opinion

Precedent

Posted on by backuphill

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The war on your rights, freedoms, and beliefs is about to get worse. Thankfully, there have been some changes in the Supreme Court that will (hopefully) change the trend of erosion that has been taking place. That, however, won’t stop those on the left from waging a war on the Bill of Rights.

A prime example of such would be the attach on student rights. The indoctrination of students has been going on for years and will continue as, unfortunately, there are not enough people in education that come from the conservative side of the aisle. Everywhere you look, from K-16, there are liberals dominating the arena of education and they are bent on destroying anything that smells of traditional, conservative values.

Last week, a 3rd grader felt the wrath of such an attack. All because a face mask had a message that the principal apparently found offensive. Double standard? Of course. There have been other messages on face masks that didn’t offend, though it may have been to some. But, this little girl gets called out for her message – one that was only directed to herself.

“Jesus love me.”

Not “Jesus loves you.”

The former is a personal message, meant for the person. The second is a message of projection, meant and directed at others.

I have a feeling the school district and the principal will be issuing apologies fairly soon. They are totally in the wrong and the Supreme Court has already addressed and established precedent with related to student speech, including symbolic speech. So, there should be a reversal fairly shortly.

Should schools protect students from some messages? Of course. The courts have established this too, when it comes to messages and images that would be inappropriate for the age group as well as something that would be deemed a disruption to the educational process. So, anything that promotes illegal drugs, illegal actions, offensive language, sex, etc. The definition of “offensive language” has changed over the years and seems to be subject to the whims of whomever is in charge. There has been an obvious double standard here when it comes to liberal and conservative values. So, that seems to waver, even though the established “offensive language” is really based on the seven words that supposedly can’t be broadcast (even this has changed).

Anyway, I am glad that someone has challenged the principal and district, though the district (as far as I can tell) hasn’t come out in support of the principal. Students, when at school, should be able to see and hear both sides of an issue and make a determination for themselves, not be indoctrinated one way or another.

Ongoing saga

Posted on by backuphill

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Comcast/xFinity has some real nerve. Obviously, there is always an issue with the cost of their service. Too high for too little. That has never been in doubt. But, if you saw an earlier post (Thieving) about the issue I was having with their billing, well the saga continues…

So, brief catch-up if you haven’t read the other post. Comcast decided randomly that it wouldn’t accept payment from my bank. They have done so for years but suddenly have decided the payment last month wasn’t going to be accepted. Instead of notifying me of an issue, they just said I hadn’t made the payment and said my account was “past due.” My bank says and has proven the payment was made and accepted by Comcast (thus, money was deducted from my account.) Now you are caught up.

I have made several calls the Comcast and navigated their stupid automated system over and over to get to a live representatives, who quite frankly don’t know squat. I was told the first time I needed to get confirmation from my bank that the payment was made.

I did so. It wasn’t the “right” kind of verification.

So, I was finally able to get through to Comcast payment services who said that they did receive a payment couldn’t (read wouldn’t) apply it because they needed some kind of verification because it was paid by a “virtual credit card.” Say what? I am using the bill payer service from my bank and the payment is made electronically to their system. There has never been an issue before. They don’t me to contact my bill payer service at the bank to get the specific authorization they needed.

I contacted the bank. They did their research and communicated directly to Comcast with the information. Comcast’s response? The customer has to provide the proof.

#$%&#$$@!!!!

Listen, Comcast, I authorized the bank to pay you. You have an agreement with the bank to accept electronic funds payments. You have been accepting said payments for years. Now, you won’t accept the payment and want me to authorize a payment the bank made on my behalf?

What the F’n crack you smoking over there?

I haven’t yet sent the proof to Comcast yet, but I’ll let you know if need a couple of you to accompany me down the the office to voice my literal displeasure in doing business with them.

How about a peaceful protest involving some windows and flipped cars? I feel like burning something down.

Fatigue

Posted on by backuphill

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Anyone else just tired of everything? I mean, like, EVERYTHING.

Literally half the country has lost it’s freedom loving mind.

Not to mention that literally three counties in my state control (read that as dictate) the election results for the other 36.

I am just tired. No wonder people wander into the wilderness, live off grid, and desire to never see other humans again.

Cavemen had it good.

Prognostication

Posted on by backuphill

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Tonight will be one of the dumbest nights in television history.

Tonight networks, television stations, cable news channels, radio stations, and literally everyone else will be trying to predict who will win the election(s).

They will be falling all over themselves trying to get the scoop and declare a winner first. They will make predictions on races all over the country, for lots of different elected positions.

They will, in effect, be meddling in the election.

It happens every year and it is actually kind of disgusting and should be illegal.

East coast voting stations and polling places close (at minimum) three hours earlier than West coast stations and polling places. As such, announcing any “results” of what East coast states are doing or the way they are leaning actually influences what happens on the West coast. If voters on this coast see predictions that tell them the election is going one way or the other, it actually discourages people from voting. Amazingly, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of research on this, but it is safe to say it happens. It’s human nature.

So, keep it under wraps. Stop trying to predict a winner before there are true results. It’s not only irritating, but it’s actually irresponsible and verges on tampering.

But, of course, we won’t see that happen tonight. So, sit back and watch the stupidity. Or not.

Journalism is dead

Posted on by backuphill

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Or at least it is nearly dead. There are still people out there who are doing their best to write and publish from a neutral perspective and this is EXTREMELY rare these days.

Glenn Greenwald isn’t the poster child for complete neutrality, but at least he comes close. While he may be a left-leaning journalist, he hasn’t pulled his punches when it comes to criticizing the left. He has pursued the truth and has exposed some very dark corners in American politics and government. But, that obviously can only go so far. Up to now, he hasn’t seen much in the way of censorship (or at least that is the way he describes it).

But, that has changed. Balanced and honest journalism requires that you see things from both sides and attack both sides when necessary. Yes, that is a little like biting the hand that feeds you, but a true journalist can’t ignore one side of every story. If they choose to do so, the sully the profession (as I am sure you are fully aware that most Americans don’t trust the media any longer).

Greenwald has resigned from the media outlet he helped co-found. Because they wanted to censor an article he wrote on Hunter and Joe Biden, one that was critical of the Democratic darling and the media cover-up of revelations related to business dealings in foreign countries. He is justified in asking questions and form an analysis, apparently that other journalists are even unwilling to think about, because others are not asking the questions and are not willing to be critical.

We have known journalism is dead for a long time. Thus, the distrust of the American media. But this, this is a whole different level of censorship and verges on conspiracy by the left to support a political candidate purely because he is the alternative to a candidate they have tried repeatedly to destroy over the last six years. Their mantra has been and continues to be, “Anyone but HIM!” So much so that they even eat their own when people don’t fall into line with their narrative.

I hope you take a look at the information provided by Greenwald. It is fascinating and eye opening. It is enlightening, but also confirms what many already know. Only now, we know it without a shadow of a doubt.

Suppression

Posted on by backuphill

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Did you see that post from yesterday? The one where I asked people not to vote if…

I am guessing probably not.

Wonder why I ask? Because I believe WordPress is suppressing it.

I can’t think of any other reason why it wouldn’t have gotten at least five times as many views (I don’t ask for much, really). Honestly, wouldn’t people be interested just to see what it is about? I click on stuff to read all the time just because I wanna know what point of view the author is coming from, even if I don’t agree. Am I the only person who does this now? Do you only read the headline and move on without giving it even another thought or shred of curiousity?

As of this morning, it only had TWO views. Of those two views, none of them were from the Reader – those people (roughly, there is a lot of spam) who actually have followed the blog. There are no views on it today yet either.

I can only come to one conclusion…it’s being suppressed because it is telling people not to vote. Well, not exactly, but essentially that is the suggestion if you can’t meet certain qualifications, most of which are pretty straight-forward and common sense.

I guess asking for people who are educated, well informed, and have common sense to vote is wrong.

Interesting. How the politics of free speech play out on social media and other platforms, right?

Please don’t vote…

Posted on by backuphill

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…if you take advice from celebrities or athletes on who you should vote for.

…if you only get your news from one source or one perspective.

…if you only follow the party line all the time.

…if your only research is memes about who not to vote for.

…if you don’t do your own research.

…if you only take advice from your family.

…if you can only see “the issues” in regards to yourself.

…if you can’t see or won’t accept an “issue” from more than one perspective.

…if you can’t acknowledge or understand the concerns from an different perspective than your own.

…if your vote is out of spite regarding someone else’s vote.

…if you get your information from any social media platform.

…if your vote is based on information from tv commercials.

…if you you take an “endorsement” from a media outlet as legitimate.

…if you aren’t a citizen or have a legal right to vote.

…if you haven’t payed attention at all but received a ballot in the mail.

…if you didn’t pay attention in school and don’t know how the process works.

…if you don’t value your right enough to get educated about the issues and candidates.

…if you’re too stupid to vote with some intelligence.

Anything you would add to the list?

Group texts

Posted on by backuphill

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I feel very strongly about this. Like, VERY strongly.

Group texts (and even group chats, for that matter) are impossibly stupid and annoying.

I don’t want to participate in all the inane drivel most people have to talk about. I especially don’t like my phone getting lit up because of a stupid conversation.

Please don’t include me, unless it is an emergency or something needs to be coordinated. Otherwise, leave me out! AND once those few instances need to be used, stop using the group chat asap. Delete it so there is no accident in choosing the wrong one.

UGH. I despise their use…and, quite frankly, I despise people who feel the need to use them often.

Now you know why I am so grumpy all the time. I just don’t like people. Really.

Fiddling

Posted on by backuphill

OK, anyone else find it really annoying when people change stuff just to change stuff, or specifically, change stuff just to be politically correct and more inclusive?

It’s a small thing and of small consequence, but does Words With Friends really need to change the legend of the Headless Horseman to be the Headless Horsewoman?

There is no such story. There is no such legend. There is no such tradition.

So why do people feel the need to put this stuff out there? Sure, if a female would like to dress up as the Headless Horseman, not a big deal. There is space in the universe to do that and I don’t have a problem with that. We have freedom to do so. BUT, if you look at the theme of the game this week, “Haunting Visionaries,” there is no room for a female headless rider.

Let’s leave the old stories as they are and stop trying to cram the PC stuff down our throats.

Abyss

Posted on by backuphill

If you need help deciding who to vote for this year, maybe this can help. I came across this video the other day and while I don’t normally stop to watch something from the source, I was intrigued. The pillars mentioned here are powerful and can’t be ignored when it comes to making a choice for your ballot.

Are the choices we have perfect? Hell no! I would prefer that it was neither of them. But, when it comes to the things that are most important, there is a clear choice. History has proven time and again where Socialism and Communism leads, and we don’t want to head down that road.

If you have 26 minutes to listen, I think you will find this informative, powerful, and impactful.