Party of Freedom? Less Government? A businessman?

Muh Freedoms! I had an exchange on Twitter with a Trumper who claimed he was a proud gun owner who believes in less government and more freedom with a businessman as president. This was in response to my comment that he had been duped by conservative propaganda and I think his response proved my point.

Conservative propaganda wants you to believe that today's Republican Party is for smaller government and individual freedom.

Every president in the modern era has increased government spending over the last, regardless of party, with Trump increasing spending to $8 trillion and the deficit to $28 trillion. How is that smaller government?

Republicans are also actively trying to take away numerous freedoms in the name of freedom. Women's rights, LGBTQ rights, voting rights... just a few of the freedoms targeted by the Republic party.

So what about this businessman? Trump is not a successful businessman. He is a reality TV star, a B-list celebrity, who has failed more often than not in his business ventures. Anyone who claims to support Trump because of his business acumen clearly has a superficial understanding of his background.

So to people who claim the Republican party stands for freedom and small government I say you have been duped by Republican propaganda.

In Defense of Civility

If Donald Trump is evil incarnate, are his supporters evil as well? I've seen that question asked, and answered affirmatively, several times across social media lately. While I lean more toward Trump being a clinical psychopath, I don't think all of his supporters should be put in the same basket.

I have several good friends who are Trump supporters. These are decent, smart people, and they support Trump. I'm sure there are Trump supporters who are genuine assholes and who support him because he is an asshole too, but clearly not all of them fit that description.

Republican Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia was on TV this morning talking about Trump followers, explaining that they have been "misinformed and scared" by Trump. Trump has not told them the truth, Manchin said.

So there is a group of people who have been duped by Trump. He has convinced them that he is right and "the left" is some evil singular entity out to ruin the country. Manchin implored his fellow Republican Senators to help educate their constituents to Trump's lies.

Manchin even admitted that he could tell West Virginians that more coal jobs have been lost under Trump than any other president, but they might not believe him, even though he has the numbers to support his claim. Trump's grip is that firm.

Smart people see through those lies though, right? How can they still support him? Perhaps they are part of another group who supports Trump, but only grudgingly. He might have seemed like the best choice in 2016, the anti-politician coming to drain the swamp, but he didn't live up to his billing. They see through the lies.

But he's still a "Republican" (and I put that in quotes because I don't think he is). If you embrace conservative social and economic ideas, then Trump is your only option, especially if the Senate swings the other way.

You could make the argument that despite his failure as a leader, he is getting the job done for those conservatives. There are more Republican-appointed justices on the Supreme Court, judges in the federal courts, less regulation on business, etc.

Those are all political issues, with many angles, that have nothing to do with Trump as a person, or his incompetent leadership, or his botched COVID response. Political issues are why we vote and making these decisions at the ballot box is the cornerstone of democracy.

What we can't do though, is put everyone in one of two baskets, the left or the right, because we're more than that. By many accounts we are living in one of the most politically divided times in our nation's history, division that was created by putting people into those two baskets and spreading fear and hate of the other side.

If voting to decide the issues is the cornerstone of democracy, the walls are civility and compromise. How can we remain civil and work together for a better country if it's always us versus them, one or the other?

The divided nation.

There has been much talk in the last few years about our divided nation and equally as much assigning of blame for the divisions or failure to heal them.

I think the division is not the responsibility of Obama, or Trump, or any other politician, but technology.

Not very long ago, our sources of information were somewhat limited.  There were three major networks to choose from and one or two newspapers depending on where you lived.  For the most part, the majority of people in the U.S. got their news from the same sources and these sources usually reported the same facts in varying amounts of detail.

Generally, major news outlets broadcast news and very little opinion on the 5 o'clock news.  Newspapers also printed mostly news, except for one page clearly labeled "Opinion."

Then came a cable news network.  It takes a lot of news to fill 24 hours and really, not that much is going on of national importance.  Why not fill that extra time with opinions?

Next came other cable news networks and the quest for ratings and advertising revenue.

With more than one news network, each network could be tailored to target a particular audience, an important element of marketing and advertising, creating entire news networks that focus on one target audience and as such give the appearance of being politically biased (Don't believe me? Compare commercials on Fox News and MSNBC.)

Opinion is always more entertaining than news.  People like someone giving an opinion that they share.  They don't like opinions that they don't share.  People like opinions more than facts, even opinions that aren't based on facts.  It's much easier to form an opinion by listening to someone else's opinion than compiling facts and forming your own.  That begins the rise of Bill O'Reilly and Rachel Maddow.

Enter the Internet.  More and more people get their news from the Internet.  Now there are not only two or three sides to choose from, but thousands.  You can find sources of "news" and opinion that fit exactly your way of thinking, facts be damned.

In fact, you can can find sources of information that support your opinion and tell you why all other opinions are wrong.

We are no longer all getting the same set of facts and forming reasonable opinions based on those facts.  Instead, we are fed custom streams of information that support our beliefs and shun competing beliefs, creating huge divisions.

If that's the case, what's the fix?

All the News We Think You Want to See

Earlier I posted something about Huffington Post and how they were driving me crazy with all their numbered lists.  I was seeing a constant flow of these articles in my Facebook feed so I posited that maybe Facebook thinks I want to see articles with numbers in them so it keeps suggesting them to me.  Well, Yahoo News does just that and really had me going for a brief moment.

I used to check Yahoo News every day, couple of times each day usually.  At some point in the past, I clicked on an article about a UFO sighting.  I'm not a hard core UFO guy but I do find the stories interesting on occasion.  The next day I noticed another UFO article in the Yahoo feed and I thought, "Hmmm, interesting, two UFO articles in a short span of time."  Then the next day, two more UFO articles, "Holy Smokes!  We're being INVADED!"

That's when it hit me.  Yahoo thinks I want to read UFO articles because I clicked on one, so it keeps showing me more.  I suppose this could be a useful tool to have, but it can also be a little dangerous.  If it keeps suggesting articles that it thinks I might want to see, over time it could easily distort my perception like it did briefly with the UFO article.

Yahoo ended up changing their news site and I hate the new format so, I stopped using it.  Now I use Google News.  Google is a little better about suggesting articles though because they have a section of news that says, "Hey, these are articles we think you might want to read because you searched for/viewed/whatevered this one term."  Then it gives you the option to say, "yes, I am interested in that" or "no, that's not my bag."

Yet another stunning example of how people's perceptions can be distorted by the news media.

Reasons to Hate Huffington Post

I used to like The Huffington Post.  Lately, however, they are getting really annoying.  I don't think it's the actual Huffington Post, but instead their Facebook feed that shows up in my stream.  I suspect what I'm seeing is based on what I've clicked on before, so I guess this is more a problem with Facebook than Huffington Post, but either way, I hate it.  So, here are the reasons I hate Huffington Post and their feed on my Facebook stream;

1. Lists (See what I did there, clever eh?) -  15 of this, 9 of that, top 7 of the other.  I'm constantly bombarded by numbered lists of something.  Can't you just write an article without turning it into a list?  I understand the Top 10 format, it's tried and true and OK with me, but looking at the main HuffPo page right now they have lists of 10, 5, 15, 9, 30, 10, 12, 5, 10, and 8.  Really?  30?  It's getting annoying, HuffPo.

2.  Sriracha - I guess the Sriracha crisis is mostly over, but HuffPo coverage drove me mad.  The company that makes the popular Sriracha hot sauce was being sued or something by neighbors near that plant where it's made.  Noxious fumes and the like as you can imagine.  So HuffPo had at least two articles about it every day, as if the sky were falling.  Oh no, what are all the hipsters going to do if they can't have their hot sauce!  Every article was like that.  Whoever writes the comments for the Facebook page also had to insert some stupid comment too, like "No Sriracha!  The end is nigh!"

3.  Marijuana is Legal! - When Colorado and the other state (wherever that was) legalized marijuana, HuffPo could not refrain themselves from pro-weed commentary.  Yeah, I get it, it's mildly amusing, weed is legal in Colorado, "let's all move there."  How many times can you tell that joke before it gets old?  HuffPo sure surpassed that number, whatever it is.  I'm fairly liberal and I don't really care about the legalization issue, but I have no interest in smoking pot and never have, so really, that joke gets old very quickly.

4.  Stupid JPG Complilations - There are way too many "articles" on HuffPo that are just dumb commentary or opinion reinforced by even dumber and mostly irrelevant clipart and animated JPGs.  Most of the time it's stock clips that everyone with an Internet connection has seen a dozen times already that only marginally relate to whatever it is they are writing about.

OK, so I could only get to four.  HuffPo wouldn't care, they'd run the story anyway.  4 Reasons to Hate HuffPo.

Amazon Rocks, UPS Sucks

I found a really good deal on a TV at Amazon.com right before Thanksgiving.  List price $1,019.99, my price $497.  I ordered it on November 25, shipped UPS, scheduled arrival, December 2.  I'm a UPS Tracking junkie so, November 27 package leaves Amazon in Carlisle, PA and gets to the UPS center in Laurel, MD on the same day.  The next stop is usually my house on the next day.

December 2 comes, no TV.  December 3, no TV, call UPS, "Oh, you can't inquire about this shipment because it's still in our system, you need to call Amazon since they are the shipper."

Amazon says wait until December 7 and then they'll either send me a new one or refund it.  The 7th comes along, Amazon refunds it because they have no more in stock.  I'm upset because I lost a good deal.

December 15, Amazon sends me an email with all these TVs they have in stock.  Hey!  There's the TV I ordered that wasn't in stock!  This time it's on sale for $597.

I called Amazon and they said no problem, we'll give it to you for $497.  Can you throw on free two-day shipping?  Sure!

Second TV ships from Carlisle on December 16, in Harrisburg on the 17th, and out for delivery in Cumberland that day.  Wow!  I'll get it a day early!

Package shows as "Delivered," but wait, there's no TV on the porch and it says delivered to Frostburg, MD, fifteen miles from me?  Called UPS, yes it was delivered but to the wrong house.  No problem, they'll send the driver to get it and bring it to my house.

Three hours later, still no TV so I call UPS again.  Of course the person I talk to knows nothing of my problem and I have to explain it three times until he gets it.  This phone call took an hour.  Finally the guy calls the house where it was misdelivered, guy there says yes, a package came, wrong address, but it's not on the porch anymore, someone must have picked it up.  The local UPS center says no, we have no record of a driver returning to pick it up.

UPS is conducting an "investigation."  Hopefully I find out something tomorrow.  This is driving me crazy.  I'll never have UPS ship something of value again.

Shoe Review: Merrell Tough Glove

  OK, so here is the long awaited shoe review.

Here's the deal...  Merrell Tough Glove shoes, a barefoot shoe, designed to let you walk "naturally" and protect your pretty feet from damage.  They have no arch support, wide toe box and zero raise from toe to heel, or zero drop from heel to toe depending on your perspective.  You can find more on the whole barefoot concept elsewhere on the Internet so I won't bore you with the details here.

I first learned of the barefoot concept from a friend who ran a marathon in the infamous Vibram Five-Fingers Shoes (the toe shoes).  He loved them but suffered a stress fracture after wearing them (with little break-in time) during the marathon.  Shortly after he told me the story, I read "Born to Run," a fabulous book about barefoot running, adventure, etc.

I did a lot of reading on the topic on the Internet and did some research on the different types of shoes.  I decided that I didn't want a barefoot running shoe, but a barefoot general-purpose shoe that I could wear to work with khakis and a button-down shirt or a pair of jeans.  It so happens that Merrell just introduced a line of casual barefoot shoes that are made of leather and fit what I had in mind.  I almost bought one of these shoes, but stumbled across the Merrell Tough Glove, a first-generation barefoot shoe that may have been designed as a barefoot hiking shoe.  It has a leather upper and the high-traction Vibram sole.  I thought it looked formal enough for khakis, yet casual enough for jeans.  Unfortunately, Merrell discontinued the shoe right when they introduced the new line of casual shoes.

Luckily, I was able to find some old-stock Tough Gloves from Zappos.com and ordered a pair.  The first big decision was size.  I checked all of my old shoes and learned that they range from 9.5US to 10US.  The one thing that was consistent among all of them was the EUR size, 43 in my case.  In the Merrells, the 43.5 EUR was the same as a 9.5 so that is what I ordered.

When I first got them and tried them on, the first thing I thought was, oh no, these are too big.  They felt loose in the toe, but after wearing them around, they fit nice in the heel area.  I remembered that barefoot shoes are supposed to have a wider toe box, thus the larger feel.  So I decided to keep this size.

For the first two days of wearing them, they felt awkward.  The lower heel almost makes it feel like your toes are higher than your heel.  My feet had weird aches each time I wore them.  After the first two days, however, they felt great.  They felt like slippers.  They felt better than my running shoes.

After I got over the size, I noticed that I felt pressure on my arch.  I have high arches.  I though, wait a minute, these shoes are supposed to provide no arch support, why can I feel them in my arch?  After some prodding and thought, I realized that the arch actually provides no support, but the sole wraps around the foot so much, that the arch part does touch the inside of the arch but provides no support.

I am on my feet all day at work.  These shoes have almost zero padding and zero support.  Despite this, they still feel great.  I have worn them both barefoot and with socks of varying thicknesses and they still feel great.  I have none of the pain that I would get from wearing my regular shoes all day.

I also enjoy playing soccer and freestyle juggling.  These shoes feel great with the soccer ball, better than most soccer boots.  You have tremendous touch and feel on the ball.  They are so light and thin that it is like being barefoot but better; your feet are protected from scuffs and scrapes.

The traction of the shoes is also fantastic.  I have been on slippery wet surfaces, hard tile and concrete, wet grass and mud, and through it all, I have never felt less than sure-footed.  I have also noticed that you have a much better feel of the ground in these shoes.  On rough and rocky surfaces, you can feel the rocks, but not so much that it is painful.  It really feels like you are more connected to the ground.

So these shoes are great.  On the downside, however...  The toe box area is larger than your normal shoe, great for letting your toes spread and grip, but bad when you catch the front edge of your shoe on the ground.  It doesn't happen that often (and maybe I'm just clumsy), but occasionally I can feel the larger front edge of the shoe catch briefly on the ground when I'm moving around in a less than normal way.

Second thing, is the leather is so thin and so lightweight, that I think it will scuff and wear too easily.  So far it hasn't really been that bad, but after a couple of months or so, I do have some light scuffs on the left toe area.  That is a minor inconvenience, however, and despite this, the shoes are still worth the high price you have to pay.

So if you are thinking about barefoot shoes or at least just want to try them out, this is the shoe for you.  It is a great introduction to barefoot shoes.  You can use them as your daily walking shoe to help build up the muscles needed for the barefoot life, and prevent those nasty stress fractures when you finally decide to run that marathon in a pair of Merrell barefoot running shoes.

Shoe Review to Come!

I'm going to write a shoe review here soon.  I just got a new pair of Merrell Tough Glove shoes.  It's my first barefoot shoe experience.  I've been wearing them for a couple of weeks now.  Stay tuned!

Squeeze Me

I was going to post a rant about squeeze bottles.

Ketchup and mustard, naturally.  Mayonaise?  Nice idea, I like it, but you sometimes still break out the butterknife to spread or get the last bit out of the bottle.

Relish? Please, what were you thinking?  Or so I thought until today.  Every squeeze relish bottle I've seen gives you a sopping wet serving of pickle juice followed by a bottle-busting fight for diced pickle goodness.

Today, however I used a new bottle of squeeze relish (I say used because I would not buy it on my own).  The relish came out in a smooth flow of a like consistency.  It was beautiful and I was stunned.

It did look slightly odd, a lighter green color, finer cut, but it came smoothly out of the bottle, sans mess.  And it tasted great too.

Bravo you masters of the squeeze at Claussen Pickles.

Getting closer

My wife and I went out looking at used Class A motor homes, we have found my idea of living in a Class A motor home to be possible. The prices of the used units are within our budget and come with everything needed to survive like a washer dryer, on board 30 gallon propane tank, 5500 watt generator that works off of the on board fuel tank. Some of the units have massive slide outs and some are more modest. We have come to the conclusion that we only really need one slide out at the living room area and that would be plenty for the two of us. We are looking to spend in the $20,000 range, I think that will last us five years. This adventure is going to be a five year tour, like Star Trek. Why five years? Our kids will be so busy establishing their lives in the five years following school they will never know we are gone, well that's my theory anyway. Between the ages of 19-20 to 20-25 they will be busy building their future and settling down. Buy the time they reach 25 they will be interested in seeing mom and dad again so buy then I hope to have seen all I want to see and be ready to settle back down myself. Along the way I want to for the first time ever to have one on one time with my wife, something we have never had. You see I graduated high school with my wife pregnant so it has never been just the two of us (we are taking our Pug). So in my travel of the eastern seaboard

I hope to reinvent my relationship with my wife in a way that till death do we part is the end we meet together.I also want to see this great country of ours that some many have died to secure, to not explore your own home is a travesty. So anyway forward I go, pretty soon Bud light in a bottle for everyone. RV Trade

Down with Veggie people

There are just too many hippie liberal know it alls in this world. The time has come to thin the heard down some and put America back on top. We as Americans can not sit by and watch these soft goody goody's run this great country into the ground. Too many times we law abiding conservative Americans have let these liberal goof ups get away with murder. We are not talking about your run of the mill Bud Light drinkers here, we are talking about vegetarians. Yes these non meat eating grass smoking home brewing vegetarians must be stopped. I will not let these hippie do gooders take my steak! We need an action plan right away one that will ensure there will be no interruptions in the protein intake of our children and grand parents. The time is now and the place is here let this day go down in history as the day we as American stood up against the oppression of these hippie liberal vegetarians and their hate speech against meat! Get out your grills and burn some meat on this historic Labor Day weekend!!!!

Cheap living with style

The time has come or well is coming for me to restructure my life. My son has graduated high school and my daughter will soon follow. This will leave me with 5 acres of land and a house built for a family.I am seriously thinking of selling out the farm and buying a used RV to live in. Some places will let you put in at $100 and some dollars a month with free electric and water.I sure could save up some money fast by doing this. The draw backs are not really having a place to call home and if one of the kids decide to stick around for a while they will have to go where we go. Not a bad deal I love my kids but I can see it getting cramped. Also I was thinking of getting a job a Lowe's so that way if I wanted to visit my buddy M3 for a few months I could transfer to a Lowe's near him (my RV would look good in his spare lot LOL). There are some other places I would like to explore before I die, like Maine. Taking vacations is great but do you relly get to know a place in one week. Also there is the Jersey shore, I could run into snookie. The options are endless. Just an idea.... What do you think would you do it? Cheap RV living

Lights Out

Took down the Christmas lights today.  Went faster than expected, however, everything is still sitting in bags and boxes on the front porch.  There's always tomorrow.

Today is the first day of 2012.  I decided that I won't make a big deal of it.  After all, how much different is today than yesterday?  Nothing changed significantly from one day to the next.  The Earth continued to spin in its ever steady rotation.

I did stay up and watch Carson Daily's New Year's Eve show.  I have no idea who he is, but I found him somewhat odd.  I can't quite place it but he didn't fit the live show all that well.  There was this other guy and a girl on there.  Didn't know them either.  Man, I'm out of it.

So anyway, the only day that comes once a year that should be of significance to me is my birthday.  It's the anniversary of my time on this spinning orb floating in space.  And it's only a month away!

Just a few more strings should do it...

Put the Christmas lights up last weekend and lo and behold, it seems many of the houses around me have doubled the number of lights they've put up this year.

So I was out on the roof again today, putting up  just a few more strings of lights.  I will not be outdone!

Don't Say This Blog Is Dead!

OK, so I haven't posted anything in a while.  One of the more recent posts was at the start of the MLS season.  The season is now over.

I'm still getting tons of hits though.  Oddly enough, they are coming from Google searches for "nude amazon."  I guess Google is sending these people looking for naked Amazonian women to my blog thanks to Firefighter's discussion about the nude photography book he bought on Amazon.com.

Speaking of nude women, I saw a commercial for the new .xxx domain.  What do you suppose that's for?

I can't wait to see you again

How the times have changed, I use to think boys and girls couldn't just hang out together without there being trouble. I guess I am wrong, my daughter informed me today that she wants to hang out with Mr X. Mr X is in a long term relationship and is to be married when he graduates high school. Now Mr X wants her to come over and hang out with him because he is on house arrest(nice). So where is this soon to be bride? She might be at work, school or out with her friends while my daughter is hanging out with her soon to be husband. To me that just seems wrong. Does it not to you? This Mr X guy has wanted to date my daughter, is known for his parties and drug use, that explains the house arrest. In my eyes this hanging out is wrong. I don't want him as a son in law! He is a pot head and he likes taking nude or topless pictures of himself and posting them on facebook like he is some sort of stud. What if hanging out turns into OOPS! I just screwed your daughter and my girl friend found out, now my daughter is with child and all those college hopes turn into diapers. My daughter is dead certain that this will not happen that this is normal and boys and girls can be friends.

Now I ask, can teen girls and boys be friends and not have sex? When I was 16 or 17 I was trying to hit anything with a YA and a heart beat. I don't think I am going to let them hang out together (alone anyway).

Dead Blog

What has the world become? The M3 blog is like dead in the water, no news no funny stories. Will M3 ever return with his wisdom of politics, God and Beer? I have tried to keep this blog alive but my life is way too mundane. So back to eating my BLT Pizza I go, waiting for the return of the witty M3!

Tragedy in Democracy

Recent tragic events have awakened me from my blog slumber like a mama grizzly... er, never mind.  So some "unstable" gentleman tried to kill Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and ended up critically wounding her and killing a half-dozen others.

Coincidentally, Giffords name was placed on a political "hit list" drafted by Sarah Palin sometime early last year.  At the time, people criticized Palin, claiming she was inciting violence.

So do you think Palin's political life, all 15 minutes of it, flashed before her eyes the moment she heard one of the people on that list was just shot and killed (as was first reported)?   I suspect it did.

As more details unfold about the shooter, Jared Loughner, it seems he might be a leftist nut job and probably wasn't influenced by Palin's list at all.  (But then there's the mysterious missing suspect, the one behind the grassy knoll, who may be the right-wing mastermind of the shooting... we'll save that for another day.)

Regardless of whether or not he was influenced by Palin, Glenn Beck, or Keith Olberman, the fact that the connection with Palin was and could be made is the problem.  It clearly demonstrates the hatred and anger between political groups that has spread throughout the country.

This tragedy should be used as a catalyst for change to more civil and peaceful political discourse.

You know that you can always turn around

When did being a nice guy mean you were a fool? I swear the older I get the more bitter I get. I mean you be nice to a few people, give them that inch and they take a mile,,,,,or two,,,,,, well three. It use to be a nice guy was always one you could count on, a friend, a person you could trust. Now being a nice guy makes you a fool. Worse yet at my age an old fool. Mom tried to warn me.....



I'll be back!!!!

So I'm moving on, letting go, holding on to tomorrow.

After a very long year in Paramedic school I am finnaly done. It took just over a year to finish. If you have never tried taking a National Registry Test before you have no idea what it is like. It hurts, it messes with your mind in the worst way possible. but I passed on my first try, as of today only 3 out of 13 of my class has tested. I was the only one to pass.

Now I sit here drunk on cheap whiskey, trying to type. Thinking of what my next move might be. Was it worth it? Can I make it worth it? The cost was great for what I got out of it. I just about lost one of my kids to the normal teenage rebal years and ended up have several knock down drag out fights with my my wife. All for a a piece of paper that may help me better myself. Or it may have been a waste of time.

But the effects of my Brookside Whiskey are demanding that I end my post today. I can barley keep my hands moving after 6 hours of fighting fire and and a whole fith of whiskey it is time to call it a day......


The End


I'll be back!!!!!!!