Thursday, February 2, 2023

Gun nuttiness

Florida is introducing a permitless gun carry bill. Because the legislators are idiots. 

They decide to spit on the graves and the memories of the kids and teachers who were massacred in parkland. To disrespect the people who were mowed down at the pulse nightclub. 

Most police forces think it's stupid. Heck, even sensible gun owners think this is a bad idea. I would argue that most Floridians are opposed to this. 

But the gun lobby wants it, and in the culture of fear, this somehow fits in. 

They're calling it "constitutional carry" which is absurd. They seem to disregard the part I hilight here to focus on the other words: 

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

This is not about the right to own guns, it's about letting everyone just have one. No questions asked. Responsibility anyone? 

It's likely to pass...but if you could take a moment to consider signing against it, at least we made the effort. 



Monday, January 30, 2023

Tua and his concussions.

Last week sometime, it was revealed that Tua won't participate in any pro bowl activities. In spite of it being non-contact types of skills and a flag football game...

Which seems a bit odd, but would suggest that there is much more happening with him and how severe this is.

The guy has guaranteed money, so he doesn't have to play, even though he's a competitor.

Then his parents were interviewed. His parents made some comment about how great the dolphins are, and their son wants to continue to play. And they thanked the team ... and specifically thanked owner for his part in how this was handled.

But...I thought the owner could have NO CONTACT with the team based on his tampering.

So either A. Owner Ross didn't play by the rules, being the billionaire and all, and has contact with the team. Which would mean that everything the NFL says and does is mere window dressing.

Or B. His parents are just giving us a bunch of hot air, in exchange for something of their own.

What a mess. The nfl is incredibly stupid.

Sunday, January 29, 2023

And speaking of Disney …

The governors plan to take away Disneys special improvement district has two motivating factors:

1. As I've noted before, all waterways are now under his direct control. He decides how water gets distributed, tested, and even sold. Disneys was the one waterway he couldn't consolidate with all of his actions.

I don't know what he plans to do with this control, but surely it will not be good for most of us.

And then. 2. The aim is to change the way Disney gets taxed. Their burden will go up significantly. Florida has a large budget shortfall, why not fill a bunch of that by taxing your largest tourist business as much as you can.

This is what "free florida" looks like apparently. He controls natural resources and tells companies what they have to do.

Disney sometimes irks me.

Earlier today, I asked my college son if he'd like to join me at Disney over his spring break.

Except that my pass and the Florida resident passes are blacked out that week. It's unclear why - but my guess is that most Florida universities have spring break that same week, and they don't want a bunch of college students visiting for the week. So they're discouraging it.

And then I read an article...there was an incident at Disney world where a guest wound up pushing a castmember over some triviality. Like the Elaine two-hand shove.

Police were called. The guest was asked to leave the area.

But Disney declined to press charges, and the castmember has refused to as well.

And disney did NOT issue a trespass warning to the guy (meaning he wouldn't be welcome to visit Disney world again).

They said in a statement that the reason was...

(Drumroll)

He owns a DVC property and they'd have to consult with their legal teams to figure out what to do.

They essentially can't bar him from visiting because he owns a time share that he has to use.

Revenue above all!

And don't think for a moment that this won't be abused in the future. Now all DVC owners know they have the upper hand to get anything they want.

TikTok Banned From University of Texas Campus – R…

I will generally agree that Tiktok is a "threat" insomuch as it collects and uses a lot of data. But so do the other social platforms, and as we saw during the insurrection a few years back, they are all equally dangerous in that way. Tell me: do you know how twitter or Facebook use your data?

But tiktok is backed by the Chinese government. And in today's world, that's bad.

So every gop member wants it banned!

And in this case, Texas has taken steps to block it on government devices and public universities. But as the article points out, they block tiktok, but you are welcome to bring a gun on campus.

So something that may abuse your data is bad. But something that will kill you is good.

America's has its priorities so far out of whack.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/tiktok-banned-university-of-texas-austin-campus-1234662400/

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Could you possibly be any more racist?

Last week, flori-duhs governor announced that he wasn't going to allow AP African American studies to be taught in Florida schools. His statements were telling, along the lines of "there's no educational value"…. Which is sad, but right on brand.

I mean earlier, when the discussion was about Critical Race Theory (and by the way that is an awful name that makes it hard to understand what it is, exactly) he railed against that too. He likewise said it could not be taught here (every time I write something like that, he feels more like a dictator) because "it might make white people feel bad"

Which is up there in the racist speak.

And there was discussion about being sure that we talk about Columbus and glorifying his "discovery of America" and literally whitewashing history to be sure slavery is merely a footnote and that the white slave owners get all the attention.

Yep. You can't let white people feel bad. You have to leave that to everyone else.

Sunday, January 1, 2023

Tuas concussion

The NFL and the players association said everything was handled properly with regard to Tua.

To which I say, the whole system is fucked up. And it sure feels like they're acting like Frank Dreben.

Which I suppose is apt. They're clueless, yet somehow manage to be effective (in terms of money and power anyway)