Category: Opinion

April 11, 2022 – Where Do I Go From Here?

April 11, 2022 /

I have to admit, April is a month that gets in my head. Going all the way back to high school, there were always some life altering event that happened in the month. Not so much lately, but the feeling is still there. I know it is not real, but I am ‘waiting for the other shoe to drop’ as they say.

I do feel raped with my five figure tax bill every year. But, that is not it. I was thinking about the fact that I haven’t even made a effort into investigating podcasting year to date. I don’t really think so. Maybe it is the weather? We are having a day or two of nice weather with a couple days of wet, cold and freezing.

I know when travel starts to ramp up, I feel it is all I can do to keep up. My projects go on hold because all of my free time is catching up for missing other things during the week. My garage is again becoming a garbage/donation pit. I have a growing dump load in addition to an overflow of items that are slated to be given away. My son’s Go-Cart project is literally strewn all across the remainder of any open space. His car cover is collapsing and my seedlings will be looking for a home in a few weeks.

I suppose this is what the problem is. I am overwhelmed by all the things I don’t really want to do. Because of that, I feel guilty doing the things I want to do, so I don’t do them. That makes me feel anxious and I get stuck in a circle of inactivity. To be honest, that doesn’t help things either when I look at all of the wasted time after the fact.

I don’t think any of that is strictly April (at this point). But logically, this is a point of transition. We are moving in-between Winter and Summer and we are not quite either. I am moving between strictly work from home and obligations that require travel. I am also in the middle of the seasonal change and other changes at home. I do hold the opinion that people that thrive during turmoil are the next generation of success.

If you think about it, turmoil is the time where there is no particular force or clear winner. Therefore, people that pick a direction and thrive become the status quo when the turmoil settles down. Using one example, we are in rampant inflation. People that are using crypto currency, specifically Bitcoin have seen astronomical deflation in the same period. This is a prediction, but when the dollar finally collapses, those that have picked the new best direction are going to be clear leaders in the financial space.

I have heard and I tend to agree that we are in the midst of a financial collapse. It is kind of like getting fat. You don’t really know it is happening until you wake up and look at where you were a year ago and realize that you are fat. It is the incremental changes that happen every day that matter but it is the trend over a period of time that aggregates the overall result.

What does getting fat, Bitcoin and anxiety have to do with each other? Nothing really. I suppose that I am telling myself that I know where I am at and I know that doing nothing is not really helpful so I need to pick a direction to go. Trust me, I know that it is difficult to get energized for the next thing when you know that every week is jam packed and travel is again looming.

End Your Programming Routine: I didn’t know that I was going to write this today. In fact, I haven’t planned anything for the entire week since I was gone last week and too busy with commitments over the weekend to gather content. Part of why I do this is I find it helpful for me to sort things out as well. I do want be real. Life isn’t always about winning or being the best or knowing everything but adjusting to the circumstances to thrive.

April 8, 2022 – My New Travel Backpack

April 8, 2022 /

February 2015, I purchased a new Swiss Gear Backpack to replace my company issue Dell laptop. While not at the end of it’s life the end was near. Most of all, I spent a lot of time in China and I felt very subconscious advertising Dell in a third world county. While nothing ever happened, I really felt like something less conspicuous would be a better choice.

I only used that backpack for a few months before the company gave me a new backpack with the company logo on it. At that time I felt compelled to wear the brand and switch. The Swiss Gear went into backup mode for a few months until my nephew needed a replacement and he used it to the point of destruction.

From the day I switched, I regretted it. I thought maybe it would grow on me but it didn’t. Every time I looked at it and more so used it I was reminded of my poor decision. Even the embroidered company brand promise was a lie ”Technology Made Easy and Effective”. A more fitting brand promise would have been ”Difficult to Work With and Needlessly Complicated”.

The bag itself was well made with quality materials but poorly designed. Access to the main compartment was choked by the opening only allowing 1/3 of the compartment. The internal volume barely allowed my computer, notepad, charger and a small accessory bag. Travel with anything more than a book to read basically filled the bag to capacity.

Fortunately, I didn’t do much business travel while it was in service. Lately, I have been doing quite a bit more, so I got a replacement. I wrote about my day bag I bought about a year ago. My requirements for that were maximum flexibility. I wanted it to hold whatever without much care for dedicated organization. Translation, I wanted one big pouch. I could add organizers if I wanted, but mostly to hold what I wanted.

My business bag is different. I work out of it, I travel with it. I keep all of the things I need to do my job when I when I am not in the office. For those of you that dont work on the road, there are different sized bags for different laptops. I happen to have a 17” laptop which means I need a bag on the larger size (or at least to fit). I wanted it to be tough, professional and have diminutive branding.

Since I have new computer glasses, I wanted a place to keep those safe. I wanted some minimal organization for office supplies. And I wanted enough room to add a book and some travel extras like if I chose to stuff a jacket or lunch. There are some good places to look like REI or Sportsman’s Warehouse, online selection is nearly limitless. Trying to even see the features of a bag online are often impossible because they don’t show scale oftentimes only the front and back without the interior pockets.

I settled on an Ogio brand. Sometimes their logo use is garish, this one is OK. At least I don’t tend to recognize it as a logo when I see it. I have an Ogio duffle bag that is 20 years old and has worn like steel so I feel good about the durability. There is full access to my laptop and my iPad in a TSA full zip pocket and it is a little bigger than my old one.

All is not roses and my glasses case does not fit into the specified pocket. There are several other small organizers thar are advertised for a phone or other small item. Those pockets are too small and I don’t tend to leave my phone in my bag, so kind of useless. The dirty little secret is that the more of these do-dads that don’t work there are the less overall volume there is. In a way making the bag less functional.

End Your Programming Routine: This is my first trip with the bag. As much as I hated the old one, everything had a place. I am still getting used to what pocket is what and what zipper to use. It definitely has more space and a better potential for efficient organization. Maybe it is the thought of not looking at the old bag that is better but I am still happier with my choice.

April 4, 2022 – Smart TVs Suck

April 4, 2022 /

In my long term plan, I am going to hang a TV on the wall of my office. I have an eye out for a deal and I am not in a hurry. It is mostly to keep my techno-junk working and other experiments in audio and video. I plan on connecting it to my desktop in my office as a second monitor.

Because my space is small, I am am looking at 32-40″ range TV. It seems like 40″ is no longer a thing and they are either 32 or 43 inches (new) now. My preference would be 43″ of the two but I think either would be fine. I don’t want it bad enough to spend $150-200 at this point. This keeps me looking on the second hand market.

We got our first smart TV in 2009. It was a Panasonic plasma. I think is measured 55″. We still have it and it still works great for the most part. When we first bought it, I think it was rare and a more expensive option to have a smart TV. The applications worked for a number of years with a low number of issues. About 2018, the support started ending for some of the applications and now, none of them work.

Our second smart TV was an inexpensive 32″ Magnavox TV. I think this was purchased around 2012. Originally, we thought it was ideal that we could have the smart capability without a second device at an inexpensive price. Applications for this TV were less stable than the Panasonic and they started not working around the same time.

Today, it is pretty rare to see a TV that is not a Smart TV and that is not a good thing in my opinion. Our last TV was a black Friday special. In my opinion, it is a POS. When I was trying to get the Super Bowl going, I couldn’t get it switched from the apps to TV. It is not infrequent that you have to pull the power from the cord because neither the remote or the power button will shut off the TV.

From this point forward, I am solidly in the camp that I don’t want a smart TV again. My searching in the new category, I find it difficult to see anything that is not smart. Just on a whim, I searched ‘why do smart TVs suck?’ It would seem like I am not alone in my opinion. It is one thing that the apps become unusable, but it is completely another when the device does not even function properly.

I actually found this article posted by a local electronics store.

After reading this article, now I don’t even know that I am interested in an inexpensive TV (new at least). It is not like I have state secrets or anything, but I certainly bristle at the idea of Google collecting data and potentially allowing the Chinese log into my devices.

Yesterday, I was listening to the Fine Homebuilding Podcast and they were talking about some smart appliance whereby an incorrect software update was sent. Now that particular appliance is essentially broken requiring a service call to fix it because it can no longer connect to the internet or even run the appropriate software.

End Your Programming Routine: As a person employed in the software industry and having some direct exposure to the Internet of Things (IOT), I have personally watched things not go smoothly in this area for years. The reality is the industry is hell bent on pushing this just like cars will electric. This supports the planned obsolescence model and will simply keep accelerating. I side with Benjamin Franklin “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

March 30, 2022 – Computer Glasses?

March 30, 2022 /

As a trained scientist, I suppose that experimentation is in my DNA. It comes to me naturally. At least part of what I do is to see if I can figure things out or do them just out of curiosity. Part and parcel with experimentation is observation. Data needs to be collected to support the experiment and make conclusions.

Since I started working again, I have noticed that as the day wore on, I was getting very fatigued, like ready for bed by the time the work day was over. Interestingly, I didn’t necessarily feel the same way on the weekends. My hypothesis of the situation is that my office usually starts at 60-65 degrees and will heat up to nearly 80 most days if I don’t crack the door. I was thinking that the increase in temperature was causing me to become more sleepy as the day progressed.

Recently, I was at the eye doctor. We talked about the fact that I could get computer glasses if I wanted to, but if it was not a problem then it wasn’t necessary. I asked him about the fatigue and he said most likely. I decided to perform an experiment on my favorite subject, myself.

I picked up my glasses Friday afternoon. The first thing I noticed is that things are definitely clearer close up. When I look beyond a couple of feet, things are definitely worse than with the glasses off. So, these are to be truly worn for reading and screen work. I put them aside to be tried on Monday.

I have two days under my belt now and I have to say that I have not experienced the fatigue and the temperature is 80 while I type this. Two days of data is not conclusive but it is definitely a nod toward a positive conclusion. I should probably document my experience for a week wearing the glasses and go back another week without them.

I am very aware of the placebo effect. When I first started taking Vitamin D, I was very skeptical. I have been taking it for probably 10 years now and I can actually see physical changes when I am not diligent about being consistent. I will be watching this experiment as well. I can see fine without them, I just can see much better with them on.

A proper experiment would have a control and a statistically appropriate sample size. So this will never be anything other than anecdotal observation. But, the principles remain the same. The main emphasis are propose a hypothesis, define the experiment, measure the data and make a conclusion with the data.

End Your Programming Routine: Not everything is rosy. I think I have to push these glasses up every minute of the day. So, it would seem like adjustment would be in order. I am happy that my vision is good enough that I can get by without glasses. I am also glad that at the end of the work day I am not ready to go to bed.

March 3, 2022 – Did You Know that I Hate Technology?

March 3, 2022 /

Sorry fans of Tacticool Thursday. It will be back but unfortunately, I have kind of run out of content since I have not been to the range in two months and as a result, I have not invested much thought or expense in that direction. I am going to my local gun club’s gun show this weekend. It is the first time in two years that it has been held and looking forward to it.

Two things this week irked me. The first is that we actually (kinda) have a home phone. It is not a landline but a wireless device that plugs into the phone lines and allows you to have phones throughout the house. This is truly not necessary but we got it a long time ago, when my kids were babies. It was also the time in life that not everyone had a cell phone. The intent was for the kids to be able to access to a phone or even a babysitter. I have also found that I can have a cordless phone in the shop and can see it or hear it ringing when I have machinery running. That is not always the case when my phone is in my pocket.

It is important to my wife that I am instantly available whenever she calls. Me, I like the redundancy factor that it provides. Well, it runs on 3G which is getting decommissioned. So, they sent us a new device to replace the old one (I think this is 4G). All we had to do was unplug the old device and plug in the new one. Nope, not that simple.

I had a foreshadowing that this would be problematic as my parents did this same thing about two months ago. When my dad called me to explain this problem, I really didn’t know how to help him other than call support. Two hours of phone support resolved the problem. I believe that it was something to do with our phone plan and including the new device but I am not entirely sure.

More bad news. I have been using Myki as a password vault for the last year. I have been pretty happy with it as I can share passwords across devices. Consequently, I have been pretty disciplined in adding new accounts and a lot more free with password generation. Meaning I have not been using the same one over and over. I got news that it will be discontinued in a month.

Talk about a major hassle. I spent all the time to migrate from iOS mini Keepass to this and now I need to do it again.

I spend all day in technology. Honestly, the last thing I want to do is spend my evening with technical support. I realize that technology is a necessary evil but both of these things feel a little arbitrary to the customer. I know that both have strong business cases to do what they are doing but technology advances their interests without regard to the customer.

I think that it is a cultural phenomenon. The more an entity shits on it’s customer base, the more polarizing people seem to react. Some people seem to build status in having the latest and greatest. I think about when my iPhone 6 stopped working for no good reason. My iPhone 10 really doesn’t do anymore (at least that I care about) than the 6 did. To top it off, it is bigger than I wish it was. No one from Verizon or Apple could answer why it stopped working. By the way, I was also on-call that weekend.

I am a ‘Apple’ guy because I think the user experience is better than Android. I also appreciate their stance on privacy a hair more than Google. I also think that there products are well made. I thought that my Windows phone was just fine too. However, don’t think that I am in the tank for them or that I even trust them.

End Your Programming Routine: I think what I am trying to say is that I am beyond the technological arms race. I just want stuff to work and work without hassle. Maybe we should simplify and get rid of the home phone, it would be cheaper and less hassle. I guess that is the sign of getting old and crochety. At some point, I will stop online shopping and looking for jobs, etc because it is too much hassle to keep up with passwords and 20,000 accounts.

March 2, 2022 – A True Fan

March 2, 2022 /

What do you do when your team is 3-24 this year? You go to the game to watch the band.

Of course I am being a little bit facetious It wasn’t just the band, it was the cheerleaders, students and old friends you see. Oregon State is not my alma mater, but my first love. I was a fan, listening to football and basketball games on the radio religiously when I was living at home. I was born and grew up Corvallis and the town was all about the university.

Despite my feelings towards OSU, I made the best choice for the time pursuing a degree at a much smaller, regional university. It was a far better fit for what I needed at the time I was going to school. I am a fan of my alma mater too, we simply get no real news coverage outside the region, radio is highly local and certainly no TV time. Sure, I could follow along with the internet but it is four hours away effectively eliminating any in-person attendance.

Being 47 now, there have been some ups and a lot of downs. My dad worked across the street from the University and his company were big boosters. The four founders of his company were all OSU grads in Engineering. Because of that, he would get tickets once a year and we would go to a basketball game. I saw the glory years of OSU basketball with AC Green and Gary Payton. My former boss played in the middle of those two. During those years, they were in conference title position every year.

The truth is, last year was the best year in my entire memory of Beaver basketball. Maybe not in totality, but they were an elite eight team in the NCAA tournament, really the only thing that matters. I went to a basketball game last year were the Beavers played University of Oregon and dominated the game. The Ducks were the defending conference champions and I believe made it to the sweet 16 last year as well. So, that was a statement of the quality of the team.

I checked back in the record book, this is the lowest win total since 1918 (3-13). By win percentage, this is the worst season ever. There have been some bad ones along the way. 2016-17 they were 4-24. I also remember that they lost the opening game to the local university, badly. Of course, that was the year that Western Oregon University was in the Division II final four. Maybe, it was a calamity of circumstances.

Despite their record, they didn’t play like they were the worst team in the history of the program. In fact, OSU was ahead nearly the entire game. It was only with 15 seconds remaining that the game was tied and went into overtime. At halftime, they were ahead by 12. The opponent definitely made the right adjustments and had the right strategy to exploit OSU.

End Your Programming Routine: As a true fan, I didn’t mind seeing a bad team because it was a good game and we had hope up until the last minute of OT. The last time I was at a women’s basketball game, we had to wait over an hour just to get out of our parking spot. That was frustrating. Taking my son to the game, this was a chance to imagine what college life might be like if he wanted to play in the band or just as a student. It is exciting, no matter what your record is.

February 15, 2022 – Valentine’s Babble

February 15, 2022 /

Life continues at warp speed. I am trying to recover from my trip, perform as a single dad, keep up with my job, etc. Last week, I was able to finish my day and spend time writing into the evening. This week, I may not be able to do that. So, my priority will be to get Friday’s post out on the American Dream over daily writing this week.

I am sure that all men were aware that yesterday was Valentine’s Day. My wife was in Texas but it doesn’t mean that I will get out of it. It means that it was just postponed for a couple of days. I will be making plans to have a belated celebration later this week.

My son wanted to buy himself some Valentine’s candy last night. We went to the grocery store last night right before it closed. I saw people walking into the store and I said to him, “those are people doing their valentine shopping”. Wouldn’t you know it when we walked in, men were hovered around the cards in hope to find that card before it was too late. Talk about taking it to the wire.

I try not to judge but I am curious, did they wait to shop for a super bowl party right before the game was over? Maybe they needed to wait for a paycheck to clear, maybe this is the beginning of their day, maybe they hate the idea of this holiday as much as I do. I saw candy and stuff on the shelf as soon as the Christmas decor was removed. Next year, don’t be that guy.

I will skip my griping on today’s cars and the amount of gizmos and electronics they contain. Suffice to say, When my Navigator sat for a week, the battery was stone cold dead. I tried to charge it Saturday and Sunday to no avail, so I took it back to where I bought it for evaluation. On my way, I saw some girls manning a table selling pre-made valentines baskets next to the highway.

I was really impressed at the level of hustle. They had a good location and a nice display. I suspect based on what I could see driving by that their target market was the teen in love or the machismo of the population. I thought to myself that this was something I have never seen. I don’t know how well they did, but if they kept trying ideas like that, something will work. Congrats to them.

End Your Programming Routine: I alluded to my distaste for Valentine’s Day above. What I think I have finally learned is that it is not about me. It doesn’t mean that I will like it any more but it changes my perspective. If it important to my partner then it is important to my relationship. And that is important to me.

February 9, 2022 – No Secrets By Now

February 9, 2022 /

It is probably no secret by now that I am not home. It is another business trip and there is worse news. I wouldn’t have volunteered this information except for the fact that this is another birthday that I have not been home for. I wrote about it in November, my last business trip the downside of traveling.

I am on little bit of a junket type trip. I am providing training for a group of users so it is an 8-5 type hours. For a lot of the attendees, this is the first time traveling on the company dime. There is anticipation for the work to be over so they can gather in the bar and drink the night away. I chose to skip that and come back to my room and write.

Not too long ago, I travelled a lot. I have been on projects that had no limits on travel expenses. I have had $250 meals and 10 drink nights to get up and do it again the next night. I guess I saw it as a way to commiserate with my peers that I didn’t want to be there week after week.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not a teetotaler, I am a little bit anti-social. More than anything, I guess I have been there, done that and want something different. When I started in this line of work, I was in my early thirties. I think that I have gotten to an age where fun has a different definition than a hangover. Especially when you are up for meetings at 7AM followed by presenting all day.

The truth is, I might be in a better mood if I wasn’t missing my son’s birthday again. A few years ago, it was half a joke that I was always gone for his birthday. The years 2011 – 2015 I was gone all of those birthdays on ’critical’ business trips. I had hoped those days were behind me, as long as I am in this type of work it is a risk.

I suppose that one difference with this trip was that I knew it was scheduled last fall. I was more prepared for the ultimate reality in a way. It doesn’t make it any easier when I have been working seven days a week for the last month.

I guess I will have to wait and see how it all plays out. I have always said that I don’t mind a couple weeks of travel a year. This year it is looking like three trips at least. You always have to temper that: Michigan/Minnesota/Toronto in the winter doesn’t really qualify as much fun either.

End Your Programming Routine: Most people I know have made the transition from exuberance to weariness on business travel in their careers. The people that did not were typically single and this was as much of their lifestyle as being home. Their social interaction was at dinner or the bar and they would be doing the same thing at home. I do try to find some kind of birthday gift from the places I have been. Maybe those trinkets will hold a special place someday.

February 4, 2022 – Introducing the “American Dream” Series

February 4, 2022 /

Even though I have been spotty over the last couple of weeks, I got really inspired to go deeper into Wikipedia’s definition of the “American Dream”. I realized that I talk around it quite a bit but I have never really defined it. According to Wikipedia, the American Dream is comprised of five values: democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity and equality. Each week, I am am going to take one of the five values and analyze the origins and the state of the value. I will sum it up with an overall score card when I am done.

In 2001, a bipartisan bill was introduced called the DREAM Act. While DREAM is an acronym, it is a play into the American Dream ethos. At the heart, the DREAM act is essentially an amnesty program for undocumented aliens that were brought into the country as minors (without consent). It even spawned a self-labelled generation of ‘DREAMERs’. My point being, from our history to our culture, the American Dream is something uniquely indigenous in our beliefs from the origin this country.

Have you ever really read Martin Luther King Jr’s I have a Dream? There is no doubt that that it was racially targeted, however if we take the speech out of context of it’s deliverance, the words are still relevant today. I cut some excerpts below.

“When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men — yes, Black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.“

“There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.“

“And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.“

“We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: for whites only.“

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.“

Now, re-read those quotes and replace ‘white’ with vaccinated and ‘black/negro’ with unvaccinated. Or if you would rather, replace ‘white’ with liberal and ‘black/negro’ with conservative (or vice versa if it pleases your bias). I ask you, can we deny that we are living a civil rights conflict at this moment?

I realize that the comparison is not perfect. I am not saying that beliefs are equated to physical traits i.e. race. You can’t necessarily look at a person and know on what side of the argument they stand, unless maybe they are wearing/not wearing a mask. I am also not saying that this new dichotomy was something that we were born into and likely will never leave. here are aspects of choice to the conflict. We can choose compliance at the expense of ethics but isn’t that the opposite of freedom?

We don’t fear lynching, we fear being cancelled for having an opposing view. We don’t fear being barred from voting, we fear our vote doesn’t matter. We do fear our children will not be allowed into schools, we fear losing our jobs from lack of vaccine passport, we fear being barred from the lunch counter.

What I am saying is that institutions are starting to produce the same policy that put us squarely back to the 1890s, separate but equal (Plessy v. Ferguson). Isn’t ironic that the states with the most institutional segregation in the 1960s are the states that are implementing the least amount of segregation today and vice versa?

End Your Programming Routine: Why did I choose this to kick off the discussion when a good introduction should highlight what I am going to talk throughout the series? Because King’s speech is encouragement to fight for and problems within his socioethnic status from obtaining the American Dream. He directly uses the phrase American Dream, quotes the Declaration of Independence and heavily references the Emancipation Proclamation all in support of that effort. That is some of the most poignant works on freedom I can think of.

“And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.“

February 2, 2022 – I’m Not Dead, Just Really Busy

February 2, 2022 /

I had topics lined out for the rest of last week and I haven’t really even thought about it this week. I am coming into an extremely busy time at work that is consuming all of my free time that my family is not. So, those topics will stay on the back burner until this blows over, likely all of February.

I got a laugh at these two pictures. I think where the person in the second one got it wrong is that it is not SJW Canadians that are angry. It seems like it is the average, common sense citizen. If you have been following the truck driver rally happening in Ottawa, I think that you would agree with me.

From my sources, it sounds like a similar cross country convoy is being organized in the US; likely scheduled for the spring time. One person in particular expects that this is going to cause massive supply chain disruptions as if we don’t have them already.

To quote Eminem, “and get ready, this shit’s about to get heavy”. Here in my state, Oregon Health Authority (OHA) just approved permanent mask mandates and vaccine proof. That is with no legislation and of course pending adjudication but who thinks this is not going to be upheld, at least at the state level? Regardless of what side of the debate you are on, I don’t see us ever going back to tolerance of different opinions (even if the science is settled). We are witnessing an American empire collapsing from within.

If you are not paying attention, we have the crystallization right before our eyes of the blue versus red. People are leaving blue states in droves for the favor of the American Dream. Before the pandemic, the signs of division were clearly evident. However, some states (Oregon) has doubled down on keeping it that way. The tools of executive authority and administrative enforcement protect the legislature from being exposed, even though they don’t need the protection.

Let’s take a look at Wikipedia’s first sentence of the definition. The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals (democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity and equality) in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, as well as an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers. And, how are we doing with the ideals

  • democracy – I am going to give this one as OK despite election fraud claims and other problems
  • rights – We still have them but where is the right to state opposing view going?
  • liberty – Losing this one. the right to be an individual and act accordingly
  • opportunity – Losing this one as well, do you have your vaccine passport?
  • equality – this one has definitely gone out the door. Equality no longer means equal, it means super equal or stack ranking all of the other races and genders and whatever self identifier I want to make up.

The people leaving want an affordable lifestyle, opportunity to succeed and neighbors that don’t think they should be under house arrest because they haven’t been convinced by the flimflam from the medical establishment and political propaganda. You can debate my posted source and opinion, but it is one example among many. It represents policy and precedent that state governments are not addressing issues, but consolidating power. As I see it, protecting and enriching the establishment and power base for total control. If you look at this state, the legislature already has more than a super-majority of one party, it is pointless to resist.

End Your Programming Routine: Even if I am wrong at this juncture, I think you would have to be blind to see that there is serious doubt about the future of this country as we want to see it. Rampant inflation, supply disruptions and serious ethical division all the while we are trying to be convinced that everything is normal. What is that… do I hear Nero’s fiddle?