board for them.

2. Again, unsurprising, though I'd heard about this a few months ago with the rumors centering around Kaepernick no less. I'm not sure about him specifically and don't follow sports enough to look into it myself but I can't say I feel sorry for them. People go crazy without some forms of escapism yet the leftist sermons in entertainment keep getting piled so high and deep I can't blame people for getting irritated when it encroaches on something like sports.

3. I remember the old blog post you made about that and I agree it's disgusting. Like I said back then my mom made me go to plenty of parties for kids I didn't like so there's definitely some kind of breakdown on the parental level there. It's not much better among adults planning events either, as Stacy illustrated above, though people stealing the decorations and leftover booze is a new one. I wish I could say I have a hard time imagining that but as rampant as narcissism is these days I can imagine it all too easily.

4. Talk like this has been going on about Facebook for a while and from what I saw it looked like most people accepted some kind of privacy infringement as a necessary evil for using it. It'll be interesting to see how things go as this mess unfolds.

Rustbelt said...

Oh....

Oh, I see. Runnin' away, eh? You yellow b******! Come back here and take what's cummin to ya! I'll bite yer legs off!

But, seriously, Andrew, enjoy your trip. The sun, the surf, the waves, the sea breeze, the perfect weather, the food...
None of the snow, the fog, the gray, the dreary, the snow, the cold, the cold rain, the aggravated sinuses, the snow...

You know, I think I'll just sit down, watch a B-movie and drink a Pepsi. (Coke sucks.) Yeah, I'll do that- and moan.

BevfromNYC said...

Basic etiquette is a lost art form. Way back in the olden days of my childhood, we were taught how to dress for a party depending on what time of day the party was held and how and why to RSVP. Children's parties were fun, simple cake/punch affairs with pin=the=tail-on-the=donkey and small party favors. Friend and classmates were invited and we all all came (except for that one time when I took a nap and my grandmother forgot to wake me up when I was 4! The HORROR! Weird that I still remember that...) Life was so simple then.

Anthony said...

Enjoy your vacation!

Critch said...

I've always joked that I will get done in by falling space junk, considering I helped put enough of it up there. I guess I'll get my chance this weekend....

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