Volume Three: Number Seven

Vista de Toledo

El Greco

(1596)

4th Week
Mr. Donald J. Trump has been President of these United States for, just over, three weeks.

And, ... Nothing has changed!!!


Doom and Gloom

Artificial Intelligence

Civil Asset Forfeiture

Class Warfare

Euro Zone

Fake News

Rain

Spillway

Technology

Teenagers

Venezuela

WW II

Things You Might Want to Think About

An Oldie, But Goodie
For eight years, the classic (mainstream) media failed to hold President Obama accountable for the administration's missteps and misdeeds. They also attacked Mr. Trump at every chance. In other words, classic media will be hostile towards the new administration.

Lucky for us, we have other sources of information and opinion that won't place the President on a pedestal, like the last one.

Fake News
During the early years of our country, newspapers (the mainstream mass media) were divided on many issues, such as slavery, immigration, crime, and other issues, both major and minor. The civil tone in our country's mass media, these past few decades, was previously unimagined, by our ancestors..

For Mr. Cook to call for a crack down on so-called fake news by government and media companies (Google, Apple, Yahoo, the facebook, and such) because it is 'killing people's minds' invites censorship. This crack down would limit people choices by driving them to only 'approved' news companies. Mass media that has been show, over and over again, to slant their product, to their views.

Views that would destroy our country, as we know it.

Finances
Depending on who you ask, a "grass-roots campaign by the tabloid press" or "to improve reserve management practices and auditing" Germany has moved almost half of the country's gold reserve to Germany.

My thoughts?

The country is worried about something and having physical control of your precious metals allows everyone to sleep better at night.

Illicit Narcotics
There is a better way. All we need to do is declare the 'War on Certain Drugs' a success, then ...

allow the drug companies to legally manufacture the formerly illegal drugs

allow doctors to prescribe these now legal drugs, to adults

allow pharmacies to fill these prescriptions, for adults

allow parts of our security forces to redeploy to the I.R.S., F.D.A., and other regulatory agencies

then, let the corporate lawyers, lobbyists, politicians, and others fight it out in the courts, instead of our countries' streets.

Journalists
Like lawyers, we need journalists to root out the truth. Labeling them spies will harm our society because it will allow the government to limit freedom of speech.

Repeat After Me
Criminals prey on the weak.

What Could Go Wrong?
If a person commits a crime, they should be held accountable for the crime.

But, ... Like every rule there are exceptions, say for mental illness. 'Cause the mentally ill don't understand the difference between right and wrong.

With that said, releasing a person, that walked onto a bus then stabbed a stranger to death then cut off the person's head because the 'voices' gave the mentally ill person a choice of kill or die should never, ever be released from monitoring.

 Especially, if the only thing keeping the mentally ill murderer sane is a tiny pill that he can decide to take or ... not.

Overheard

"Which assets are most likely to survive the 'system re-set' that is now inevitable?"

"The reader by now probably detects my ambivalent feelings in this bundle of issues and grievances, so let me try to clarify my basic positions: I think borders matter and they need to be protected. I think our immigration law enforcement under Obama has been deeply dishonest and damaging to our politics in ways that go far beyond the question of who gets to come here. I believe we are under no obligation to take in everybody and anybody who wants to move here. I believe we need an official time out from the high-volume immigration of recent decades. I believe we have good reasons to be picky about who we let in."

"The complex mathematical formulas [Algorithms] are playing a growing role in all walks of life: from detecting skin cancers to suggesting new Facebook friends, deciding who gets a job, how police resources are deployed, who gets insurance at what cost, or who is on a "no fly" list."

"Of the $3 million collected in fines, 60% of the revenue went to the village while 40% went to the traffic light company running the program."


What Others Wrote
Defense One: The D Brief, 10 February, 2017

Shall Not Be Questioned: Weekly Gun News, Edition 55

The View from Chaos Manor: 8 February, 2017

WeaponsMan: Friday Tour d’Horizon, 2017 Week 6

Yer Ol' Woodpile Report: Index 464


That's Just the Way it Was: Belzoni, Mississippi (ca 1939)

A Negro man going in the colored entrance of a movie house on Saturday afternoon.

A white itinerant salesman selling goods from his truck to Negroes in center of town on Saturday afternoon.