ACDSee SPAM

The worst thing you can do for a software company like ACDSee is buy their software. They don't know what to do with the money. They use it to churn out meaningless, unwanted spam emails, which they send to me from the point of purchase to Doomsday, making me regret ever coming into contact with ACDSee. In addition to the spam, ACDSee sees fit to advertise on the user's desktop, as well, turning the home computer into a billboard for their products. Nice way to screw the customer, eh?

You can forget about ACDSee making meaningful improvements to their product, too. The most they will ever do is add a special effect or make a 64-bit version, ten years after 64-bit become the standard. Buying ACDSee entitles the customer to zero updates. Instead, each year, you have to cough up more money, if you ever want the product to be updated again. More money, with no end in sight, malware loaded on to your desktop, and getting spammed to death is the ACDSee way.

One has to wonder how the spammers at ACDSee would feel if their email accounts were spammed on a daily basis.

The scam artists over at ACDSEE do nothing but SPAM their customers. Unsubscribe, you say? Sure, they will IGNORE your unsubscribing and KEEP SPAMMING YOU until the day you die, except they keep spamming that email address whether you are dead or not, because it is automatic. There is no one monitoring the unsubscribe, no real, functioning process for unsubscribing, only a fake process to assume the appearance of legality. Once you buy, you get spammed 'til you die--and beyond. ACDSee has one purpose: SPAM in order to make money. Today, I just noticed I am getting a pop-up everytime I open ACDSee. "Your license has been used too often. Purchase a new license." Too often, eh? I installed ACDSee on 2 machines, and my license entitles me to 3 installs. ACDSee does not know how to count. This fits with their general level of stupidity. Giving money to that outfit is just money down the drain, they keep wanting more, more, MORE. Harass and annoy the customer until he or she forks over more cash is the ACDSee way.

ACDSee Stinks!

The Deep, Deep Desire of Republicans

The government on Republicans is like the brain on drugs. Here's a case example. There are thousands of examples like this. Government is abandoned, neutralized, as big business screws the consumer any which way to Friday. Workers have no rights, the country's infrastructure crumbles, and the educational system gets to be a joke. In Europe, meanwhile, people enjoy 1 Gigabyte internet speeds, while the people voting to "Make America Great Again," lag behind at 1.5mb -- if they're lucky.

Which brings me to my point. Republicans vote against their own self-interests. It is as if they have a strange deep, deep desire to let all the big businesses to do the nasty from behind. They want to lose money; they want to be poor, and they want their children to be poor, too. It is an odd sort of desire, but that's Republicans for you. Don't like themselves, don't like their families, want to fail, want to suffer. Slow internet? Great! Poor education? Super! Crumbling roads and traffic accidents? Heaven! Make America like 1850 again!

Capitalism is fine and dandy, but there needs to be some kind of sheriff around to make sure big business doesn't just set all the rules. Ever heard of the term, "monopoly power?" That's when a big business can just set prices and service levels any which way it chooses. That is the situation with Internet in this country, which is coming to look like a Third-World country. Trump has done zip, in fact he has made the situation far worse for people by gutting the FCC and all the other federal agencies. He is making America look like 1850, whereas the Chinese are light-years ahead of us already. The truth is that businesses will want to relocate to China to enjoy better roads, better transportation, better Internet, more advanced everything. America will resemble Africa. Thanks a lot, Trump. I guess he and his tribe plan to relocate to China after they've finished their hack job on America.

The Mighty "P"

Really we have a phallic-phobic society on our hands.

I remember back in the day all kinds of horrible traumatic things at high school, condoned and in some cases instigated by school teachers and administration. These things will never be investigated, publicized or lawsuits filed, and no one will have their career ended over them. They just happened and warped minds and altered lives. Oh, well! So, we had a sorrier generation as a result, because the elders were screwballs that did not know what time of day it was and did not really care to do their duty and do right by the young ones.

What is getting publicized, investigated, lawsuits filed and millions collected? Why, anything at all involving an active penis! Oh, my! If such an organ is involved, stop the presses! Suddenly it becomes a crucial problem of enormous significance.

Really, there is a lot of hypocrisy all around. People acting self-righteous and channeling their Puritan ancestors, as though they don't squat every day over the toilet.

Now in regards to our latest Supreme Court nominee, my own personal inclination, at first, was, what's the big deal. Teenagers do stupid stuff. And drinking? Well, girls going to an unchaperoned party where boys are drinking is not the best and the brightest idea in the world.

However, I also think someone aspiring to become a LIFELONG JUDGE on the SUPREME COURT, should be held to a higher standard than the other 99% of us. Like, I am not aspiring to such a high and mighty position. Think about it. A Supreme Court justice is probably more powerful than your average U.S. Senator. Because they never face elections and can do pretty much as they damn well please. What we need are impartial, non-partisan seekers of the objective Truth, and upright moral and ethical SAINTS, as well. A really tough bill to fill, no doubt, but the country has many to choose from and plenty of applicants.

So, that is my position in a nutshell. No, I don't think Kavanaugh should get arrested or be removed from whatever current job or position he has now. However, a lifelong appointment to the most prestigious court in the land seems wrong, when he has attacked the women-folk, according to sworn testimony, which he disputes. True, it's all in the distant past, and memories can be vague beasts, but that certainly has not helped the Roman Catholic Church one iota, now has it? My notion is that these women, and there are more than just one, don't like him on a personal level. They knew him as a young man, found him to be a bully, and remember certain words and deeds, and have trouble reconciling that with the notion of him sitting on the Supreme Court. Certainly, a bully is not someone anyone should want as a judge.

There is also the problem of Kavanaugh being just a total tool and complete lackey for the Republican party. Whatever happened to independent judiciary? This guy has been paying dues to politicians all his life. He is nominated, not due to his scholarship or eloquence, but for payback, and this is pretty clear to anyone with eyes to see. He sounds angry, not because the charges against him are without merit, but because he sees all he worked so hard for, just about to slip out of his grasp. My, how those who crave power do rage! Don't worry old salt, there's a keg o' beer waiting for ye when ye get home. Just drown out your sorrows, but don't throw any mixed-gender parties, is my advice.

Now all of this does not necessarily mean the right-wing doesn't get their Justice. Go get your justice, just nominate someone nicer. That is my advice. Due to Republicans being lazy as the day is long, they just don't want to put forth any effort into getting a new one. So, vote for Kavanaugh and reap what ye sow. He can always be impeached, when the Democrats get in. There will be something on him, or maybe the Democrats can just make something up, like Trump does all the time, on a daily basis. Apparently we are living in a post-Truth world with Trump, so my idea is that the Democrats can just impeach all the conservative justices, and be done with them. Just like Trump gets rid of FBI staff he doesn't like.

Brett Kavanaugh

Trump has done a real service to the country by nominating such a perfect representative of his own ideology and character.

Oh, those dastardly Democrats. How dare they scrutinize one of our wonderful President's sterling nominees? How dare they question such an unquestionable virtue and dignity? This upright gentleman should get a free pass straight to a lifetime appointment on the nation's highest court. What's with all the difficult questions? The questions are supposed to be easy, like "What is your favorite color," or, "What did you base your thesis on in college." Also, no digging into the past. The past is the past, right? What someone did before doesn't matter, right? We should just let all the criminals go without prosecution, because the past is the past. Open up the jails, release the prisoners right away. The past doesn't matter.

Donald Michael Kraig's Great Work

"Modern Magic" was Kraig's Great Work, just splendid in every way, and so far above texts that came before. I have found it of immense practical value. Every chapter is an eye-opener, packed full of exciting information and ideas. Every writer seems to have one great work, and that was his. I don't know of anything that even comes close.

Lowly

Seems one cannot escape the influence of Lackluster Lowly (my nickname for A. Crowley). That he was gay doesn't cut mustard with me. You know, just because someone belongs to the same tribe, does not mean they escape criticism. I prefer a straight guy any day of the week if he comports himself well with dignity and ethics, as opposed to a gay that does the opposite. Lackluster Lowly did some bad things that we know about, and probably a lot of worse things we don't know about and would rather not know about. Frankly, I'd prefer he were straight, so as not to besmirch the noble gay tribe. Fortunately, straight know-nothing homophobes like Donald Tyson are under the misapprehension that Lackluster Lowly was straight. Good. Keep on thinking that.

Well, turns out, Lackluster Lowly made important contributions, or at least they are widely accepted and taught by the big-time magicians that have written the best books for the reading masses. Whether you pick up with Donald Michael Kraig, Donald Tyson or anybody else, you're likely going to see them quoting Lowly not once, but a dozen times. I just deal. I will even learn and practice his stuff. Why? Because it has been adopted and accepted, that's why, and I don't see anything better available at the present time. It is passable and purported to actually work. So, the options before me are either forge my own way or adopt what the teachers have to offer. I figure, go with the teachers, at least when starting out, because it is just possible they know what works.

Iran

Iran is a country that could have been. Could have been awesome, with oil galore and a hungry people ready to embrace modernity. Except for the crazy buffoon Islamist reactionaries. Constant bickering and trouble with the U.S. seems to be the overriding goal of Iran from the 1970s to the present day, and Iran has nothing to show for its policy.

Due to Iran, there has to be war all around Israel all the time. The Palestinians have to be terrorists, killing random kids and women. For as long as the Palestinians embrace random killings, they do not deserve any concessions. The idea that somehow Israel is to blame for all of the trouble is pretty cute, when all the Israeli man on the street wants is peace and security. The reason for the so-called "repression" of the Palestinians is pure, raw fear of terrorism. There are many Westerners that put an eye mask on. They pretend not to see terrorism. They pretend it doesn't happen. Or, worse, they imagine killing is justified, because of X, Y, or Z. That is pretty unacceptable to those on the receiving end of terrorism. And in the end, you shack up with terrorists, and sooner or later the terrorists will turn on you, as the Europeans are discovering. The one thing a terrorist doesn't like is peace and calm.

If the terrorists win, guess what, welcome to a terrorist nation, where beheadings and torture and extremism become the norm. Iran and Syria are cases in point, where the world gets a glimpse of exactly where the Palestinians would go, if given half the chance. They would, of course, follow the model of their chief sponsors, Iran and Syria. They would not necessarily have a choice, because Iran is the main player over in their world. Torture, extremism, mass executions, repression. That is what a lot of Europeans want for themselves, which is why they invite in millions of Islamists as "refugees". It is a curious part of human nature that, given a reasonably good society, people want to introduce and embrace violence and atrocity, because at some level, they have an irrational need for suffering.

If anyone is wondering why Britain is having to deal with Brexit, the reason is simple, that the masses of the British people do not really want to embrace bombs blowing up in public and people getting beheaded on the street. The politicians show the world how "nice" Britain is to the poor, poor, suffering masses of the Middle East, who express their gratitude by opening the arteries of the random British subject. Well, now there's Brexit to deal with, due to the blind stupidity of the liberal politicians that wanted to butcher their own people in order to signal virtue on some level to other politicians in their immediate circle. Poor policies of the past are coming home to roost, and the economy suffers as a result.

I think Britain should turn to the Americas, Canada, the U.S., and all the other countries in the New World, and strike trade deals with its natural allies, rather than dicker around with the E.U. Let Europe turn eastward, as it seems to want to do anyway. In time, Europe will become like Turkey.

The U.S. should bring all of its troops home and let Germany pick up the tab for defense of Europe. Maybe Germany can reinstate the draft. The social programs, retirement and medical, can be abandoned to pay for the defense of Europe. The time when the American taxpayer paid for everything, well, that time is about up. Time to bring our troops back home and let Europe pick up the tab, for once. Seventy years is long enough, time to pick up the check, you moochers. Europe wants to slap the U.S. with tariffs, well, that is biting the hand the feeds it. Europe should enact negative tariffs on American products, that is, pay our businesses to import their products into Europe. Either that, or learn Russian.

Harvest in the Prisons

What we need is a good harvest-time in the prisons. Anyone who has killed should be killed, same day, same hour. Just get it done. Prior to execution, the maximum possible amount of blood should be extracted in order to help those in trauma. Following the execution, organs should be harvested to help those in need. Execution should be by hanging. Worked before, works now, and it is a symptom of chronic stupidity that the State dithers around with questionable chemicals from unreliable sources. A rope is all that is needed.

If this practice were followed, not only would the taxpayers receive mercy, but these killers would not have the opportunity to kill again. It is really atrocious when killers get paroled and kill again, or kill prison guards or even other inmates. Violence within prison is a huge problem. The idea that it is somehow better for the State to keep a killer in a cell for fifty years is just nonsense. Eventually, the killer is going to figure out a way to get back at either the guard or another inmate. And if parole ever happens, watch out.

The main reason that some people, often termed bleeding hearts, oppose the death penalty, is that on an unconscious level, they want to die themselves. They want their loved ones to die as well. They welcome death into their lives. Thanatos is the irrational impulse that moves people to want to embrace danger and death. They see in killers, not something to be avoided, but opportunity to rejoin the Void, to become annihilated. But Thanatos should not write public policy.

Mexico Should be Our China

I always felt like China was a stupid idea from the get-go. If there really are segments of the production chain that just have to be handled by very low-wage workers, then Mexico fits the bill, and cuts transportation costs by more than half. The whole problem has always been the drug war and the enormous amount of crime and corruption in Mexico. Cleaning up Mexico was never a priority for Washington, D.C. We figured, it's their problem, neglecting the fact that many of our U.S. citizens have fallen in thrall to meth, heroin or cocaine, supplied by criminals south of the Border. Both sides lose, not just Mexico, when crime lords rake in billions at the expense of human suffering through addiction. More than likely, the U.S. loses more than Mexico. Meanwhile, China gets richer, while Mexico languishes and sends its workers North to find jobs. And China has made it abundantly clear that they hate the West, want to take over Taiwan, and are interested in taking over all of Asia, actually. I imagine Alaska and Hawaii too, one day.

Why didn't Mexico become our China? The main problem with Mexican society has always been crime and corruption, fueled in large part by the long-term, continuing criminal class of the drug gangs.

As for the big drug war, I would suggest legalizing pot in all fifty states. Just blanket legalization, stop the gears spinning altogether, just drop it. The people know marijuana is not so terribly horrible, and it is preferable to alcohol by about ten to one, any day of the week. Anyone who thinks pot is worse than alcohol, they do not understand the first thing about medical science.

One thing is for sure, the people can really get behind a war on drugs that targets real, hard, horrible, addictive drugs. There won't be any sympathizers of high ethics for things like meth. Everyone knows meth = death. The only good meth dealer is a dead one. That was the best part of the show, "Breaking Bad," that all the meth dealers eventually got theirs.

Probably, hallucinogens should also be legalized. Anything like LSD, peyote, or mushrooms. These things are not subject to addiction either and most people have no interest, or very limited interest, in them. They are not party drugs.

So with a much narrower scope on the drug war, the people really can get behind a much more aggressive drug war that really pulls out all the stops. What is left on the other side are just hardened criminals, instead of foolish potheads. The drug war can be recast in patriotic terms, and young people recruited as front line soldiers and informants. If the drug war really targets truly harmful substances that without any doubt ruin people's lives, there is no longer any moral ambiguity, no room for reasonable people to disagree. Meth, heroin, fetanyl, cocaine, things like that. Now, some libertarians may balk at cocaine. They point to use of the coca leaf. Well, the coca leaf is O.K., it is a mild stimulant, unlikely or impossible to lead to overdose. Cocaine is a man-made concentrate of the active principle in the coca leaf. That is the problem with cocaine, that it can become extremely addictive.

Stupid Gadgets

Too bad, all these stupid gadgets people waste their money on will soon cost more due to tariffs on their foolishness. It is about time something was done to counter-balance this huge tax break that businesses got away with. Americans waste entirely too much money on frivolous junk from China, and meanwhile, the Chinese are building roads and factories that can easily be converted to military material. Either get used to tariffs, or get used to the idea of your future generations being slaves in Chinese labor camps and you being dead. That is pretty much the stark choice before the U.S. today, and it is pretty sad that it took a fool like Trump to see what was so blindingly obvious for the past twenty years. The Democrats, in particular, have no excuse, because they were supposed to be the party of labor.

Intellectual Rigor and the Church

The reason modern-day religion is in trouble is that modern-day man is better educated, and intellectual rigor substantially higher than the Middle Ages. Yet most religion remains mired and pretty much unchanged since the Middle Ages, with but a few concessions for say, sex and sexuality. All things must evolve with the race, religion is no exception to the rule. Our understanding has increased, yet the Church treats its adherents like children, and its priests exploit the children, not merely for sexual gratification but for money, power, and influence.

I resent the Church of my youth. They didn't teach me zip about spirituality. They were havens for bullies, really. Nothing spiritual about them, in no way, shape or form could they bring anyone closer to God by a dust mote. They just said, God is love, so pray a lot. How to pray? Just clasp your hands together, close your eyes, and talk to Jesus. Oh, and memorize all the names of the Books of the Bible. Study the Bible a lot. Well, you know what, the Bible is primarily a history and not really that great as far as spiritual instruction goes. A whole lot of Thou-Shalt-Nots and Fear-Me-For-I-Am-All-Powerful. Well, if God's such a Bad Ass, then I guess he doesn't need the likes of me to support him. The truth is that all of the truth is simply not present and accounted for in that book. It is partial. There is a lot that is missing. And much is open to misinterpretation. The Bible has opened the door to as much mischief as good.

I don't think modern Churches have much to do with spirituality. I sense only a very dim background hum in a Church. It is nothing like what can be known directly. True religion seems only possible on an individual and private level. The minute people start talking about God, there seems a dilution. Something goes wrong. Money and greed become big factors. Then people try to out-do each other in outward piety. There is a lot of posturing. Social games are played. Real growth just does not happen. Instead, once a week, lectures on rather mundane topics. Nothing to really enhance spiritual power. No real methodology, nothing that works on a personal level. All is designed simply to enhance the power of the institution. As for the individuals, screw them. Get their money, their allegiance, even their genitals, apparently.

Problem is, modern man is smarter than he used to be, so all the things that the churches got away with in the past, well, they can't get away with them anymore. The jig is up. People see. Things get reported.

Sad that churches have profaned what is really beautiful and profound. Real religion should be maintained on a personal level. Those incapable of doing that, due to stupidity or immaturity, I suppose they do need churches, as it is better than nothing. Perhaps there should be a catch-all last resort for the morons.

We May Need Trump

One thing Americans need to consider is that we may need Trump.

Alone among the Washington politicians, only Trump has awoken to the fact that the world is eating our lunch.

The trade deficit, the Federal debt, and the fact we provide free security for the whole world means that our people suffer and die. Say goodbye to Social Security, and health care in this country is just a bad joke, a chess game of multiple insurance policies. The people as a whole are in debt either for education, which the Europeans and the Chinese get for free, or health care, which those foreigners also get for free.

My views are reflected in this essay on CNBC. I think Obama and all the ones who came before him, Republican and Democrat alike, were asleep at the wheel. They did not realize that America's Sun was sinking. They got us involved in all these damn-fool foreign adventures, ballooning for Federal debt for no good reason and with zero return on investment. Meanwhile, other countries were not asleep at the wheel. They invested in infrastructure, medicine, and education.

What we need is fair trade with other countries. Zero involvement in the military conflicts of other countries. Let Europe pay for its own defense, for once. If they fail, too bad. Maybe they can fight in resistance underground movements against Russia for the next five hundred years and see how they like it. What is needed in this country are not just jobs, but really good jobs, and real manufacturing and production. Companies like Apple that betray the United States do not actually need to exist in the first place. They can move over to China, relocate and spend some time in Chinese prisons getting reeducated.

Trump is right to question why the U.S. foots the bill for security for the rest of the world. He is right to question why other countries get to take our jobs, our factories. These are questions other Presidents simply didn't bother to address at all in any meaningful and concrete way. It is almost worth putting up with the atrocious behavior of the Trump Administration in order to see some action on the trade front, and put these so-called "allies" on notice that their behavior is not without consequences.

GoFundMe

I always thought GoFundMe was a bad idea from the get-go. Sending anonymous money to anonymous strangers. What could go wrong?

Looking at the photo of the couple involved in the latest GoFundMe scam, I think that the photo alone would have been enough warning for me. Much can be deducted by the expressions on the faces, the clothes, the body language. No words needed. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, by golly, it might just be a duck.

Poaching, Of Course

A people with zero intellect certainly is going to kill all the elephants for their ivory, as we see in Africa today. Expecting those people to program computers or do any kind of brain work is precious. They know how to shoot a gun, saw off a tusk. That's it, for all time, ever. Just say goodbye to the elephants already. They had the misfortune to live in Africa, land of the know-nothing savages. Between quick money and working for a living, guess which one they choose? The only hope for the elephant is in the Western zoos, where the elephants are appreciated for what they are. I will remember the beautiful elephants in video documentaries and figurines. As for the amount of tax money we should send over to Africa, that amount is $0. Just a worthless waste of time and energy is Africa. Despite what some people think, not every problem can be solved with money.

The Only Thing Trump Hasn't Done

Trump is such a LOSER! He hasn't done the one thing he needs to do to complete the United States' transformation into a banana republic. ARREST ALL THE DEMOCRATS! Yep, every one, from both houses of Congress. Then, we will really have a civil war on our hands, and Trump will have WON!

The Next Democratic President Gets a Blank Check

Next time the Democrats are in power in Washington, D.C., they get to play by the same rules Trump does:

-just abandon any agreements signed by previous Administrations, Congress
-don't enforce any laws that aren't liked
-huge tax cuts for the middle class, 50+%
-zero concern over the deficit, spend the Treasury like it's monopoly money
-push through Supreme Court nominees any which way
-set trade policy by Executive order
-set immigration policy by Executive order
-free pass on conflicts of interest
-free pass on hiring family, friends with no experience to do official jobs
-free pass on lies/deception
-free pass on all past, present and future business dealings
-appoint department heads purely as payback for loyalty, no qualifications needed or wanted
-free pass on sexual history
-free pass on bribery/payoffs
-free pass on accepting, soliciting help from foreign governments to win elections
-OK to comment on all legal/criminal cases, influence juries/judges
-replace FBI, other department heads, gut any federal agencies not particularly liked
-fire law enforcement agents deemed friendly to "the other side" due to a text message or stray comment
-quid pro quo for foreign governments--payola=influence


So, the Democrats can enlist Russia or China. Then they can lie about it, accuse the Republicans of enlisting the foreign power, and that's all O.K. by the Trump playbook.

Gun Crazy

I sometimes hear hardcore right-wingers crow about their guns, especially when they're drinking. Gun madness grips the people and poisons public living. People seek retreat behind closed gates, closed doors, high walls. The relationship of Americans with fast cars, alcohol and guns is a sick one. What is the solution? There may not be an easy solution. Perhaps victims of gun violence should seek vendetta, as was the ancient practice, and when a mad person kills their loved one, seek out the mad person's family--or tribe--and take blood price. That sort of cycle would grip the American public's imagination in a powerful way. Once the public perceives interwoven chains of blood vendettas causing public shootings, not just once a week, but multiple times daily, that is when America would wake up and smell the coffee, observe it is bitter, and throw it out with the guns.

The trouble with guns is they offer an "easy out" to the mad Desperados of the world, those in blackest despair and depression, who have given up on life and have no love in their soul for anyone or anything in this world and crave only death. The only glimmer of desire left in their vapid souls is a desire to cause pain and suffering. They are possessed by demons, indeed. They run amok, let the demon have full control. Depriving such fools of guns would not eliminate their threat, by any means, and no one should suppose that would be the case. It would however raise the bar, so that a fool would be required to put on his thinking cap (I use the masculine pronoun, because so often, the mad shooter is male) and exert courage, creativity or resoucefulness, all of which tend to be in short supply in such ignoramuses. Craven cowards lacking any imagination, mad shooters gone amok can scarcely reason their way out of a box, let alone wield a melee weapon in close quarters or aim a bow. A fit, able-bodied person would have better odds at survival against that sort of threat. Pointing and shooting a gun requires so little skill and so little will, and that is why it is perceived to be a tool of evil. Good men hate guns, but keep them handy in order to protect others from evil men. Evil men love guns and fill their minds with thoughts of killing.

The Anti-Apartheid Movement

Good liberals from back in the day opposed apartheid in South Africa and prayed for its overthrow through peaceful, non-violent means. (Radicals are a different story.)

Fast forward to 2018. South Africa's economy isn't looking too well, and the black-majority government wants to steal land from the whites and give it to the blacks. A lot of liberals think this is perfectly O.K., you know, "karma, man."

I am against communism, which is what this is, in a nutshell.

It seems to me that nowadays, the only accepted and widespread form of racism evident is anti-white racism, encountered from blacks and from the media at large. The slightest incident, the tiniest misjudgement on the part of a white person results in nationwide media coverage, humiliation and oftentimes, getting terminated from one's job. Whites get no protection. Meanwhile, the laws and public opinion favor blacks. And the situation over in Africa, where white people are just made victim and then told, "Oh well, historical injustices coming due," is atrocious.

All of this explains to a large degree Trump's successful playing of the Race card. Chickens coming home to roost. Of course whites feel like they are encircled by whooping Indians and outnumbered, and the cavalry ain't coming. That's why whites have gone crazy in some respects.

Yes, whites have gone crazy. There, I said it, so the real white racists are already rolling their eyes and hovering over the escape button to banish my thoughts. Oh, no! Liberal trap!

I think that there is a middle-ground where fairness and equality can come together. Yes, there were grievous historical wrongs visited upon the black ancestors of long ago. For that reason, we should not venerate the Confederacy or anyone associated primarily with the defense of slavery. Take down those monuments, rename those buildings and streets. It is a minor concession, a matter of manners and common sense. One should not uphold sinners. We exclude the Founding Fathers from this list because they founded the country and operated at a time when opposition to slavery had not taken hold of the country's imagination. They are excused because they operated in greater ignorance than those that came after. They are excused because their importance to the country in other respects outweighs their sin. With the Confederate Generals, politicians and so on, pull down the monuments already. In truth, it should have been done long ago. They never should have been raised in the first place. The Confederacy was a stupid idea that brought ruin to the South, and the South would have been a lot better off without it. The North was willing to compensate the South for its slaves and ship them back to Africa, you know. Think about all the money that was instead wasted on a bloody war, and for what? What did the South gain out of the deal, except exercising its foolish pride? Nothing but beautiful, gallant corpses.

In matters of history and society, I would make concessions. All should have equal rights under the law. Agents of the law must treat all with equality and be colorblind. If a business harms a person of color, it too must be held accountable. I do not sympathize with anyone who harms another based upon something so trivial as skin color. Most everyone agrees with these things in this day and age. Now, for these beliefs, I consider myself not to be racist, and yet there are many who would argue I am racist, because I do not bend over backwards and accuse my own skin and offer to pay amends in cold hard cash for the victims of my great-great-grandfathers. I am racist because I don't reject myself? Well, then, that kind of attitude results in a situation where there are a lot of racists. It is possible to manufacture racists, where none were present before.

In the present day, I do not believe that a white man, born long after the last slave died, owes anything to a black man. The sins of the grandfather are not to be visited upon the grandson. That is not justice, but racism, pure and simple, and will be perceived as such, correctly. Thus, I say no to affirmative action, and no to redistribution of property. Thou shalt not steal.

Harvard Needs to Overcome Its Racism

Like many universities in this era, Harvard is adamantly racist and filled with irrational hatred and fascism against white and Asian students. Eligible white and Asian students are turned away from admissions based on what? On the color of their skin. Nothing else. There really should be a class-action lawsuit filed against these universities. I hope that the Justice Department engages in litigation against Harvard and all other universities that seek to discriminate based upon the color of one's skin.

There is a strange siren song of fascism that appeals to a certain breed of liberal, wherein they hate their own race, because they hate themselves, desire death and suffering and ultimately want to die. Thanatos explains this impulse, the innate desire of a human being to annihilate self. However, the Justice Department has deeper pockets than Harvard U., and can keep them in the courts for decades, if need be.

Rather than lower academic standards in order to correct perceived societal ills, the universities should keep standards high. Of course they have not, and the result is that a four-year degree is not worth what it once was. Let Harvard spend all, preferably every last dime, of its considerable endowment defending itself in court against obvious and true charges of racism. I am sure that donors with any sense will observe what their money is being used for and draw the appropriate conclusions.

Cynthia NIxon and Cuomo

Somebody over at the Washington Examiner is having a good laugh watching the fracas between liberals Cynthia Nixon and Cuomo over in New York. Over at the Washington Examiner, they are conservative, so they could care less who wins. I browsed Nixon's platform, and disagree with allowing public sector strikes and with universal health care. Universal health care is good in principle, IF it is nationwide and IF managed and rolled out in an intelligent manner. A single state would likely make a botch of things and attract all the sick and invalid from neighboring states like a magnet. In the end, debt would destroy the program. Businesses and individuals flee the state in search of lower taxes. No one really wants to pay for other people's health care, if they perceive no benefit to themselves.

Only a massive entity like the U.S. Federal government has the clout to implement rules and bully providers, such as doctors and hospitals, into delivering efficient, cost-effective service. The reason health care costs so much is that 90% is waste and fraud. Everyone is motivated by profit, wanting to make money off other people's pain. The U.S. government can come in and educate a million doctors and nurses and technicians, paying for their education, room and board, and giving them a subsistence stipend to get through all of their training, and then they will have the clout to really set prices any which way they want to. A doctor should earn about $40 an hour and see no more than seven patients per day. Today's reality is far different from that.

Probably, the best the government can do, given today's political divisions between Democrat and Republican, is to demand efficiency among providers. Less useless tests that cost so much. Faster visits, less time in the waiting room. More doctors - much more. That is why we really need to just train doctors for free, so that they graduate without any debt at all. Money should not be a barrier to medical school. Hospitals should probably be run by the Federal government, and hospital stays should cost a lot less than they do. Many hospitals seem to price-gouge patients. Patients should be charged true cost, nothing more, and emphasis needs to be placed on economy. There should be no shareholders to a hospital. Now, I suppose this is what the Republicans think of as Socialism, but you know, the police department is run by the government, too. I suppose that if the Republicans had their way, even the PD would be privatized, as indeed, used to be the case in certain towns in the pioneering West. Now those towns eventually converted over to the "socialist model" of law enforcement, on a voluntary basis I might add. Wonder why that was?

Also, people should be allowed to buy prescription drugs from Canada, which has adequate safeguards and protections for consumers. It is not right that Americans pay more for medicine than any other people on the earth. It is not right that the pharma companies are making a huge profit off the pain of Americans. That whole industry seems filled with fraud, corruption and profiteering off the misery of others.

I do not support public-sector unions or the ability for them to strike. I think that if you work in public service, a higher standard of conduct applies. It's not just a job, it's a vocation, and just walking off the job to pressure the community for higher wages is really bad form. Loyal, dedicated employees are needed as teachers, firefighters and police. Unions and strikes may be O.K. in the private sector, but in the public sector, there is a higher moral standard, because service to the community is the motive, not just profit.