February 17, 2021 | by Eriс
The Personal Cost of Politics
We hate politics – office politics, party politics and world politics. It’s what makes everyone nervous, suspicious, violent, fragile, despondent, desperate, regretful and vulnerable. Did we miss anything? Probably did. Politics produces many effects.
It enters our lives, whether we want it or not, mostly uninvited. From TV and computer screens, emails, texts, blog entries somewhere. From Twitter remarks; images and videos sent by friends and posted by people we don’t like. It rides the bus and enters into your home from child’s school; jumps over the fence after a brief conversation with your next-door neighbor. Oftentimes resonates in FM radio news program; looks at you from the billboards as you drive down the road. Politics manifests itself through the supermarket price tags or the price of gas. It’s often a part of an early morning coffee with your spouse or a late night family dinner.
Too frequently, if you don’t talk politics, you and your significant other find you both have nothing to say to each other. And this is very sad.
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February 9, 2021 | by Eriс
The Beginning of American Political Profiling
Many moons ago, we knew someone who worked in the credit card industry. He told us fascinating stories. The company he worked for serviced a number of banks that were too small to support their own credit card infrastructures, so they had a kind of umbrella organization. Part of their job was to help their customers add new, well-to-do clients to the rolls of credit card holders. Mind you, this was way before the Internet era. No smart phones, browsers, websites from where to glean information from. Today this is a much simpler process.
Their task was to find them new customers. Not the ones who already owned mansions or spent lavishly using credit cards in their possession. So how did they go about doing it? They purchased consumer data from outside marketing companies. All sorts or data, lists of magazine subscribers and lists of known U.S. passport holders. Lists of people who stayed in certain hotel chains, data from people who warranty-registered new products they bought (remember those little cards to be filled out and mailed back to the manufacturers)? They had a lot of questions answered about one’s lifestyle. All of that went into individual profiles in huge marketing databases. The marketing companies clients, like that organization we mentioned, bought information based on specific criteria they defined. They were called “selective solicits.” Example: “we want data on U.S. passport holders who are also subscribers to the “Town and Country” magazine”. What’s the connection you may ask? There was one. Someone someplace figured out that certain people in this category would think nothing of flying over to France for a dinner at “Maxim’s,” famous Parisian restaurant, and come back home the next day. They were good candidates for new credit card offers. There were many such criteria, but we vividly remember that one. The information was collected, addresses matched, letters printed and mailed. Voila, welcome new clients.
(more…)February 6, 2021 | by Eriс
Are You Kidding? BLM is Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”
George Orwell, 1984
Another sign of the precarious times we live in.
“Black Lives Matter” movement has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Norwegian politician representing the Socialist Left party in parliament wants the BLM racist goons recognized for their battle against racism. One Petter Eide, makes a case for BLM “as the strongest global force against racial injustice, (to) send a powerful message that peace is founded on equality, solidarity and human rights”.
The right words, the wrong nominee, the wrong cause and effect.
Ugly racists of the Marxist slant who fan the flames of racial intolerance and sow destruction in our society are suddenly the saviors of our freedoms and human rights. Can anyone twist this any further? It is hard to imagine that they can.
This was not done in jest, like it happened in 1939, when an antifascist member of the Swedish parliament Erik Gottfrid Christian Brandt nominated German dictator Adolf Hitler. That nomination was cancelled; no prize was awarded in 1939 to anyone for peace.
(more…)February 3, 2021 | by Eriс
“Don’t Be Evil”. The Abandoned Promise.
Those of us, who have been around the Internet from the early days of Google, may remember these words: “don’t be evil” proudly spoken by early Google founders.
It was a somewhat romantic notion, based on the power of a new search engine gathering steam and moving the world forward. Recognizing the influence of information, any kind of information, about everyone, became a semi-official motto, and a good one. It was easy to remember and it set our minds in belief that nothing bad can come from Google. No matter what they do. By declaring their purpose and intent in three short words, they told the world they are a force of integrity, of promise, of freedom and whatever they planned on bringing into our lives would make it all better.
We lived with these words for many years. Do you recall their own early candid admission that “after they grew to be over a certain size with power and influence, the corporation must hire people to act as lobbyists of their influence in the corridors of power” be it in Washington or elsewhere? This isn’t an exact quote, but the thought and image they projected is herein. It was a discovery of sorts, by Google who were amazed at the intensity of what they were involved in and how it intertwined with everything else around them, akin to a child learning about the world out there.
(more…)January 28, 2021 | by Eriс
The New Army of Citizen Detectives. A Terrible Escalation
We never seek out ‘hot’ subjects to address. It isn’t what these pages are about. The topics find us. They simply barge in, uninvited. Threatening to upend our collective lives. Speaking about them – and often against them – becomes our duty. In this court of public opinion, it’s our word against theirs!
We didn’t have to wait long until something terrible popped up.
A louse by the name of Don Winslow called upon U.S. citizens to become cyber detectives to monitor and report fellow citizen Trump supporters to authorities. He is certainly not the only one out there to invite this type of action. Katie Couric, a TV personality, wants de-programming of the Trump supporters. Others of the Leftwing, have raised the same issue, viewing people with opposing political views as a threat to themselves and the country. Read about this here with your own eyes.
MSNBC analyst Eugene Robinson and New York Times columnist Nikole Hannah-Jones recently discussed how they would be able to “deprogram” Trump supporters once Biden is sworn in. “There are millions of Americans, almost all white, almost all Republicans, who somehow need to be deprogrammed,” Robinson said. “It’s as if they are members of a cult, the Trumpist cult, and have to be deprogrammed.”
In their minds it’s a done deal, awaiting practical implementation.
(more…)January 25, 2021 | by Eriс
The United States: Abject Failure in the Face of Evil
About 20 years ago we knew of a large sea vessel, permanently moored in a quiet bay, in one of New York’s outer boroughs. It was there for many years, hooked to an on-shore electrical distribution panel, serving as someone’s comfortable houseboat. A large one, probably a 100-120 footer, built in the 1920’s, it was once a military ship. So it sat there, solid as a rock and most people didn’t pay much attention to it. One beautiful morning, in quiet weather, it suddenly sank, in front of many amused spectators, without any obvious cause. No lives were lost, as the owners weren’t home that day. We later learned that the old ship rusted so completely that it simply cracked, took water and quickly went to the bottom of the bay, without any outside meddling. It was a sorry sight to see.
We believe the vessel was never properly inspected. If it was, no one probed the rusty spots, as the metal was thick and looked solid. Just like a large country we live in, a nation having a stable democracy and with all sorts of laws and safeguards to guard its venerable institutions and political traditions. Plus the solid foundation on which everything rested. The country couldn’t be shaken in its belief that it was protected on every level, looked after by the people in charge of law and order: our elected administration, massive law enforcement layer, the state and federal courts; the states with a slew of legislators who knew how to deal with any matter at hand. Especially, using a simple and straightforward time-tested process. Presidential and Congressional Elections where Presidents serve a four year term, House of Representatives serve a two year term and Senators serve a six year term. With few exceptions (Donald J. Trump was one of them), no one predicted any trouble or problems.
(more…)January 25, 2021 | by Eriс
Poetry
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
The poem below was sent to us by a friend. Don’t know who the author is. Enjoy and share with others.
Eric
Patriot Manifesto
We are the face of our land
The folks who made this country grand
Believe in truth without lies
The proud ladies, honest guys
We come from every walk of life
And are against hate and strife
In God and country is our faith
Fit looking danger in the face
This Nation won by guts and guns,
Beloved daughters and the sons
Not to give up or to give in
To foes out there and within
Born free, forever living free
When facing menace wouldn’t flee
So “We The People” right the wrong
Stay indivisible and strong
We’re not afraid to wage a fight
For kids the future must be bright
With peaceful heavens high above
Long live America, our love!
January 21, 2021 | by Eriс
Deprived by the Depraved
“Tell us now, did you vote for Trump, the inciter of riots and good-for-nothing President? Did you? How can you live with yourself then? We are investigating his crimes and must cleanse our society of corrupted elements, which is you. You supported Donald Trump and his policies, both domestic and international. You are as guilty as he is. This administration intends to make your life a living hell. In the “land of the free”, we don’t need people like you. We are going to make you suffer.”
We totally made up this brief monologue. It hasn’t taken place just yet.
The way things are going with our stolen, tyrannical powers of a “one party” system, coming up, nothing is out of the realm of possibility. Real possibility. What? You think we are exaggerating?
By the time you read this, President Trump and his time in power will be history. He wasn’t perfect, but he mostly accomplished what he promised. He departs an invincible warrior. History shall always remember him as “People’s President”.
(more…)January 20, 2021 | by Eriс
The Lore of a Lonely Knight
Sit down around the bonfire, boys and girls. We have a good old story to tell you. Ourselves, we aren’t so young anymore, and heard it from our elders. It is being passed down from generation to generation. It is a story of the loneliest knight who fought for the common folks.
Long time ago, in a strange land called America, there was this powerful man named Donald. He lived in a kingdom with a big town at its heart, full of people. The town was on an island, abutted by a big river on the East and the mighty ocean elsewhere; was famous for its many castles, trades and crafts; and the power it spread around the land and even the entire world. They say the town still exists, but nobody remembers its name. His dad made his fortune building castles and homes for everyone who lived there, both rich and poor. It was hard work. Unlike today, when a house is up in a couple of days, it took months and even years to gather the now-forgotten paper money and to fight the enemies to complete the job. The rich and powerful people subservient to the local lord ruled the town and didn’t want anyone to equal them in prestige and influence. So doing anything was not easy.
(more…)January 15, 2021 | by Eriс
Of Money and Power
We, as society, are moving towards disintegration of existing established norms. Those are not turtle steps; these are rapid motions affecting large population groups.
We are appalled to learn that both Apple and Google have banned Parler (an equivalent of Twitter, minus the censorship) from their platforms, disabled the apps on iOs and Android and have removed them from their stores. While Parler’s website is functional (desktop browsers still work), the access is largely limited. The Parler platform represents one of the last bastions of free speech remaining in America and perhaps elsewhere, available to the people who treasure their First Amendment rights. Those people just happened to be of conservative persuasion, do not speak “woke”. They choose to abandon Twitter where their voices are being suppressed, literally. The above Big Tech corporations made their move to silence these voices. We anticipate it winding up in the U.S. Supreme Court, as First Amendment issue.
This is an act of war on American society.
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