Monday, August 7, 2017

The Pay Telephone. The WHAT Phone?

Your friendly and helpful switchboard Operator. Via:
http://heartwhispersfindinghope.net/tag/phone/

The Doc's Waiting Room - a travel backwards in excavating magazine fossils.

While waiting, I ran across a November, 2015 Popular Mechanics magazine. Hey, in a doctor's office anything dated 2015 is like having that day's newspaper.  I was pleased my reading options weren't limited to a 1973 issue of  The New Yorker, or a 1985 Better Homes and Gardens, or any 1999 magazine with stories "looking back on the 90's" or on how the world will end because of Y2K.

The Pop Mech article examined the reliable and humble, yet rapidly vanishing, pay phone. They were the technological cell phone of their era.


And below, the pay phone's sometime-companion, the Telephone booth, approximately 1,370 luxurious square inches inside a four walled, "plexi-plastic glass" container...all to yourself.

US/UK telephone booths. US image via
pinterest.com; UK image via photo.elsoar.com

A few excerpts from Pop Mech's pay phone story:
Model: Protel XP1230
Produced: Lakeland, FL

Number of Parts: 453

Time to Disassemble: 4 hours, 45 minutes

For years,if you were away from home and wanted to make a phone call, pay phones were your only option.
[.]
They're also basically bullet-proof, devised to withstand all manner of vandalism and theft. (Maybe the pay phone designers and technicians should be in charge of the NSA? - DD)
[.]
The coin box, with a capacity of up to $195, is a target for theft.
[.]
Two mechanisms must be unlocked to remove it. One is built into the coin-box lid, and the other is a four-armed locking mechanism behind the vault door. Until turned by a T-key, the arms fit into slots in the body of the phone, keeping the door shut.
Do check out the Pop Mech link, the design and construction of the coin box is nothing short of a miniature bank vault.

What does it look like inside? The pay phone, disassembled, all 453 parts:

Photo: Popular Mechanics

The Pop Mech link has a larger image of the above. Don't not check it out, Now...where's that one wire?

The lowly pay phone, far more intricate in its construction than I knew or would have ever imagined, invented in 1889 by William Gray:
It was first installed in the Hartford Bank, Hartford, Connecticut, by the Southern New England Telephone Company in 1889. In 1891, William Gray formed the Gray Telephone Pay Station to rent out coin-operated telephones to store owners.

Making a secure and reliable pay phone turned out to be tough to do, and in 1889 William Gray got a patent for an innovative coin payment mechanism he was able to defend for decades.
Does anyone remember the last time they used a pay phone?

Early cell phones (left), from WiseGeek. Smallest cell phone (right)

We've gone from carrying a suitcase to, "where's my cell phone...oh, there -  under that book of matches."

From Compare my Mobile:
The first commercially available mobile phone was the Motorola DynaTAC, which must take the prize for the largest mainstream mobile phone available ever. It went on sale on 6th March 1983, offered 30 minutes of talk time or 8 hours of standby per charge and was incredibly popular.
[.]
The phone revolutionised [sic] the way in which people communicate, even if it was incredibly bulky and unwieldy – and has become an iconic piece of technology. With a price of $3,995 at the time of release, in addition to its cumbersome design, you may be forgiven for thinking that the phone wasn’t too much of a commercial success. However, sales were enormous and retailers had waiting lists thousands of people long. Despite its size, the DynaTAC was incredibly successful.
Via Flicker.

Without the pay phone telephone booth, neither Superman nor Shoeshine Boy would have been able to change into their superhero garb.

I wonder if the popularity of pay phones and booths will ever return? Going retro as vinyl  did, which appears to be still going strong.

World News Links

"Something ate his legs." Australian teenager's legs bloodied after being chewed by flesh eating lice. The Sydney Morning Herald. (Video Image warning advised, bloody content per SMH).
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Help Wanted: Planetary Protection Officer. USAJobs.
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The New Bitcoin Cash price skyrockets. From The Street.:
Bitcoin cash, with similar bottom technology to bitcoin but with larger block sizes, can process about 30 transactions per second, four times more than bitcoin, though still a far cry from the thousands of transactions handled by Visa every second.
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TechCrunch: Apple. A One Trillion Dollar company? Absolutely.
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Does the name Marcus Hutchins or his aka MalwareTech, ring a bell? He's the guy who stopped the WannaCry ransomware by registering the domain name. Well, the US detained him and accused him of some serious charges. Extreme Tech:
WannaCry began infecting critical infrastructure across Europe and in the United States, rising to 230,000 infected machines in 150 countries within a day of its release.
[.]
[Hutchins] was arrested on Thursday by the FBI. (Initially it was reported he was held by the US Marshals, but this appears to have been inaccurate.) The FBI has filed a formal indictment against Hutchins, alleging that he and an unnamed co-conspirator (whose name has been redacted from the filing) “knowingly conspired and agreed with each other to commit an offense against the United States.
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Large, multi-ship military training exercise off the coast of Saipan. Saipan Tribune.
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From The Deparment of "I thought We Already Did This.": $ 2 Billion allocated for broadband in rural areas. NextGov.
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Horrifying - Woman stalked, kidnapping attempt also? The Hindustan Times.
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"Knife-wielding" Danukul Mokmool's Facebook profile says “nice and friendly”; but shot dead by police. A truly sad story. Daily Telegraph.
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In Denmark, performance artist Julian Toldam Juhlin on display as "Virgin in a Glass Cage." The Copenhagen Post. (And No, I'm not making this up).
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Is this because of North Korea? Public schools in Hawaii urged to conduct nuclear drills. Hawaii Tribune Herald.
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So THIS is how you go viral. I wish someone would have told me this sooner. The Evening Telegraph.

Saturday, August 5, 2017

朋友; 伙伴; 同志 (Comrade) Cooks helps China Gov Censor Citizens


Apple  友; 伙伴; 同志 CEO Tim Cook  makes no apologies for promoting and buckling under to the Chinese government in censoring its internet. Quartz:
Apple removed dozens of virtual private network (VPN) apps from its Chinese app store, depriving many users of tools that are critical to jumping the country’s Great Firewall. The move marked a major capitulation to China’s censorship regime, and follows similar requests to block various apps and content in the country.
[.]
Mark Zuckerberg, meanwhile, has defended his company’s compliance with censorship requests in countries like Pakistan and Thailand by arguing that it serves citizens’ best interests to “continue operating” rather than risk getting shut down for not blocking content.
Is this part of the reason they own $52.6 Billion in U.S. Treasuries?

And with Zuckerberg and Pakistan and Thailand, this is nothing new.

Remember Google, the "Do No Evil" company and how they promised, in 2007, to fight global internet censorship?

Then, January 2010, Google threatened to yank their business out of China if they couldn't resolve their censorship restrictions with the Chinese Government.

Come March 2010, Google shut down their China service, redirecting to its server in Hong Kong.

Eventually, Google gave up in January, 2013.

Even CNN  couldn't put a positive spin on Google in January, 2015. Same link, Google also kowtowed to censorship by the Turkish government.

By December of 2014, the Chinese Government pulled the plug  on Google Gmail, Google Drive and many other Google services.

Besides, Google is not evil, are they?

Or are they?

Well, they dropped the "Don't be Evil" motto, so maybe they are?

Dotcom companies certainly aren't the only industries that play ball with repressive governments.

Then again, dotcom companies, especially the search engine and social media platforms, are companies that exist in a special area, unlike companies in manufacturing or other industries that work within the confines of a country like China or Turkey who control unfiltered information available in their country.

Email and social media companies are specifically in the business of communication(s), speech and information. Ideally, yes, everyone om earth would have the freedom to have unfiltered access to the information available on the web. What are the ethical obligations, if any, of communication companies agreeing with governments who censor the information available to its citizens?

I'm not sure I have any answers right now. Do you?

Friday, August 4, 2017

Death Wish Redux, with Bruce Willis

Oh...I can't wait for this. This is going to be so goooooooooooooood.......

Thursday, August 3, 2017

World News Links

Freedom to Tinker - LinkedIn reveals your email to all connections.
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Sidney Morning Herald - Man jumps off plane in San Fran as plane waits to taxi to gate.
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Red Orbitrecall on coffee marketed as a "male enhancement product." 
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Courthouse News Service - Air France passenger jet flies over Sea of Japan moments before North Korea ICBM launch.
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Geek.com201 GB crammed into a one inch square of tape.
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Geek.com - I did not know that August 2 is National Coloring Book Day.  Happy (belated) Coloring!
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Singapore Star - two in three Singaporeans not getting enough mobile data.
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The Scotsman - former First Minister of Scotland calls Trump an "utter nincompoop."
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The Herald - will editing of human embryo gene eradicate inherited diseases?
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Idaho Press Tribune - jogger fights attacking bear by kicking.
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Sky NewsOxford Uni employee is suspect in murder of Chicago man.
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CNS News - is Calexit exporting the Middle Class?
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CBC News - large number illegal border crossing in Quebec by asylum seekers.
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West Central Tribune - Minnesota mom accidentally runs over 2 year old daughter killing her.
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Evening Telegraph - angry mob targets man accused of being a child predator.
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Der Spiegel - German car makers accused of "cartel collusion."
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The Jerusalem Post - Poland excludes Russia from Sobibor Museum project.

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis fire and collapse

7:55 PM CST >>> UPDATE: TwinCities.com: One dead, one missing in gas explosion/collapse at Minnehaha Academy.

UPDATE 2:04PM CST - Ruptured gas line likely cause of explosion; Two people still missing, nine hospitalized, death unconfirmed, CNN:
Two people were unaccounted for and nine were hospitalized [on] Wednesday after a natural gas explosion shook Minnehaha Academy[.]
[.]
One witness said two men yelled "gas!" shortly before the blast.
[.]
The Minneapolis Fire Department initially said one person was killed. But it later tweeted the death was not confirmed.
Authorities said early indications are the blast may have been caused by a ruptured gas line.
Breaking news Wednesday morning...

Photo: KSTP.com
Minnehaha Academy on fire, collapses. KMSP Fox 9:
There are reports of a building explosion and collapse at the Minnehaha Academy Upper School.
[.]
The Minneapolis fire Department confirms one person is dead and other people are trapped beneath the collapse. Crews are extinguishing the fire, searching for victims and performing extrications

“There was a gas leak and explosion at the Upper School,” Minnehaha Academy confirmed. “Emergency responders are on the scene. This only affects the Upper School.”
More, from KSTP.com :
Originally, the Minneapolis Fire Department reported one fatality. However, the department then said that fatality had not been confirmed. People were also trapped in the building, according to authorities.

Minnehaha Academy issued the following statement:

"There was a gas leak and explosion at the Upper School. Emergency responders are on the scene. This only affects the Upper School."
Other news sources are reporting three people unaccounted for.

Report of death now unconfirmed.  KARE News 11:
Emergency responders are on scene at a building explosion and fire that authorities say reportedly killed at least one person at Minnehaha Academy Wednesday morning.
Photo: KSTP
Loud boom preceding fire, explosion. KARE News 11:
Residents near the area say they could feel the explosion.

"It was just a really loud boom," said one resident. "You felt it in your chest."

Authorities are on the scene extinguishing the fire and searching for victims.
Photo: KARE News 11



Five people were transported to the hospital; one person was evaluated and released, according to the department.

Bryan Tyner, assistant chief of administration for the Minneapolis Fire Department, said the explosion was the result of a suspected ruptured gas line, which then caught on fire.
Two people now missing. WCCO:
According to police, there are now two victims unaccounted for (a third was found uninjured), five victims taken to the hospital — one critical — and one victim evaluated and released.
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Tuesday, August 1, 2017

MTV Moonman is now Moon Person

Why Moon Person? How do we know, for sure, that it's a person? Presuming it's a person is rather insensitive and it certainly disenfranchises life forms that are not a person.

MTV's renaming Moon Man is the most stupid story I've read in the past...hell - I'm hard pressed to remember the last time a story so utterly ridiculous received media coverage.

From The Washington Times:
“Why should it be a man? It could be a man, it could be a woman, it could be transgender, it could be nonconformist.” [said MTV President Chris McCarthy].
How does he know "it" doesn't object to being called an "it" ?

New Emasculated MTV Icon

I'm surprised they didn't choose to give "it" a hyphenated last name.

Moon Person-Gallagher-Adamson-Wyniki-Marsh-Jones-Phillips-Rogers, maybe?

MTV is still owned by Viacom .

From the same Washington Times story, McCarthy noting that part of the reason for the name change of Moon Man is to reverse a five-year "downward trajectory" (i.e. huge ratings drop). He continues that by "amplyfying young people's voices," may help attract the sexual identifications that we now are told exceed the two classifications of 'male' and 'female'.

And changing Moon Man to Moon Person is going to help that five year exodus of MTV viewers. Yup, you betcha!

And isn't MTV showing another form of bias and discrimination by being "other- celestial-bodies"-exclusive?  Why the Moon? Why not a planet? Saturn Person. Neptune Person. What bigotry does MTV exhibit by singling out the moon?

MTV was fantastic in its prime. I'm surprised they're still operating, considering their programming now contains almost no music videos. 

You may not notice the immediate, wonderful impact that MTV's decision will have on your life, but know that ALL of OUR LIVES are far better off for re-naming Moon Man. Don't you feel better already? No? Give it some time.

Monday, July 31, 2017

Real ID Act a Step to the New World Order? Part 3: Test Tube Experiences in Venezuela, Greece, India. U.S. Chaos in less than 6 hours.

This post has been sitting in my "Draft" folder since January.

The recent developments in Venezuela prompted me to wrap up and publish this part in what, I guess, has become a continuing series.

The REAL ID Act, the economies of Venezuela, Greece and India, to name but three countries among others, all diverge and converge into this currency-less New World Order and One Global Government controlled by the likes of the Rothschild Family who are the new owners of Greece.

Venezuela is in the midst of an economic and political downfall. CNN:
Venezuela was a powerhouse of South America in the 1990s. Former President Bill Clinton made it his first stop on a trip to the region in 1997.

But inequality grew extreme. A small elite class controlled everything while the increasingly impoverished masses fumed.
Read that last sentence again. And again.

A "small elite class" like...the Rothschilds? The Rockefellers? The oligarchs. You think that a small elite group wouldn't want to run the global economy from the thrones of a One World Government?

What's an oligarch to do if not control global financial domination? Political domination? Spending every day hunting humans with Queen Beatrix would eventually get boring. Abdicating the throne for your son makes a good cover story rather than doing the perp walk..

Human hunting by the ultra-rich could become an acceptable sport. The Mirror:
[Daniel Wright, senior lecturer in tourism at the University of Central Lancashire in a paper for the scientific journal Futures], outlined a world ravaged by economic and ecological disasters , leading to overpopulation and a huge gap between rich and poor.
[.]
Hunting humans as an underground sport
could happen as early as 2100, the report suggests, but becoming an authentic tourism experience by 2200.

Of course the world will have to take a turn for the worse to reach a situation where rich people can hunt poor people for sport.
[.]
Ecological disasters mean not enough food or land to support the population and megarich tourists hunting the poor to keep the numbers down but as sport too.

Wright, outlining his future vision, added: "During these activities the oppressive mega-rich carry out vacations to purposely slaughter humans, with the 'claimed' aim to reduce population size, but an element of perverse thrill and excitement was said to be fuelling [sic] the demand."
And I thought that "Hostel" was just a movie.

Yeah...man's inhumanity to man...that's never happened before.
Viet Cong execution
Let's back up a bit and return to Venezuela. Their financial and political roller coaster has had more media coverage than Greece. Rothschild banks are in both Venezuela and Greece. 

The streets of Venezuela are a war zone.

Venezuelan political candidate José Félix Pineda was assassinated prior to the election.

And Venezuela has been in the grip of food shortages for quite some time.

And for a "cashless" system, well, not working out so great in India.

India's Central Rothschild Bank is now reaching blockchain main street. And for all the hoopla over blockchain...it IS NOT 100% safe, secure and immune from hacking. Nothing is.

"None of this can happen here is the U.S., Dave. Enough with the conspiracy theories." Just because a theory is conspiratorial in nature doesn't negate the fact that there may be truth behind it. Ten years ago I would have laughed at all the items in a post like this and assign it to the Tin Foil Hat Brigade. No more.


Six hours, or less. That's all it would take. Six hours or less of coast-to-coast rolling blackouts. Not even that---if the grid(s) that maintain energy for the majority of eastern states, along with NYC meaning Wall Street especially, crashed and burned...no ATM's, no access to banks and limited ability in communications (no landline or cell service available, no internet access, maybe no access to television or radio)...the U.S. would become unstable in less than three hours. Those "dry run" tests of the Emergency Broadcast System aren't there to advance preparedness and our awareness. They are done to program us for the day the broadcast is no longer a "test". The Government Red Panic Button.

As power outages continue westward, across the country - again in the span of 3-6 hours - say hello to empty supermarket shelves, gasoline rationing, food rationing, freeways being parking lots, the Martial Law, the looting, the rioting, travel restrictions - - - take the state the country was in the weeks after September 11 and amplify it nationally - - - - and the U.S. would be national mayhem.

One need look no further than how society behaves on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, when people will run over other people to save $100 on a HD TV. Mass panic.

"This is only a test."
In Part 2 of the Real ID Act, my focus was on the actual ID card itself, a so-called "Enhanced Driver's License" that really is a Federal National ID.  I can't believe that the entire USA population isn't raising hell with this and voiced so little opposition to it. The Real ID Act is the camel's nose under the tent. From there, folks, it's just a short walk into the New World Order (NWO).

As I asked in Part 2, "what if I refuse one?"  Further, will a newborn baby be issued a National ID the minute they are born, just as they are issued a Social Security Number?

A baby or child who IS NOT OF DRIVING AGE can't really be issued an "Enhanced Driver's License," so by default, the ID they are issued becomes a "FEDERAL NATIONAL ID CARD."  To quote President Trump, "This is Nazi Germany."

What would you be able to do if you refused a REAL ID? Pretty much, nothing. The ACLU: 
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in charge of administering the law, has boasted about the potential of Real IDs to regulate voting, gun ownership, immigration, and Social Security and other federal benefit programs.
[.]
People would need them to function normally, making Real IDs America's first-ever national ID cards.
"People would need them to function...NORMALLY."  Do you want DHS regulating our voting system? Where are the fucking Liberal politicians, you know - the ones who advocate so much for individual rights to privacy - when you need them? Oh, they say the want to protect out privacy but we know it's nothing but their political propaganda.

Will we have to look to the illegal drug cartels for advocacy in lobbying against a "currency-less" society? I hardly think drug cartels want to be fucking around with cryptocurreny when, once again, there is no 100% guarantee in the complete safety of only digital currency. Do you think the Global Elitists will limit their method of financial transactions to only one manner?

All of these issues tie together. I call this the Economic Test Tube Experiment. This consists of initiating a manufactured and severe financial, political and economic crisis on a country.  It observes how the public reacts and to what degree (panic, hysteria, etc).  And some solution is offered, but usually to the detriment of the country (financially) or its people (financial, health care, human rights, you name it).

The Test Tube experiments will continue in smaller countries until The Wanna-Be-Ruling Globalists unleash their plan for co-opting the U.S. economy.

2008 Black Friday Trample

Greece  

The downturn of the economic condition of Greece started in the autumn of 2009. 

Greece was heavily laden with debt, years of unrestrained spending, dropped to new lows as the global community financial condition fell in virtually every country and had its credit rating downgraded.

Banks in Greece closed, some for weeks, and the amount of what a person could withdraw from the bank was capped.

Do these conditions sound familiar or remind you of any other country?

Venezuela

The global decrease in oil prices hit hard.  U.S. companies with business interests with Venezuela, such a General Motors and Merck Co. had billions of dollars of losses. So did Ford. And Pepsi.

Food became extinct, local stores and supermarket shelves empty with a growing riots from the people.

According to Mauro Roca, senior economist at Goldman Sachs:
“The temporary relief in PDVSA (Venezuela’s state-owned oil company ) external debt payments becomes even less relevant when considering total external debt payments faced by both Venezuela and PDVSA
[.]
...[the] sovereign [debt] and PDVSA still jointly face an average yearly debt service commitment of $8.7bn until 2020.”
Venezuelan President Nicola Maduro's economic policies have been mostly consistent with those of previous El Presidente Hugo Chavez. When crude oil was much more expensive, it gave the illusion of a more economic solvent Venezuela than reality.  The falling price of oil devastated their economy, or, more accurately, the rest of the economy that wasn't propped up by the high oil prices.

From a January 26, 2015 NY Times Op/Ed:
On Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund that Venezuela’s economy would contract 7 percent in 2015, which could force Mr. Maduro’s government to default on its loans or significantly curtail the subsidized oil his country provides to allies in the Caribbean, including Cuba.
In 2014, General Motors and Ford combined wrote off $710 million.

Now, maybe it's just me, but I find it difficult to believe there won't be some type of reciprocation from the governments of these countries back to the corporations for their compassionate "debt forgiveness." When was the last time Citi, or Uncle IRS Sam, forgave your debt? What are these countries giving up in exchange for the "debt forgiveness"? 

On December 15, 2016 CNN reported that Venezuela's new currency still had not arrived. As a point of interest, in the preceding link, reporter Paula Newton refers to Venezuela's economic crisis as "years in the making [for] this SOCIALIST government."  (A CNN reporter actually calling a country "Socialist"? Impressive. CNN's probably fired her by now.)

And a December 13, 2016 notes The Wall Street Journal:
Anyone wanting to exchange the worthless bills after that will have 10 days to submit them at the central bank after being questioned by the secret police, Mr. Maduro said in an unexpected announcement on Sunday.
The economic problems in Venezuela, Greece, India and with The UK Brexit, are all enhanced experiments within various test tubes.  The ultimate goal is to crash the U.S. economy, which wouldn't take much. The next step is to make digital currency the law of the land, eliminating cash.

Cash brings with it anonymity. And our Federal Government can't handle this, they want to know where every dime of our money goes.

And consider how much simpler it will be for the government - any government - to freeze all assets of someone when all money transactions are only made only with digital currency.

Once the U.S. experiences a man-made catastrophic economic crash, we'll be told, "digital money is so much more secure. You have until [INSERT DATE HERE] to redeem your currency for the new, U.S. Digital Dollar."

This is all coming to America.  A cashless society and a giant step to a NWO and One-World Global Government.

To be continued at a future point.
Image: Gallery Hip
- - -
Revised minor punctuation 7/31/2017

Saturday, July 29, 2017

McCain Shoots Own Party...Again. Kills OCARE Repeal

Who didn't see this coming from Pretend Republican John McCain? The L.A. Times:
Sen. John McCain is usually happy to spar with reporters, but he ducked into an elevator ahead of the Senate healthcare vote late Thursday without saying a word about how he would vote.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, though, already knew the answer.
[.]
The [voting] moment stunned the Senate when McCain stepped up to cast his vote — a single down-turned finger — dooming the healthcare bill. Audible gasps filled the galleries, which were packed with onlookers.
Oh, of course the intellectual Liberal Schumer is a clairvoyant. Can you just picture it; his glasses on the tip of his nose, squinting devilish eyes, head cocked downward with that "we just crucified Christ" sneer, saying, "I knew how he'd vote." Schumer's Svengali hold over McCain for so many years is truly an enigmatic mystery. Or maybe McCain is channeling Ted Kennedy?

And McCain taking refuge in an elevator to avoid the press? This must me a "first".

Also joining McCain in voting against their own party was Maine's Pretend Republican Susan Collins and Alaska's Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, of which her vote - I think - is a bit surprising. I thought so, did you?

Pretend Republican and McCain lapdog Lindsey Graham...do I have to finish the sentence? YES - I do...he voted FOR repeal. But, the devil in the details tells me he voted this way knowing ahead of time of how the final vote would come down.

McCain did what he did because he's a petty and vindictive individual. His vote and cajoling of fellow Pretend Republicans is no surprise. McCain is jealous and envious that Donald Trump is the President and McCain hasn't healed, nor will he, in knowing he will never be president.

Still, being Emperor of The North Pole has to be rewarding, doesn't it?


I intended to end the post after the above image. But then I thought - what has Schumer accomplished in all his many years in the Senate.

Well, besides being strongly Alt-Left and always the first person in D.C. to find an MSM microphone and a camera to convey his drivel, he's voted with his party line at the expense of being a total hypocrite. And being a hypocrite never bothers Liberals.

In January 2017, prior to the Trump Inauguration, Schumer said infrastructure tax cuts aren't worth considering.

He did vote for OCare, which can be considered the largest tax hike ever. Why did he vote this way? Because at that time, the president was a Democrat Socialist and Schumer goose-steps along with his fellow Marxists.

In 2014, Schumer called OCare a mistake. His comrades came down on him hard. 

In 2011, Schumer supported tax credits for Higher Education.

May, 2015, saw Schumer supporting corporate tax credits for "clean energy."

July, 2014, Schumer supports tax credits for bio-gas.

August, 2015, Schumer supports tax credits for solar power.

December, 2013, Schumer supports rail tax credits.

March, 2016, Schumer asked Republicans to join the Dems in their support of Obama Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.

March, 2013,  2017 *, Schumer wanted to filibuster Neil Gorsuch, Trump nominee for the Supreme Court.

In 2007, Schumer threatened to block all Supreme Court nominees of then-President George W. Bush.

Enough. Schumer does whatever is politically and personally expedient. Nothing that anyone paying attention doesn't already know.


Groucho, left; Karl, right. No, they were not related.
---
* Corrected year

Friday, July 28, 2017

Different Look...maybe

I will be playing around with the design and theme, and colors, fonts, etc from time to time, so there may or may not be some permanent differences - or I may just resort back to the way it was. If you see something that is out of whack, and I don't - let me know. Thanks.

Making Fun of Lard Lad Michael Moore never gets old for me...

It doesn't. Making fun of Michael Moore has always been, and continues to be, tons of fun. No pun intended, seriously, but damn if the few tiny receptors remaining firing in my brain don't come up with something without effort every once-so-often.

He's the only person ever who has successfully beaten the flesh-eating virus .

And then at my old site I ran across this, Moore's trip to Cuba.

Moore enjoys a Cuban-style Banana Split, made with ice cream, bananas, whipped cream,
cherries and a small Cuban child.
Moore is a legitimate target for satire, fat shaming and your all-around general insults aimed at Liberals because he makes himself a target.
"...no group of people, no tribe sh*ts on their own to the extent and the level that we do to each other; it’s the most embarrassing and humiliating thing about this great country," Moore said[.]
In between his feasts of gluttonous gorgery, I wonder if Moore ever considers how lucky he is that he wasn't born in, say, North Korea. Then again, with Moore being such a fan of other tyrants like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, he probably loves Kim Jong-Un. The obese are attracted to each other due to their girthy gravitational force.

Why is it that Liberals always focus on misery, gloom and doom? It's all they preach. Liberalism is negativity. They are the creators and perpetrators of gloom and doom. On everything. Oh, except raising taxes...then Liberals always see the positive side of that issue.


So, Moore (and what an appropriate name...even an extra "o" that make the word 'more' even fatter), The Fat Bastard Fat Man is in the news again.

This time, Moore says the one thing that could lead to a downfall for President Donald Trump is an unrelenting assault of satire. HuffPooPo:
“[Trumps'] thin skin, as you’ve pointed out so well, is so thin,” Moore said.

“All we need is like a thousand or a million little comedy shivs — just, you know, non-violent, don’t hurt him,” he added. “But just under his skin, because he can’t take being laughed at.”
Well - good luck there Tubby. You keep on dreaming.

Here is why it's a good idea to page through comments from time to time. You never know when you'll run into a gem. And I did, with the comment below, on Yahoo, on their story of the above-linked HuffPooPo.

I've blacked out a part of the user's/commenter's name, but the rest is a total, legitimate, screen shot except for me adding the photo of Moore used in the story:

"Does that face look like it is pinned to a giant lard filled Rubber?"

Yes...yes it does. A lot.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

House Stops Pot for VA Docs


It's time to declare an end to marijuana being illegal. It's been time for quite some time. And it is the Federal Government that needs to declare marijuana - medicinal, recreational or other - legal.

The U.S. House nixed VA [D]ocs in recommending medicinal marijuana.  Start and Stripes News:
A House committee has struck down a measure allowing Department of Veterans Affairs doctors to discuss and recommend medical marijuana to veterans in states where the drug is legal, blocking it from debate Wednesday on the House floor.

The “Veterans Equal Access” measure has been debated and voted on the past three years in the House as an amendment to the VA appropriations bill, and it passed the House with a vote of 233-189 in 2016. After Tuesday’s vote of the House Rules Committee, it won’t have that chance this year.
President Donald Trump needs to drop his anti-marijuana platform. Business Insider:
Michael Collins, the deputy director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said in an email that Trump continues to send "mixed messages" on marijuana.

"After stating during the campaign that he was '100%' in support of medical marijuana, he now issues a signing statement casting doubt on whether his Administration will adhere to a congressional rider that stops DOJ from going after medical marijuana programs," Collins said.
AG Jeff Sessions also needs to drop the war against marijuana. New York Daily News (June 13, 2017):
 Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants protections for states’ medical marijuana programs to go up in smoke.

The nation’s top prosecutor sent a letter to top congressional leaders opposing the so-called Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which prohibits Department of Justice funds from being used against medical marijuana users and organizations in compliance with their own states’ laws.
Marijuana is the least of our problems. As a Libertarian, I believe that all drugs should be legalized (that's a whole 'nother post), but a good start is dropping this overblown and expensive war on pot.

Trump, Sessions and other Republicans, and all other politicians (party affiliation irrelevant) - as well as our law enforcement agencies - need to let go of this belief that marijuana usage resembles anything close to how it is portrayed in "Reefer Madness."

How successful, or how much a failure, is the "War on Drugs"? Well, that depends which sources you read and how factual and believable you decide it is.

Additional reading:
Ancient roots of medicinal marijuana. Nugs.com
Marijuana use in Ancient Egypt. Newstarget.com
Medicinal Marijuana could save $ 1 Billion in Medicaid costs. HuffPoo Post
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Grammar 7/27/2017

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Viewers Outraged Phelps not in water with actual, real Shark


U.S Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps DIDN'T race a REAL SHARK in the water?  Really?

People are outraged that Phelps did not race a real shark, both being in the same pool or body of water. RealClearLife:
Michael Phelps Sparks Outrage After Racing Fake Shark.

Viewers who tuned in to watch Michael Phelps race a great white shark on Sunday turned off the television feeling cheated, according to the Washington Post.

[.]  Anyone watching had to wait 57 minutes into the program before an ecologist revealed that sharks don’t typically swim in a straight line.

“Clearly, we can’t put Michael in one lane and a white shark on the far lane. We’re gonna have to do a simulation,” said ecologist Tristan Gutteridge
, one of the scientists on the much-hyped Discovery show. 
It took an ecologist to inform The Gullible Masses that sharks don't swim in a straight line?

A few Twitter reactions about the fake shark - Phelps race, published in The Jeff Bezos Daily Excrement:
    "I honestly feel so robbed that I just watched an hour of a stupid show to see Michael Phelps race a FAKE shark." #fakenews

    — Hannah Bowen (@HannahGBowen) July 24, 2017

    "Call me crazy but I thought they were gonna put Phelps up against a real shark not a simulation. I feel robbed." #SharkWeek #PhelpsVsShark pic.twitter.com/XgdEphkl6m

    — Meg Conley (@MegDownSouth) July 24, 2017
"Robbed"?  "Crazy"?  "Incredibly Stupid" and "Gullible" are the descriptions that pop into my mind.

Who are these people who believed this?

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau Resigns

Late Friday afternoon, Minneapolis PD Chief Janee Harteau resigned. WCCO/CBS:
Amid controversy stemming from her response to another in a string of headline-making police shootings, Janeé Harteau has resigned as Minneapolis Police Chief.

According to a statement from the city, the chief’s resignation comes at the request of Mayor Betsy Hodges, who has clashed publicly with Harteau in the past.

In her resignation letter, Harteau says the recent shooting of Justine Damond, “as well as some other recent incidents, have caused me to engage in deep reflection. … I’ve decided I am willing to step aside to let a fresh set of leadership eyes see what more can be done for the MPD ot [sic] be the very best it can be.”

Mayor Hodges also released a statement on the chief’s resignation:

“As far as we have come, I’ve lost confidence in the Chief’s ability to lead us further — and from the many conversations I’ve had with people around our city, especially this week, it is clear that she has lost the confidence of the people of Minneapolis
as well,” the statement said.
Wow, talk about the ego of Hodges. Does she believe that the people still have confidence in her? Arrogance unhinged.

Unless the people of Minneapolis raise their outrage up another notch, uniting in voice that they have no confidence in their mayor, Hodges will be re-elected this fall. Why...I have no idea, other than I never underestimate the ability of Liberals to elect or re-elect the same idiot over and over again.

Hodges is an Uber-Alt-Liberal.  Who will request - no, demand - her resignation?

Will the people of Minneapolis insist that Hodges resign? She answers to the people; the voters. And so far her answers, rather - her LACK of answers - on all of these shootings are both inadequate and unacceptable.

Hodges needs to be the next one to go.

Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau Brilliantly States The Obvious

The first openly gay Minneapolis Police Chief, Janee Harteau, said that, "Justine [Damond] did not have to die."


Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau

Now we know why Harteau is the PD Chief. It's because what is obvious; she has a far higher IQ than the rest of us (and the other candidates for police chief who didn't get the job), and because of her deep degree of compassion for people. And dogs, and I'll get to that in a moment.

From U.S. News and World Reports: 
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An Australian woman should not have been shot to death by a Minneapolis police officer responding to her 911 call and the officer's actions "go against who we are in the department," the city's police chief said.

In her first public remarks on the killing, Chief Janee Harteau on Thursday defended Officer Mohamed Noor's training but lamented the death of 40-year-old bride-to-be Justine Damond, who was shot in the stomach as she approached a squad car near her home.

"This did not have to happen. Justine did not have to die," Harteau said.

Damond had called 911 twice late Saturday to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her house on Minneapolis' southwest side. Noor, who was in the passenger seat of a squad car, shot at Damond through the driver's side window.

"The actions in question go against who we are in the department, how we train and the expectations we have for our officers," Harteau said. "These were the actions and judgment of one individual."
Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hitler Hodges said exactly the same:
 "...the fatal shooting of Justine Damond should not have happened."
Mayor Hitler Hodges. That's Harteau behind her on the left.

The shooting and killing of Jamar Clark should not have happened.

The shooting and killing of Philando Castile should not have happened.

The shooting of two services dogs should not have happened. Video below (no audio as footage taken by a security camera):


Boy, those two dogs, with their wagging tails, sure appear to pose a violent threat to the officer, huh? And then this LOSER Cop climbs the fence, acting - and hoping - that he wouldn't get caught. Thank God for that security camera footage.

Harteau calls the above video, "difficult to watch." Another, breathtakingly brilliant observation by the police chief.

Back to Officer Noor, claiming he was startled by Damond, (The Daily Mail), and he reacted by shooting her through the open window of the driver's side of the squad car.

Yes, I can see how a rather petite blonde woman dressed in pajamas would "startle" an officer and appear to pose a violent threat, causing the officer to react by firing a gun at the person before that person can be identified as friend or foe. In a different setting but same scenario, Noor could have killed his own child considering his quick trigger-finger.

Hodges praised the hiring of Noor last year on her Facebook page:


More from The Daily Mail:
...the [police] vehicle did not have its lights on and this may have been so as not to give any suspect notice that police had arrived and buy precious time to apprehend the target. That the car was unlit was disclosed by [fellow officer] Harrity to the BCA.

Both Noor and the BCA's version of events agree on the car's lights being off.According to Noor's version when they reached the end of the alley, they came across a waiting, panicking figure.

It was dark, and the figure was moving around and approached their vehicle.

Noor said he did not know whether the figure who rushed towards their vehicle was the 911 caller or even if it was a man or woman.
The police officer is SUPPOSED TO MAKE A POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION BEFORE USING THEIR WEAPON.

And how does someone who the officer describes as " waiting, panicking" be viewed as a threat who is shot without being identified? How many "waiting, panicking" criminals stand around until the police arrive?

And the BCA  (Bureau of Criminal Apprehension) agrees with Noor. What a coincidence. Can anyone actually believe that the BCA is, and can be, objective and independent? Please...

Noor, a law enforcement officer - To Protect and Serve - could not identify who was approaching the car, and he reacts by firing his gun? Had it been one of his colleagues, I guess Noor would have blindly shot a fellow officer.

Noor's reputation isn't exactly absent of controversy and complaints. Heavy.com:
A year ago, the arrival of Noor on the Minnesota police force was celebrated by the mayor and Somali community he hails from. There is a pending federal complaint against him, though, by a former social worker from Minneapolis who says Noor and other officers violated her constitutional rights[.]
[.]
“Body cameras were not turned on until after the shooting incident. The squad camera was not turned on."
[.]
[An] open federal case in the United States District Court, District of Minnesota was filed against Noor, two other police officers, and the City of Minneapolis, by a woman named Teresa M. Graham [the retired social worker].

...court documents say the complaint is an action for money damages arising out of a May 25, 2017 incident. The complaint accuses Noor and the other officers “without any reasonable or legal cause” of forcing “their way into Plaintiff’s house,” where they’re accused of having “violently and forcibly detained her, and transported her to a hospital against her will.”
[.]
According to KARE11, “Noor has two open complaints against him from 2017 and one from 2016,” although the station does not detail what they are about.
Harteau should be fired. Period. No discussion or debating it.

Hodges should resign. If not, she should be removed from office via an election recall.

Every time a tragedy occurs like any of those above, the Minneapolis Mayor and City Council and the Police Department tell us how this never should have happened, that they will work hard - oh, so very hard - to prevent anything like this ever happening again and, the next thing you know, it happens again.

If the citizens of Minneapolis fail in changing what is happening with the above incidents, and others like them, and if they fail to do it now - then it will never happen. Then, get used to stories like the above as daily events.

Harteau and Hodges have to go. Minneapolis...will you do what it takes to make that happen?

Friday, July 21, 2017

Al Gore, Jr.'s Global Climate Crisis Tour Continues

Al Gore, melting.

He's at it again. Al Gore, Jr. says we still have time to save us from the time he said we needed to save ourselves from almost twenty years ago that never happened. NY Post, Page 6:
“Ten years ago we did ‘An Inconvenient Truth.’ Its predictions are coming true. Seas overflowing, storm changes, air changes, temperature rising, surges like superstorm Hurricane Sandy."
Nothing in his film is coming true. Not even close.

Superstorm Sandy was in 2012. FIVE years ago.

Here is the NOAA history of U.S. Hurricanes. The list is not all-inclusive.

The below table is from the Wiki page on U.S. Hurricanes.



Twenty-five in the 1880's. SIX in the "2010s". Is six more than twenty-five, Albert?

In the year 2015, a new record was set; that being NINE years of no major hurricanes hitting U.S. landfall. Weather.com:
This is now the longest streak since hurricane records began in 1851. The previous record was a little over nine years, set from August 11, 1860 to September 8, 1869.
From The Telegraph: Rise of Sea Levels Greatest Lie ever Told:
...the Swedish geologist and physicist Nils-Axel Mörner, formerly chairman of the INQUA International Commission on Sea Level Change. And the uncompromising verdict of Dr Mörner, who for 35 years has been using every known scientific method to study sea levels all over the globe, is that all this talk about the sea rising is nothing but a colossal scare story.

Despite fluctuations down as well as up, "the sea is not rising," he says. "It hasn't risen in 50 years." If there is any rise this century it will "not be more than 10cm (four inches), with an uncertainty of plus or minus 10cm". And quite apart from examining the hard evidence, he says, the elementary laws of physics (latent heat needed to melt ice) tell us that the apocalypse conjured up by Al Gore and Co could not possibly come about. 
According to The Gospel of Al, all Arctic ice would be melted by 2014.

He's lying. Yet...no Liberal calls him out on this.

"Green Energy"...Below is a list of Green Energy companies that went bankrupt, that were created and received taxpayer dollars under Barack Hussein Obama's "Green Initiative":

Seneca BioEnergy
A 123 Systems
Fisker Automotive
Amonix Solar
Bright Source
LSP Energy
Energy Conversion Devices
Abound Solar
Beacon Power
EcoTality
Azure Dynamics
Evergreen Solar
Ener1
Source:  DividedStates (dot)  com

SpctraWatt
Babcock and Brown
EnerDel
Olsen's Crop Services
Vestas
LG Chem subsidiary Compact Power
Nordic Windpower
Navistar
Satcon
Konarka Tech
Mascoma Corp
Source: The Daily Signal

I liked it better when Al was hiding away, sexually harassing a masseuse. I suppose I should say "allegedly". I wonder what it cost him to settle out of court, because you know that's what had to have happened.

I have nothing against "green energy." But we're not there yet. Fossil fuels still remain the most abundant and affordable. Technology has not reached its zenith in manufacturing affordable green energy. Green energy needs to pay for itself and stop sucking government "incentives" (i.e. our money). And yes, I don't think fossil fuel companies should be getting corporate welfare either.

Gore is a huckster. He's selling Snake Oil. He's a terrible "fortune" teller...other than knowing his ever-expanding fortunes keep rolling in.


Here's a good read: 13 of the Worst Predictions from Earth Day, 1970. The one below is my favorite. Freedomworks.org:
# 11: "By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate… that there won't be any more crude oil. You'll drive up to the pump and say, ‘Fill 'er up, buddy,' and he'll say, ‘I am very sorry, there isn't any.'" — Ecologist Kenneth Watt
Way to hit it out of the ballpark, Kenneth. Having trouble 'filling 'er up?' Not so much?

No one - not in politics, the media, anyone...NO ONE would buy Al Gore's carnival barking if that person was a Republican, or anyone other than a Liberal.

If this were any other person, the Liberals would say that he has no qualifications or credentials, his past predictions didn't materialize so why should he be believed now and he'd be The Center Stage Circus Clown.

Can you imagine if former VP Dan Quayle  had been the the one to pick up the Global Warming Alarm Torch, telling us our future is doomed, as Gore has been saying, and if we don't do this, that and the other, we're all going to be wiped off the planet by rising oceans, multitudes of hurricanes, weather so hot it would melt any living thing. If it were Quayle, no Liberal would give him a molecule of credibility.

Thankfully, we have a president who balked at the Paris Climate Agreement.

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Conveying the Best To John McCain

I want to wish the very best to Senator John McCain in battling his recently diagnosed cancer.

I've taken a lot of jabs at McCain's politics - not McCain, the person. I always strive to apply an equal standard on political viewpoints, ideology and policies/laws. Liberal politics offends me. It should offend everyone. But I would apply the same standards to John McCain that I would to Joe Biden. Or W. Bush. Or Trump. No one gets a free pass here because there is an "R" or an "I" after your name. And McCain seemed always eager to be the first "Republican" to give-in to the Democrats and join them in too many of their causes.

I do rip on ideology. It's never personal. Well...maybe...maybe there's a little of it meant to be taken personally with Joy Behar . And Maureen Dowd.  And maybe someone else I can't think of at the moment. An exception or two always exist. Hey, I advise at the top of the page that Liberals should not read this blog.

Image via The Atlantic
Image via The Atlantic

I will keep Senator McCain, his family, friends and colleagues in my prayers and ask that you do the same. And may God Bless him and heal him.