Zachary Taylor legacy

I love this little nugget. Zachary Taylor had never voted, was unaware that he was nominated for president (after refusing to pay the postage on the letter that informed him of such), and refused to campaign. 

And he won, then died in office. 

Politics are weird, man. 

https://historyfacts.com/us-history/fact/zachary-taylor-never-voted-until-his-own-presidential-election/

Such odd responses

Back in June, there was a proposal (pitched by Democrats) to expand the selective service, so that women would also have to register.  The concept was to help encourage more people (both men and women) to signup for military service.

Senators and Congresspeople had mixed reactions, but in a general sort of sense, there was some agreement that the military needs to be expanded and automatically registering men (rather than having to send back a form), and perhaps some means of expanding the program to women might make sense.

But not everyone felt that way.  Senator Josh Hawley, for example 'derided the measure to put women on equal footing as another "woke" decision being made on behalf of the nation's military.' 

"We need to get reality back in check here. There shouldn't be women in the draft. They shouldn't be forced to serve if they don't want to."

But he also doesn't believe its a womans right to control her own body as it relates to abortion.  

Is it safe to assume he 'respects' womens rights ... as it relates to how they serve men? 

Watch "Titan submersible owner said he'd 'buy a congressman' if Coast Guard became a problem, witness says" on YouTube

Geez. Here's another reason why rich people suck. In this case, he was only hurting himself and others who were dumb enough to go an expedition with him. 

But buy a congressman? Really?

https://youtu.be/gSZJJztP3AI?si=edtVLFJtDiLlORb5

Sheer stupidity is rewarded

We live in such strange times. The news media (that is ALL of them, not a partisan thing) are governed by financials. 

Their goal is to "sell newspapers" or more precisely, to get clicks on sites. Because that generates revenue and pays the reporters.  

They try and fill in sometimes with these artificially generated stories. Which is sheer madness. Stories that don't mean anything but have a headline…really?

That's terrible. But worse is not reporting on actual news, and instead allowing salacious headlines to make the rounds. And to give idiots with an ill informed position a forum to air their nonsense. 

That's why Donald Trump was - and is - in the news without any sort of realistic fact checking. Why he's always on. It generates clicks. 

And why a mouth breather like that congress lady from Georgia can espouse idiotic claims like "THEY control the weather" without a dismissive "this claim is absurd and laughable" 

Like in the attached article. It sure feels like it should be downplayed much more as in "she is a nitwit and has no business being in office" or perhaps just ignoring her dopey comments. 

https://www.newsweek.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-doubles-down-weather-comments-after-backlash-1964508

Is it a cult?

As you may be aware, I am producing videos about the election for both TikTok and YouTube.  At first, I allowed for comments on said videos, but I had to turn that feature off when I started getting more vitriol (including "schoolyard taunts" that we might have heard back in the 70s by bullies) for saying anything that wasn't aligned with the MAGA point of view. 

Quick note: oddly sometimes the "off" feature resets on YouTube when I upload from my phone and also when it's a scheduled video. So once a while a comment slips through before I can fix it. 

On the YouTube videos, I also turned off the ability for the viewer to see the percent of thumbs up and down (you can only see the thumbs up); but I can see it as the owner.  It's strange to me - though maybe not surprising - how many thumbs down the videos get.  It's a VERY large percentage (in many cases, well over 80% of the responses).

I expect that sometimes someone won't agree with what I'm saying and will give a thumbs down. And sometimes people are just "being funny" (ie, jerks) and give a thumbs down "just because."  But the number of negative responses is far greater on these videos than what I've seen on anything I've produced in the past.  

A bit of an aside: you have to have a thick skin to produce content for anyone to see on the interwebs; you never know how people will react.

Most rational people just move on.  But in the case of anything related to MAGA, people take time out of their day to watch at least part of something that doesn't align with their POV and proceed to comment on it (spilling their hate), and opt to put a thumbs down. 

For what it's worth, that sure sounds like a cult to me.

It’s really sad when corporate malfeasance wins

Tesla was taken to court over misleading statements about its full self driving. 

And in the end Tesla won because the lawyers argued that corporate puffery can not be construed as reality. 

We are truly dystopian. Full stop. 

https://electrek.co/2024/10/02/elon-musk-celebrates-winning-lawsuit-tesla-self-driving-claims-embarrassing-defense/

Tom Sawyers Island

The Orlando Sentinel ran an article about the closure of Tom Sawyers island at Disney World. 

I found the end part interesting. It's exactly what Disney is all about these days…

What's so very Disney about it

The island leans into its cutesy, old-timey theme. It's Disney-level clean in a great outdoors way.

There are a handful of animatronics, including one that's snoring.

On the modern side, there are the standard warnings about alligators and snakes, and there are rules for Tom Sawyer Scavenger's Fort (ages 2-12 only) and the "surfaces may be hot" advisory.

What's not very Disney 2024 about it

On Tom Sawyer Island, there's no MagicBand needed, no PhotoPass stops, no Lightning Lanes, no dessert party offering and no cast members telling us to keep our hands and feet inside the fort at all times.

There are no characters to meet or greet, no touting the latest holiday, no Mickey Bars, no souvenir merchandise or really anything to spend money on with the exception of a couple of vending machines by Aunt Polly's.

Decide for yourself if that's a plus or minus.