Paperless Mondays

04 Saturday Mar 2023

Posted by in Journalism

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        I wonder how many Shaw readers are like me and do not use a computer or anything that knows what streaming is. Many of the “smart phone” users I know use them only for talking. How many readers have a flip phone that doesn’t text or take messages. Buttons and screens are too small for anything else.

            The subscribers to a newspaper want the actual paper between their fingers. Those are the people the Joliet Herald are hurting by cutting the Monday delivery. This is after cutting the Saturday paper then delivering the Saturday and Sunday expanded issue on Saturday. If a reader wants to complain about the loss of the Monday paper Shaw will credit the reader with a whole half dollar per week. They charge us more than that for each weekday.

            Because the newsprint is higher priced at the moment due to the political friction with Canada, The Chicago Tribune raised their price fifteen cents. The price for both papers is too high because the owners are more interested in profit than journalism. The Freedom of the Press is an American privilege and one which is being abused by cutting the number of reporters and replacing some of the experienced ones with novices. Less staff means less local reporting. Some newsrooms print unedited Press Releases to save money.

            Cutting days a paper is distributed is anti-American and unpatriotic especially when it is done in the name of greed. Will advertisers say they want a one-sixth price reduction?

Are We All Progressives?

27 Monday Feb 2023

Posted by in Politics

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        What is the difference between progressive and conservative politics? Apparently there is no fine line between the two ideologies. Conservatives say they demand small government and low taxes but they and their followers would not want to go without the life protecting laws of the FDA and other agencies which work to keep our food and drugs healthy and real. Maybe conservatives have forgotten how foul rivers and air was before the EPA. Their constituents that depend on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security won’t be happy with their reduction or elimination. It is easy for Congress to dump those because they get big government pensions and medical care.

            Big government helps to feed millions of school children and their families. It forces businesses to make sure the working conditions are safe. Big government tries to keep financial transactions like stocks, bonds and other things honest and equal for all. Life in America would not be the same without the help and protection government gives us.

            Of course, conservatives don’t like the IRS because they and the rich and super-rich don’t want to pay taxes. Business people don’t want government interference in how they run their businesses and investments. Conservatives want to reduce taxes and expenses but their voters won’t be happy when those expenses are reduced. Those red states get far more from the government than they contribute. It’s an impractical dream.

            Both can exist and have the past with great success but some of the far right can’t see it is possible.

Why Ukraine?

26 Sunday Feb 2023

Posted by in Ukraine

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        As a student of military tactics, strategy and history my thoughts of why we should be supporting Ukraine go back to 1937, 1938, and 1939. European countries could easily have stopped Hitler’s dream of dominating Europe but they sat back and gave him the Rhineland when he had next to no military. They gave away Austria’s Sudetenland if he stopped there. Next he took the rest of Austria. France and England declared war when Hitler invaded Poland September 1, 1939. If they had done what was tactically and strategically right they would have rolled into Berlin because all his military was engaged in Poland. Seven months later he rolled through Europe with a well-trained, experienced, and well equipped army.

            Russian President Vladimir Putin has been following that plan of success. Putin suppressed Chechnya by leveling the towns and cities. Then he chopped off a fifth of Georgia. He put 1,500 troops into Moldavia and effectively took control of a chunk of Eastern Moldavia. Putin’s plan is to annex it into Russia using the same tactics of selective voters as he did in Crimea. He caused a rebellion of Eastern Ukraine and sent “volunteers” in to fight the Ukrainian army. His “volunteers” shot down the KLM airliner.

            We did little, NATO did nothing, and now we are faced with a full scale attack on Ukraine. If he won the Ukraine would he then go after the former USSR countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania or some of the other former Soviet States? The Baltic countries are in NATO which means a real NATO war. No, we should have been giving Ukraine weapons earlier. Now we need to give Ukraine all they need or its 1939 again!

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(Please re-post! We need to stop Putin’s quest for a new USSR with him as Dictator!)

Did Nikki Haley Goof?

20 Monday Feb 2023

Posted by in Politics

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        During Haley’s announcement speech she said all presidential candidates over 75 should have to take a mental competency test. Why limit it to 75? Why not everyone who aspires to lead the nation? Perhaps it might eliminate those who have paranoia, massive ego, habitual lying, racism, sociopath behavior and other aberrations. An equally undesirable trait is when a person is easily manipulated like Ex-President George W. Bush.

            Ordinarily the voter might be expected to eliminate those candidates with mental problems but that doesn’t happen very often. Before people were allowed to vote directly for the president it was assumed the average person wasn’t smart enough to make such an important decision. I often think that early idea was right.

            Ex-President Donald Trump is a well-known counter puncher so I expect him to say every candidate for president should have to get a healthy report on their prostate gland or be eliminated.

We Need a Walter Cronkite

20 Monday Feb 2023

Posted by in Journalism

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        The quality of news dissemination today is a shadow of its heydays of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley and a few others told the news as it happened and did their editorial at the end of the half hour. They often wrote their own scripts and edited the other reports for accuracy and time. The scripted talking heads giving out the corporate agenda didn’t exist then.

            Now the news is designed to be a profit center so it is slanted to target an audience and given by people who have little gravitas. Even a low level news junkie can spot skewed reporting or partial reporting which causes misinformation. The Fourth Amendment was added to the Constitution to investigate and report the news to the public. Watergate was a great example of real reporting. Reporting Trump’s antics was for entertainment factor, not news. Greater number of viewers means higher bottom line.

            Today we have millions of people who are addicted to watching Fox News and News Nation. They are designed to cater to their viewers leading them farther from truth and reality. In addition to those outlets we have pod casters who create conspiracies which are then repeated by other pod casters and cable media. No wonder so many Americans are warped.

            News reporting today has become a profit source and part of the cost-cutting means replacing experienced reporters with millennial novices. Journalism should be an advocate for truth and honesty and not more profit so some billionaires can get richer.

Have Your Cake

20 Monday Feb 2023

Posted by in Police

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        The Mayors and Police Chiefs of most cities in America are faced with a criminal gang problem. In many cities these are “street gangs” numbering less than a dozen to more than a hundred per gang. Some have an area of a block or two to several neighborhoods. All need some activity to support them. The most common are drugs, street crimes and burglary. Now gun sales and store robbery has gained popularity. Along with those crimes go shootings of other gang members and bystanders.

            In most cities special police squads have been organized to combat the problem. These squads concentrate stopping their criminal activity by arresting them, harassing them, and interfering in their business. The harassing is where these squads start getting into trouble. They become overzealous in those activities and beat, sometimes to death, gang members and others who may not be in a gang.

            The choice is a difficult one since gangs have become so prevalent and invasive. Regular detectives in each division are not capable of solving the problem along with all of their other responsibilities. These special anti-gang squads are the answer but a major change is needed. Instead of putting detectives in the squad forever, causing them to become hardened and willing to cross the line, keep their appointment to three years or less. The leaders could be longer ensuring continuity of contacts and plans.

            The beating of Tyre Nichols might not have happened if that simple rule had been in effect.

Firing People is Good

20 Monday Feb 2023

Posted by in Business

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        In the mid-seventies I worked on building the Collins Station, an oil fired generating plant, as an estimator/field engineer. Commonwealth Edison got behind in payments so we had to lay off a lot of pipefitters and laborers three days before Christmas. Since they were union, we hired them all back a few weeks later. I had nothing to do with it. My job was secure but I felt terrible.

            Today I watch financial people talk about how their stock price will go up if they fire several thousand employees. Last year these same companies were trying everything they could to hire these same people. If I was one of them I would probably not come back when called.

            Several of the tech companies’ employees were working for stock options instead of big salaries. Getting laid off means losing that money. Most of these people are going to be low level labor like those working in a warehouse or distribution center. These people may not have any skills or live check to check. Laying off hundreds or thousands in an area affects not just those people but lots of others in the area.

            Touting how a company’s stock will go up if it lays off 10,000 people with families just so some potential investors will buy the stock raising the price is obscene. How does a CEO build loyalty with such actions? These companies are still making millions or billions and the CEOs still get their stock options and bonuses!

Twenty Millimeter Chain Gun

11 Saturday Feb 2023

Posted by in Gun Control

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        The Second Amendment was approved before revolvers were invented much less bolt action and lever action rifles in the 1800s. The Thompson (Tommy) Sub-machine gun came along in 1918 and in June 1922, Congress passed the Firearms Act prohibiting them. In 1986 the Firearms Owners Protection Act banned automatic weapons with the NRA Support which was before they changed leadership and manufacturers started supporting them financially.

            Today an owner of an AR-15 type weapon can quickly and easily be converted to an automatic by an on-line purchase of a couple of parts. The instructions accompanying the parts are so easy Junior High kids could probably do it. Anyone can order the parts.

            The NRA and other gun organizations have decided to scare Americans into buying guns manufactured by their supporters. After everyone has semi-automatic pistols and rifles, will they step them up to fancier and more expensive weapons, perhaps a 20 millimeter chain gun as in the movies! Will the next step be to push the most scared of us into highly sophisticated military weapons – perhaps a twenty millimeter chain gun as in the movies?  Will Congress fold under pressure from the gun organizations and do nothing? Of course – they want some of that money, too.

She Wants to Destroy America

11 Saturday Feb 2023

Posted by in Relations

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        Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger said some people in his party make stupid statements and do stupid things to get campaign money. He served on the January 6 Committee and has heard many people talk about the inner workings of the groups that tried to overthrow the government. Many people who have been and some newly elected people are so radically right, their only goal is to disrupt the Congress and the Government.

            One leader of these insurrectionists is Georgia’s Fourteenth District Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. She not only supports Past President Donald Trump and everything he says, she makes her own radical statements. She has said she will force a reduction in expenditures for the Ukraine’s support in its war against Russian aggression. She has often said the Russian sanctions are causing inflation. This talk gives Russia hope that America will back away from Ukraine.

            Like her idol, she requires publicity, adulation, and money from duped people who believe her destructive policy. She really doesn’t save a plan of what needs to be done other than destruction of the established rules. She is a total whack job who was elected by people who are still fighting the Civil War.

No Place Else to Go

11 Saturday Feb 2023

Posted by in Ecology

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        These words are going to be depressing but unfortunately very true. Apparently humans have a genetic defect that causes them to destroy an area and move on. Some areas on this planet are still fairly virgin but we are about to destroy those remaining areas. We kill off the native creatures, drain the swamps, cut down the forests, poison the rivers and lakes, dig huge holes, deplete the soil and foul the air. We have burned billions of tons of fossil fuel and are continuing to put more methane and carbon dioxide into air that the planet may be unlivable in a couple of centuries.

            After a few decades of what might be considered a relatively peaceful world by the large nations, now the possibilities of a major conflict are becoming probable. Everyone knows no country would win a nuclear war. But some leaders would rather burn up their countries and die in the conflagration than surrender.

            In 1970 the world’s population was 3.5 Billion and was the last time humanity’s food supply was sustainable. Some genetic advances have made some advances in our food supply even with millions protesting them. Cows, hogs, and chicken have gotten bigger faster but the increase in numbers has increased the planet’s destruction. It would save significantly more land and pollution if humanity stopped eating animal products and became vegetarian. We have just crossed over 8.5 billion people.

            Remember, we have no other place to go! We are turning the earth into a lifeless garbage dump!