Fear and control

It seems to me that this is what it's all about. The "ruling class" (or the aristocracy if you will) present you with views of their terrific world, and tell you can live like them and fulfill on the American dream by working hard.

And yet there's this oddity to it: in order to achieve it, you have to live by a set of rules. It's a false promise of course. It takes more than hard work to get there.

And by the way, these rules greatly benefit them, and which, in reality, are against your own interests.

Let's dive in to that a bit. We had the pandemic and everything about the way we worked changed for a time. Corporate profits (at least for the large companies that could allow for remote work) were through the roof. Higher than anyone expected, and in some cases record profits.

But as soon as they saw the opportunity, companies started trying to bring people back into the office. Where they can control them. You have heard phrases like "it's the only way we can mentor future leaders" which is utter nonsense. You had some suit types telling their staff they never actually "left" but rather this was a speed bump. And then you had the ones who told their employees to come back or simply find another job.

Several companies said they would manage to get everyone back through slowly changing policies until they got what they wanted.

There was one company that let the cat out of the bag, and said "when the recession happens, people will fear losing their jobs, and so they'll do what we tell them without argument."

Which is exactly what I said. Fear and control.

Look, I have no way of knowing where this goes. But here's a nugget for you: a fair number of people saw through the charade and quit their jobs as part of "the great resignation." Suddenly it wasn't about money, but rather quality of life. Some people might wind up back working for a company. But then again some millennials who went back to traditional jobs in "corporate America" realized that this was horseshit and I heard a comment that summed it up well: "I'd rather sell my toenails than go back and do this again."

But it goes further. Healthcare in this country is designed in a way that favors the wealthy. And everyone else should feel lucky to have anything. And in that same vain, the fact that insurance is tied to a job is relatively crazy. So you have to work in order to stay healthy? That's controlling you too. (Aside: a friend in Canada really couldn't believe how silly our healthcare system is. To be sure theirs is silly in other ways, but ours forces you to work in order to have good insurance).

And what of this decision about abortion? And states making it a criminal act? This is also about control. Tell people what they must do, and then blame other people for their woes. It's a huge shell game. It's not about life. It's about keeping us poor and in fear.

There's also this gun nuttiness that's rampant. It causes people to take out these frustrations and the rest of us can live in fear. And right on cue, some dumbass connects guns and abortions and says some nonsense about wanting to arm babies in the womb to prevent abortion.

So it's not about life?

And on and on. The military industrial complex is huge and is about acting tough on a global stage. And fearing some boogeyman … gotta stay big. How about if we spend less on that and more on, say, social programs to close some of this gap? No. If they did that, it would be harder to control people.

People are stupid and selfish

Couple is sick. Decides to go to Disneyland anyway. They do test positive for covid. But what's the big deal?

Uhhhhh. This is what's wrong with us as a society.

https://www.disneydining.com/disney-vloggers-accused-of-going-to-disney-knowing-they-had-covid-ks1/


Short. Sweet. To the point. That's the beauty Dave's iPhone.

What’s wrong with the world in one picture.

Such an imbecile

The governor of Florida (as the supreme authority on everything) has decided that we need to teach civics / social studies in a way that doesn't offend white people and allows for the spillover of religion into the classroom. 

He doesn't read the constitution as having a separation of church and state. Because of course he doesn't. You know, because he's a wannabe dictator. He'll tell you what to think and do!

Anyway, on the establishment of religion by the founding fathers, I humbly re-present something I wrote in 2017 on this topic. 

https://bitchindave.blogspot.com/2017/10/that-pesky-first-amendment-and-religion.html

In short, he can get bent. 

People am stupid

Saw this on the interwebs about some self entitled douche explaining why he isn't going to Disney world. 

Canceled my five day $9000 total cost for package and incidentals (rental car, meals, parking at WL, airport flight and parking, kennel for dog, souvenirs, and tips).Was not so much for the cost of the CL room at WL, but the loss of things such as everyday housekeeping, transportation to MCO, less magic hours, paring down entertainment, price of reduced meal sizes, long waits for rides, and woke culture for indoctrinating kids. Will see how spring trip might improve. My wife and I can afford to go, but don't want to throw money at Chapek just for the privilege of being able to go to a park that has to be reserved months in advance.

What the frick does the hilighted text mean, and/or have to do with anything? Especially since you say you'll be going back. 

People are basically clueless…

Todays testimony

….Was astonishing. 

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/06/cassidy-hutchinson-testimony-the-most-explosive-revelations.html

Anyone who sees this as any sort of "minor dustup" or can't see the criminal activity can go fuck themselves.  

Wow. Just wow. 

Vote him out: desantis

 While I have a lot to say about Desantis, I want to start by talking about Disney.

Florida spent time to craft legislation to try and keep talk of homosexuality out of the grade school classroom. The story goes that the original legislation was specifically about anything other than a “traditional” heterosexual relationship. But it evolved so that it could be disguised to a point.  Many people saw it for what it was.  Some people defended it because it’s “not that bad” or “aligns with their personal views”…

But that’s the point.  It aligns with one point of view.  And the problem with hastily crafted legislation is that it always has unintended consequences.  In the legislation itself, there are penalties to teachers and school boards for engaging on the topic.  That can’t be good. 

And there’s the outside consequences. Make no mistake: Bob Chapek bumbled his response to the bill. This could have gone a lot of ways and unfortunately for him (and the company) he picked the wrong way, annoying everyone. 

The governor responded stupidly with a comment about producing a movie (Mulan) in China, telling Disney to mind their own business.  And of course mentioned something he signed into law regarding corporate training; Disney can’t teach about diversity and inclusion, based on the law. More on that below.

Florida has (well had) a very incestuous relationship with Disney, dating back to 1967.  Disney and the state generally played nice, though they sometimes exchange barbs.  But until governor Ron and ceo Bob got tangled, it was typically ironed out quickly. Disney is the largest tourism business in the country and provides more in revenue to the state than any single business, and more than most combined. 

…but now comes the consequence: governor Ron made good on the threat to undo Disneys special improvement district in retaliation for the hubbub about the so called “don’t say gay” bill. 

Look, I’m not a fan of how the original legislation went down and how Disney has the power to operate as a self governing entity.  But surely the answer is NOT to cobble together something quickly just to undo it.  The (unintended) consequences to the state, to tourism, and to the theme parks we love would be monumental.  And not in a good way.

The governor acts like a tyrant and has now shown that no one, no company, is above his wrath. He will go after anyone.

And for those reasons, it is time to vote him out. I’m sure he will continue to attack Disney and other large employers in the state.  In fact he’s already stated his intention to continue attacking Disney  

There’s too much at stake. We can’t let him remain in office.

Want more? Read on….

His history started before his election to governor. Everyone who was familiar with desantis knew he never finished things. He quit previous jobs and even quit Congress to run for governor. 

He runs on 45s coattails and winds up winning in Florida by a slim margin of a couple of thousand votes. (And by the way, quit on 45 a while after winning)

One thing that helped him was this: a few years before, we the people of Florida, voted to restore voting rights to felons who served their time. The GOP and former gov Scott didn’t like that much, and dragged their feet to not allow it. Then, when desantis won, he told us he was basically going to spend every cent it took (our tax dollars at work) to ensure that they couldn’t just vote again. 

And so began the assault on democracy, which culminated with a court throwing out most of the voting restrictions he helped create. 

For some reason, the legislature decided he could draw new voting maps. Typically this is done by committees who review the population and ideally should just draw boundaries to represent that population. One person creating maps for political (and if we’re honest, racist) reasons can’t be good for democracy. 

One of his platform items was not to allow fracking. Which he immediately reneged on, though there still hasn’t been any movement on that front specifically. Still, environmental protections appear to be no more than an inconvenience to him. 

We had the surfside tragedy and he promised change. But over the course of two legislative sessions - and two special sessions - that was never discussed. Nor was the “insurance crisis” we have going on in the state. 

Context: The state of Florida, after hurricane Andrew (in 1992!) saw many insurers leave the state and the state setup something called the joint underwriters (or colloquially "citizens insurance") as a stop gap. And it has grown every year. You have to have insurance to have a mortgage.  No one writes policies. So... 

Now our only choice is to ostensibly buy homeowners insurance from the state. Which is decidedly not a principle of small government.

The list goes on of course. The legislature also found time to pass a bill proposed by energy companies in the state, and the governor was all in on it. The summary: we voted to make it constitutionally allowable for homeowners to go off the grid and install solar. This new legislation undoes that; you have to remain hooked up to the energy company AND pay them a monthly fee of the revenue they “lost” on you as a customer. And there are other punitive things included. So much for freedom.

He also was a big proponent of the anti-riot bill, which essentially would give police broad authority (mostly under his discretion) to call whatever they want a riot. This one is tied up in court, but two things happened after. First, he proposed authorizing a private military under his direction (a militia if you will) to handle situations. And second, he was encouraging the trucking convoy to disrupt commerce because it suited his purpose.  And by the law he signed, technically they could be considered rioters. And then there were the protestors at Disney of course. They were rioters under the law, but nothing happened. So tell me what this is really about?

And we have to talk about covid. Florida has the third largest number of cases and deaths (perhaps it’s even higher, there were shenanigans going on with the counting) so it’s relevant. 

The governor decided that he, as an authoritarian ruler, knew all there was to know about the virus. That everyone was lying about it. And the state of Florida needed to remain open for business. He dictated everything the counties, the school boards, and even businesses could do in the state regarding covid. Small government? Hardly. 

Look I’m not saying that anyone had this figured out. We had a giant social/science experiment ongoing. The problems I had were that this seemed (as I noted) very authoritarian disguised as “freedom” and that he was doing a victory dance on everyone. It’s one thing to be assertive and say “let’s try this” … it’s quite another to say “we’re doing this and anyone who disagrees can F off.”

There was also a story (which I can not locate) about his investments in companies that provided “alternative treatments” which would suggest he increased his personal financial portfolio along the way. 

He fined people and organizations. He sued. He fired and then personally attacked a data scientist who was simply providing information. None of this is right. 

And then, almost to underscore the point, he signs legislation that essentially bans abortion.  During his assault on covid rules, he used the always-associated-with abortion statement “my body, my choice” but then signed abortion restrictions. Is it about freedom? 

He also made clear that people can and should have guns, because you know, human life is precious. Contrary to his stance on abortion. He wants to add open firearm carry - without permits - in the state.  This is something even guns rights groups oppose, so you have to wonder if this is really about racism and intimidation.

He continues the assault on our freedoms by imposing rules on schools and businesses related to what they can teach, or otherwise provide as training. And yes, I said on private companies.  

He made a comment to the effect of you can’t make white people feel uncomfortable about things. Whatever that means. 

He’s a tyrant and he’s dangerous. We must vote him out. 

[editors note: the Florida legislature did hold another special session to “fix” the insurance problem and the condo issues. Again these were hastily crafted (over mere hours) pieces of rubbish that the governor can claim help - but which will need time to figure out.  And the law of unintended consequences surely will be an issue down the road. So don’t believe any bluster that this will help. 30 years of mismanagement and poor legislation can’t be fixed in a couple of hours, sorry.  And by the way more insurers pulled out of the state after the legislation passed, so you can see it had the opposite effect on the state]