Random Thoughts: NFL, Cops and more

It’s been a while since I’ve done random thoughts, but I’ve had a few and so here I am sharing… randomly. lol

The NFL has been in the headlines a lot lately. And I’ve got mixed feeling about what’s going on. But here are some of my thoughts in no particular order. Is it any surprise that an industry that promotes violence is plagued by violence off the field as well? It reminds me of the Siegfried and Roy’s tiger attacks. Nobody blamed the tiger. As Chris Rock said, “the tiger went tiger.” In other words, the tiger wasn’t doing anything the tiger wasn’t supposed to be doing and would normally be found doing; i.e., biting the shit out of people who are bugging the hell out of them. So, here we have NFL players who are doing what they are paid a LOT of money to do, for weeks at a time. And it found its way off the field. Is it right? No. Not even a little bit. Because even though the tiger went tiger, NFL players are human beings with higher reasoning and the ability to do the opposite of what they would normally be found doing. Second thought, do the players have to pay for their mistakes and/or crimes forever? For the rest of their lives? For the rest of their ability to play? For how long? In no other industry- banking, legal, health, etc.- do we require that people who are let go for personal misconduct never be allowed to work in that industry again. Personal misconduct, y’all. Conduct not related to their work.  They didn’t embezzle; they didn’t do anything bad work-related. I’m not sure that’s something I can agree with. Now, before you scream in protest, think about it in the context of yourself. How would you like if your boss could fire you for something you did not at work and then prevent you from working in that industry ever again? Fair? Right? See why I’ve got mixed feelings?

Back to cops. Is it just me or have American citizens become the target of trigger happy police officers? Ferguson, South Carolina, Florida. It just goes on. I want to advocate buying one of those dash cams for all citizens because it just seems like unless you’ve recorded the incident, the police spin that shit like they’re caterpillars turning into butterflies. Only what emerges at the end of their spinning is not so beautiful. In fact, it’s down right ugly. But, holy fuckbills, Batman… really, have we come to the point of NEEDING to record our interactions with cops? Apparently yes. Many police departments are turning to body cams for just this reason. And bad public-police interactions in those departments have decreased. But seriously, there is a real problem if the public needs recordings to protect themselves from law enforcement. And it needs to be fixed. Pronto. We can’t be secure in our persons or our homes or anywhere really, if we can’t trust those public servants who we as a community have chosen to arm in order for said officers to better protect us. Our shield, previously used to guard us, has been turned into a sword taking us down and out. It must be stopped.

There is a scandal going on with some judges taking kick backs to place juveniles into these privately run facilities. Jaysus. What the hell is the world coming to? Screwing over kids to get rich. I guess that’s not a new thing, but it offends me that judges are on the take and subverting justice in this way. One of the problems is electing judges. When you put politics and money into electing your judicial officers, you are screwing yourself over. I don’t know which special interest group got you and your fellow neighbors to okay elected judges, but they deliberately fucked you. They knew you didn’t have the money to elect good, fair judges. These companies and special interest groups KNEW you couldn’t defend against THEIR choice in judges. They knew that. And they sold it to the public by telling them that they wouldn’t have shitty, incompetent judges if those judges knew they could be elected out. They never pointed out who would be elected in. Now, I’m not for shitty, incompetent judges. But I would rather have a bumbling buffoon who can be reversed on appeal then smart, paid-for-by-special interest group judges who can insulate their bought opinions from review. The dumb ones get reversed because they don’t normally hide their errors. The smart ones ,well the damage that can be done in those cases? Astronomical. In Alaska, we do a huge survey after names are placed into a pot for a judicial vacancy, then several of the best candidates are put forward. And THEN they go up for re-election. Appointment- impartial choosing of names, followed by election to allow for more accountability. Every state should start out this way. Otherwise, you end up with bought and paid for judges. So not a good thing. So.

Random Thoughts Part 2

I think Fridays will be Random Thought day cause for some reason I am too tired to think of a coherent topic and I have run out of stuff to say.

If you’re a cop and you come to question me about what happened to my neighbor AND you figure out that I don’t know shit, clue me in. See I thought when the paramedics and fire trucks showed up at his house that he had a heart attack or fell down the stairs or started a kitchen fire or something involving the frickin’ fire department. So when the cops come around the next day and ask me if I saw anything or heard anything or if anyone hated my neighbor, it freaks me right the fuck out. Umm, cause that would mean that someone broke into his house and hurt him. AND I live right next door. See how a person could be FREAKED the fuck out about that?!?!? Seriously, clue me in. I need to know. Not because I am a curious bitch but because I live right NEXT DOOR.

If you make MP3 players, iPods, etc. make it so I can put the music list on multiple computers. Cause if my playlist and updates are on a computer that craps out, I am screwed. And not in the good way. But in a very bad way. Very. Bad. This means I am forever locked into the playlist that is on my MP3 player. Well at least until I wear out the battery. You know the one that I can’t change out because I just can’t. The manufacturer made it impossible for me to do so. Some technologies ROCK because they give us something we didn’t even know we needed until we got it and now we can’t live without it. At the same time they SUCK cause those same manufacturers are looking to lock us into their product, their company. Here’s a tip for doing that that has nothing to do with screwing over your customers- make a KICK ASS product and just keep making it KICK ASS. That is what keeps your customer base loyal. Not this bullshit trying to keep us attached to the teat by making it impossible to change a frickin’ battery or share music or whatever.

I have bats that fly at night around my yard. Oh my god. Scared me spitless. I was sitting out there drinking a bottle of wine, yes I said bottle- go big or go home, and what should I start seeing but nocturnal flying things. Now I watch the discovery channel. I KNOW birds can’t fly at night, don’t fly at night. The only thing that would be flying at night are bats. Lots of bats. Like you see in bat cave numbers LOTS. In other words, holy shit batman. I also know I shouldn’t be afraid of them. They aren’t the blood sucking kind. They are the eating lots of bugs and keeping my backyard semi-bug free kind. Intellectually I know all of this. Still, they are freakin’ BATS. So I very quietly grabbed my wine bottle and skedaddled inside leaving the bats to do their thing.

If I state in a thread that I don’t like reading a certain trope and you come into that thread to tell me that trope has in fact happened to you in real life, don’t be offended if I don’t care. I don’t care that it really happened to you or 5 of your friends or even everyone you know. I just don’t care AND I don’t want to read about it. I will also make fun of you. Because you are arguing about what I want to read by using your real life as an example of why I am wrong. Umm, yeah no. Please take a logic class. One doesn’t necessarily follow the other. I wouldn’t care to read about that trope in a memoir, autobiography or any non-fiction that talks about that trope, I certainly don’t want to read fiction about it. The most you will get is an acknowledgment by me that yes that might happen in real life. Good for you. I still don’t want to read about it. I don’t care about you and your real life. I care about my dollars and what I spend them on when I buy something to read. Coming into a thread that talks about what people are tired of reading about and arguing that a trope is or can be somewhat realistic because you are a living example of that trope is… ummm… CRA-CRA. My preference in reading is not about you. Never has been. Never will be.

That is all.