23

Jul. ’23

I Am Not Stupid

I may be dumb, but I am not stupid. What do I mean? It’s an old saying meaning a person can tell you anything that pleases them, but you are not dumb enough to believe. You have a mind of your own and don’t need them to tell you what is or isn’t. What am I talking about?

               Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican from Alabama, is a one-man-band holding up the promotions and nominations of hundreds, plus, of military people. Many, if not most, Congressmen will go to extremes to secure whatever bill or talking point that they are interested in. What Tuberville is doing is preventing crucial promotions to force the Pentagon to change a military rule/law. Promotions that are critical to the wellbeing of the military and its performance.

               Tuberville does not want the military to cover the travel and time off when military members must go out of state for an abortion. With his boycott, he is on the brink of disturbing the stability of the Joint-Chiefs-of-Staff because they serve for a certain length of time. Others must be promoted to the proper rank to take the position. Then there are the lower tiers of the military that have commanders that must be promoted to take the position. Withholding these promotions can harm the fighting capability of the military.

               I do not understand someone that is willingly harming our fighting forces at a time when we really must present a super strong military to the world. I understand why he is doing this, but I do not understand why he is continuing, knowing the damage being done. I do not understand the Republicans that will not lift a finger to help the Democrats to stop this. I also do not understand how so much power is given to one person that the entire Congressional body have their hands tied.

               I am not against him because he is a Republican, I am against him because the military is being harmed. This is an unnecessary tactic that can be handled in a different way. Now that Tuberville’s tactic is successful, what is coming next? Who else will use this as a tactic to get what he/she wants? Why do ‘we the people’ put up with this or do they even care? Do the ‘blackmailers’ think we are all stupid. I may be dumb, but I am not stupid.

               I see the handwriting on the wall. If one Congressman can do this to get what he wants, others will try it until it does not work anymore. That will put the screws on a lot of things that must be done to keep the government functioning. They must really believe that ‘we the people’ are dumb as well as stupid.

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09

Jul. ’23

The Immigrant

I read a lot of news simply because I like to have different points of view while attempting to weed out misinformation and disinformation. In today’s media it is a hard thing to do, and most young people today get their news from one source on their phone or computer. There are many people that only read or hear one form of news (information) and believe everything to be factual and true. They will not fact check the source, nor do they want to hear anything on the other side of the story.

               The other day, just before the 4th of July Holiday, I listened to a short debate that has been ongoing for many years, about the first Thanksgiving and where it started. This made me think back to when I was in grade school and in one class, I was taught the first Thanksgiving was in a New England state (Massachusetts I think) but in another class I had to take Virginia history (I am from Virginia) and there I was taught it was in Jamestown, Virginia (the first permanent settlement). I really don’t know for sure because that happened more than three hundred years before my time. But the debate goes on and where it stops, no one knows.

               I said that to give you background into what a Congresswoman said during one of her speeches. She said we (the United States) should put all immigrants and those that are not wholly American out of the country. No exceptions allowed. That made my mind do flip-flops. First, we all are immigrants except for the Native Americans (American Indians). The United States was invaded by Europeans not by Native Americans. Europeans tricked, stole, and killed for this land. The Native Americans, at first, attempted to help the Europeans survive in this strange land and even taught them to raise their own food, etc.

               The Europeans bought in slaves (my ancestors) to do the work for them and even had other slaves and indentured servants (depending on the part of the country and era). The Europeans set up colonies (which became states) and a constitution to bolster their laws which were supposed to be for everyone. The laws applied to every European, all others were considered either non-human or below the Europeans.

               The way I see it is all people, except for the Native American, should get out because all other people are the immigrant. All peoples migrated all over the globe and settled where they thought they could safely live and prosper.  It is true that there are bad people among them but that is another subject that I have covered before and may cover again.

               So, I’ll say this, yes, my ancestors were immigrants and so was everyone else’s. The Native American is not and will never be an immigrant and that Congresswoman should be the first person on a plane or ship out of here. Words hurt especially if you don’t know your history. We are one and have travelled this earth, going to better places, for thousands of years. This is a beautiful place, and we are trying hard to bring it down and make it ugly.

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25

Jun. ’23

Watch AI

A short time ago I wrote about AI (artificial intelligence) and it seems as though it has expanded greatly since then. To mankind, it is great to have something to aid mankind, but I can see a hindrance that has a potential to really harm mankind in the long run. AI is a good thing but (as in some sci-fi movies) can be a bad thing.

               It’s good in medicine. At Duke University there is a machine that is aiding medicine and can outperform the doctors when predicting medical conditions, knowing all the medical jargons, and giving possible cures for something. I haven’t heard much about it recently, but it would be great if most hospitals have this type of mechanical brain. Cancer and all other conditions will be diagnosed quicker as well as more accurately. Why not put it into the labs to make newer medicine and bring down the cost of medicine?

               Transportation is booming with self-driving, self-parking, etc. vehicles. In the blog I mentioned, I wrote about a self-driving truck that took a load of ore from a self-mining mine to a self-operating factory and made other robots witho0ut a human hand doing anything. That can be done with almost anything, anywhere, at any time, with today’s automation.  Think about it; there are automated cars, trucks, trains, ships, planes, and the list goes on and on. Humans do not have to touch the controls.

               I only know about a small fraction of what the military has. I was in the air force (security, law enforcement, K-9) and I see a lot that have happened since I retired. In K-9, for instance, there are robotic perimeter guards that are like dogs (the machines walk on four legs). I guess me and my dog would be replaced at considerable cost. I can only imagine what is going on in the control room (CSC?) (Central Security Control). Back in the early ‘80s I flew on a plane that the pilot was telling me, as the plane was circling the Pyramids on its own, how the plane could taxi, take off, fly to its mission, return, and land on its own.

               Now that you have a little background about AI and our daily life, I now wonder what we are to do with ourselves if AI completely takes over our daily life. This is what I mean. AI is into farming by doing everything remotely and robotically therefore there is not a need for workers in the field. This has a domino effect that is attached to it. AI doing the work in the factories means there is no need for employees. When people are jobless, they cannot buy food, transportation, lodging, go on vacation, buy fuel for the vehicle that they have (electric vehicles cost more but without a job they can not afford to buy one), and anything else that a human would need to live. And it goes on, and on, and on.

               As you see, the domino effect, caused by AI, can affect living a minimal life. Like in the sci-fi movies, AI can take over and us humans will have to take a backseat and suffer. We are already suffering but it, maybe, will get much worse. I am not against AI; I am asking for caution and tighter controls. I remember an article I read, some time ago, that these scientists put two computers together to see what would happen. They had to unplug them when the computers started talking to each other in a language the scientists did not understand. Bad things, accidents, can and will happen. Watch AI as AI watches us.

              

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11

Jun. ’23

Time Is Relative

Last week in my other blog, www.faithingodministries.net, I mentioned ‘time’ and what it meant to God compared to what it means to us. I am not an expert in that sort of thing nor am I or have I been a scholar in that. I only know what I feel, have read, and can imagine. What I am about to write does not construe whether it is true or untrue and is only a very small piece about time. It is only for you to think and decide for yourself.

               Einstein wrote on ‘relative time’, where he determined that time is relative. In other words, the rate at which time passes depends on your frame of reference. Ahhh, what is meant by that? (My words) things will be perceived differently if sensed in different ways or by different people.

               This phenomenon was experimented with by using clocks. In the lab’s experiment they used a light clock and an atomic clock, the most accurate clocks known. It was found that the faster the clock moved the slower the clock got. One of the examples used was an atomic clock that was stationary on earth, and another was flown in a plane around the earth. When the clocks were together again, they were a fraction of a second apart from each other.

               What made me think of this was last week I wrote that in God’s time a thousand solar years is one solar day to us. Okay, let me think about what has been happening for a long time here on earth and what has been in the news lately. UFOs. If they come from another planet think about the speed used to get here and what about the time it took. Did time stop?  Did time speed up? Did time go back? It all is confusing yet a wonder at the same time.

               NASA want to send man to Mars and other planets. What will the timing be because (to us) the time spent in space getting there is very long. Then think about a light year which is one solar year or 5.88 trillion miles. My mind is numb when they say a star is close with it being four or five light years away and we want to go to that solar system. To me, impossible, but throw in ‘time’ and that would be the unknown variable that could make it possible. On earth we could see the space capsule slowly traveling to the far away star. To the people in the capsule, it could be a very short time when ‘time is relative’ is added to the equation. Is this how the UFOs get here? Worm holes? Space warp? Talking about UFOs is another future blog.

               Last week, what I wrote in www.faithingodministries.net, shows that most of this article melds with that article and vice versa. We point up because Christ rose into the clouds when He left earth. Also, the universe is huge and, from what I have read, is still expanding. How far is it to the end of the universe? Time is relative and time is not on our side. If time is relative, then our present life is not even a flicker, and we better get right quickly and that may not be fast enough. Now I’ll sit back and see the very few commits that I rarely receive.

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28

May. ’23

I Should Have Been A Congressman

I have had a full-time job (including the military) since I was fifteen years old. There were times I worked seven days a week, working two jobs and once I had three. Hours working was from twelve to sixteen hours with a smile on my face. Why? I was making a dissent living and after paying the bills I had a little left over to have something in my pocket. Except for the military, there weren’t enough hours in the day for much partying, but I wasn’t angry about that.

               While in the military there was once a time when the military had just started direct pay to the bank for us and that was at the time when Congress didn’t pass the budget or something like that. I was stationed in Europe and really didn’t know what was going on. When I was in the military, I didn’t keep up with what the politicians were doing. Well, those that did not have direct pay did not get a paycheck. I was lucky because I opted to have direct pay because I regularly went TDY (temporary duty) elsewhere and I didn’t have to be on base to get paid.

               I said all of that to say this. As I write this millions of people are set to not get paid because Congress is not increasing the debt limit. They can’t get their act together and lookout for the little guy. This affects the entire world, economies will tumble, especially ours. The people in Congress have left town for the Memorial weekend. I had very few holidays off before I retired, I should have been a congressman.

               Thinking about being a congressman, they not only left town before okaying the debt bill, but they will get paid when the rest of us do not. This means social security checks, retired pay checks, government debt, etc. will not get paid but congressmen will. A little while ago they asked for a pay raise. I should have been a congressman.

               I also look at how congressmen act. They act as if they are above everyone else and can say and do whatever they want. Even the few that are caught in the act of doing wrong know that it will take a very long time to actually be formally charged, then another very long time to go to court. If convicted there will be appeal upon appeal before any possibility of jail. During all these years the congressman will be out on bail, most likely on their own recognize and will still be in office. Normal people would have been tried, convicted, and done the time in jail before the congressman goes to trial. I should have been a congressman.

               To be a congressman would make me feel dirty and I would hate to see people I know are doing wrong. I know it sounds bad to say I don’t want to be a congressman because it is a dirty job, but I have morals and most of them do not. But the bottom line is, I have worked all my life and I want and need my money. The congressmen need to do the job they are overly paid to do. 

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14

May. ’23

Oaths

Oath: A solemn promise, often, invoking a divine witness, regarding one’s future action or behavior.

               Everyone takes an oath, whether they realize it or not. I will name a few, not all, because I know I will miss a lot of them. Oaths are given when someone is taking a government job (federal, state, or local). This includes enforcement of the law, military, doctors, nurses. Lawyers, etc. When you rent an apartment, you will sign a contract or when you buy a car (promise to pay or that what you put on the form is truthful). There are many organizations and clubs that require it. I think you understand what I mean. Oath covers a lot of territory.

               Rep. George Santos has admitted he is a liar and took the oath of office. Now he is charged with several things including lying to Congress. A breach of the oath. He stated he will not resign but the people that voted for him and elected him knew most of what he is accused of before the election. Even the Speaker of the House stands by him and said he wants to see if he is found guilty or not. There have been many other people that have been accused of something and were made to resign. The Republicans can not afford to lose one vote and I think that is why they are standing by him until this is bought to a head.

               Another (this will ruffle feathers) is ex-President Donald Trump. Becoming President, he took the oath of office and shattered it into a million pieces. Before and after becoming President, he signed many contracts and rarely was he true to them. When he was charged with rape, he was given a chance to meet his accuser in court and did not appear. Yet, he told his followers he was not given the chance. I believe he did not appear because he would have had to take an oath. I do not understand why that matters to him because he broke his oath numerous times in the past.

               I will mention one last person and that is the guy that was in intelligence service for the military and posted on the internet what he wanted. Of course, he had to take an oath and he shattered that oath for whatever lame brained excuse he gave. He not only hurt our government but other governments around the world.

               To list all the government officials that took the oath and broke it is impossible to list. That list is too long to even think about, especially those from the last administration. Today, oaths mean nothing. Back in the day, a simple handshake was all that was needed. There was also a time when a person gave their word and that was all that was needed.

               I have taken many oaths and kept all of them. I could not afford to be caught breaking an oath because I am a little guy and before I could recite my name, I would be so deep into the catacombs of prison that daylight wouldn’t reach me. I guess keeping true to the oaths taken is for the little people like me.

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30

Apr. ’23

Burn Baby Burn

Every day looks gloomier, and gloomier when you look at the world of politics. I guess I am looking for a country set in a world of utopia but, as I wrote in a previous blog, there is no such thing as utopia. There will always be mistakes, miscalculations, and the inevitable upper crust people greed. Greed is one thing but being overly greedy is too much for me. However, there are those that are mindless about all of this and want the rest of us to fall into the same fire that has engulfed them.

               I am thinking about all the problems our country is mired in and there seems to be no end to any of this. Especially when there is a faction that wants to unravel what is good and decent and only wants to cause discontent. When you add the craziness of some of these people into the mix, there is nothing but chaos and either nothing gets done or there is a slowdown of everything. Then again you add into the mix liars that are only out to destroy everything.

               There are many things on the table that need to be resolved including the abortion issue, the Supreme Court issue, our conflict with China, Russia and, in minor form, some other countries. Add in humanitarian aid to several countries and aid to many states in this country. There is still a big border problem which is not going to go away any time soon. Yet, there is a blockage in Congress to get the money to resolve some of this plus we have the upcoming debt ceiling deadline.

               Thinking about the upcoming debt ceiling deadline, I cannot see why Republicans want to cut money to our military, especially VA (Veteran Administration) hospitals, when they have said they wouldn’t. They want to cut employees from the VA as well as funding. How can we care for our injured vets (we can barely do it now) with fewer personnel and less money? Who would want to join our military knowing that if they get injured care is not a priority?

               Looking again at the Supreme Court and I see a court I would not want to handle my case, if I had one, because I would know they will decide on which way the money, politics, and friendship flow. This is the highest court in the country, and it is so tainted that being corrupt is the lowest I can think of without using a cuss word.

               The country is on fire, and we are all burning in the flames that are thrown in our direction. As the perpetrators of this mess will burn in hell for continuing to cause this, those that condone this mess and are attempting to drag others into this mess will burn also. I wrote about this in my other blog www.faithingodministries.net and I see it all coming true. The devil needs more fuel for his fires, and we are supplying it. Souls will add to the fuel, and I do not want any part of it. There is so much more I could write but I do not want to write a book. We all will burn because of this fiasco. Burn, baby, burn.

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16

Apr. ’23

In Retrospect

We are in the age of retrospect, or we are quickly on our way there. All we must do is look at what is happening and what was happening not too long ago. This is happening across the entire spectrum, especially here in the United States. I will not investigate every facet of the situation because I am sure I will miss something, but the handwriting is on the wall. Let’s look at some of this.

               The biggest item in the news is about abortion. Looking back, women did not have a way to have an abortion and had to carry the baby to term. The man always wanted a male heir and most female babies were killed. Women did not have a say into anything, and they were not educated. This is still found in most Muslem countries, and their religion wants it to spread to all the other cultures. The woman must stay home to cook, clean, care for the children, and do whatever the man tells her to do. The USA have not taken away ways for the man not to have children but have caused ways for women to have children. This is a regression, not a progression.

               Then there is a caste system among the have and have not. Congress refuses to do anything about the millionaires and billionaires paying their fair share of taxes. They even get better treatment in the judicial system. The middle class cannot afford or barely afford food, housing, vehicles, gasoline, or time off to recharge their bodies. The country that has a large caste system is India although most countries have it in some way. Everything costs more and more because the wealthiest of people want more and more.

               Many years ago, most people could not read or write and what was written had to be approved before it was released into the public realm. Now they are saying there is too much sexuality in books and people should not be exposed to it. Does that mean the Bible? In the Bible you’ll find incest, homosexuality, murder, etc. Will the Bible be banned next? Children can read and the Bible is not hidden from sight. Some of the most well-known books in the world have some form of forbidden material in them. It is ludicrous to rewrite well-known material, cover well-known statues, remove works of art because someone think it is vulgar.

               We are a people that supposedly abide by laws written by and for the people of this country. These laws are to apply to all the people however there are some people (in the highest caste?) that feel as if it doesn’t apply to them. When I look at the Federal Government (including the Supreme Court) I see quite a few believing the laws do not apply to them. This was the way it was for untold centuries. They make the laws for us, and the courts and law enforcement enforce them upon us and not upon them.

               These are just a few things (and there are a lot more) that come to mind when I think how we are going backward instead of forward. Modernization means nothing. I’m gonna get on my horse and wagon and move on down the road. I’m too old to fight this any longer. I fought for civil rights and now I’ll let the younger people take over. I hope they are up to the task.

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02

Apr. ’23

Education

Education: the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgement, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life. Think about the ending words, for mature life. When there is no education, life does not mature or barely matures.

               Education has been on the news for a long time. There are people for education and there are people against education. For your information, I am for education, and I do not understand how anyone could be against it. It is said that people are not against it, they just don’t want certain material presented to the children. I agree and disagree. I would say to present it as age appropriate when presented. That brings in banning books (I just saw that art is being banned also).

               It is getting so bad that there are demonstrations on both sides. Remember, Hitler banned books and so has some Islam countries. Also remember, the first step to control people is to make them ignorant. We are attempting the first step, but I also see that people becoming ignorant have been slowly on the move for a long time.

               What I mean by slowly on the move for a long time is that for long-time parents are not involved in the education of their children. In my day my parent made sure I did my homework every day, she did what she could to help me, and attended the PTA meetings. I did the same for my child. There are PTAs and school board meetings for the parents to come to and help, or at least express their opinion, about the curriculums for the students. The meetings used to be crowded but not anymore.

               I have a problem with book-banning, but I have a bigger problem with parents gripping but they are not involved in the education of their own children. It seems that they want others to raise their children, educate their children, but they do not want verbal and physical discipline of the children. The children want to act as adults (so do the parents) but lack the training and understanding.

               People want kids and some get involved with them but far too many have them and leave them. Using my era of growing up, when an adult spoke, whatever I was doing immediately stopped, I paid attention, and I did it. Today, the children do what they want to do and will talk back. In my day, talking back, arguing, and not doing something was a death sentence (not really but close).

               Education is needed everywhere but when students cannot read about Rosa Parks and others, it is a sad day. There may not be an agreement on what is read but in it is at least general knowledge. I don’t understand politicians getting involved in this, it should be the parents. I had chores to do before and after school. At times I even held a job as well as what I had to do at home and then my homework. Today children have it easy and still complain. I was lucky to get six hours sleep but kids today get twice that.

               Everyone needs an education, but the parents need to get back into teaching their own kids. When no one can say, touch, or have anything to do with your child, then they cannot effectively be taught. When the teacher gets hurt in class because of the unruly child, then the child cannot be taught. When the parent does not have control of their child, then the child cannot be taught. Parents…let’s educate the children before it’s too late.

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19

Mar. ’23

Rotten Apples

When I was a child, my mother taught and said many things. I do not know if my mother and grandmother knew that their words were lessons to be able to deal with life when I go out on my own. They taught a lot through metaphors and one of them was ‘one rotten apple spoils the barrel’. I didn’t know what that meant then, but I well know now and they were right.

               For my non-American readers, and others, I will give a short background to where that saying come from. Back in the day, most items were stored in barrels and transported in barrels. It was common to pick out the rotten or getting close to be rotten fruit out of the barrel because it would cause the entire barrel to rot.

               Another headline was in the news, seven people (law enforcement) had a shackled and handcuffed man face down on the floor and they were on his back. He died and they are in deep trouble as they await, in orange jumpsuits, the outcome of the justice system. It has happened so many times that it is almost a back page article, not a headline.

               The same analogy can be said about almost anything, especially politics. It only takes on rotten congressman to taint the congressional body. There have been many rotten apples in congress for a long time. However, I think there are more today than usual. I could name people but I am sure I will miss many people that should be named along with the others. There are undercover apples that are rotten from their core outward.

               Getting back to law enforcement, the majority of officers attempt to do their job correctly and with integrity. It is a shame that a few taint the wellbeing and good deeds of the majority. When I was among them, I knew a few and have seen their conduct, however, there truly is a ‘blue wall of silence’. Why is it hush-hush when the right thing to do is report it? 1) you do not know how high the rot have spread and you could be speaking with an accomplice. 2) you will find yourself, most times, alone in everything you do. There will not be any association with you in any manner. 3) you could accidentally die. This has happened in the past and will happen again. 4) the command tier don’t want transparency, they want to deal with it themselves to keep their names clean.

               Keep in mind, rotten apples are everywhere, in every thing we do and see. The problem is recognizing the rot before you are caught-up in it and become tainted also. Remember not to be naive because you will never know how high the rot goes or who is becoming tainted. We had a President that tainted everything he touched. In this case, the rot trickled downward, not upward.

               There is another problem. If you were able to pick out all the rot in whatever agency, where would you get replacements that do not have a rotten spot? Look out for the rot.

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