These 2018 Midterms Are Tests Because They Will Be Hard

Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) is a Democratic hoping to unseat a Republican Senator this year. Specifically, he’s running against Sen. Ted Cruz in the general election. Here, O’Rourke can be seen at an event held for the 2016 President’s Leadership Council hosted by Inter-American Dialogue. Image via Flickr by Inter-American Dialogue. Some Rights Reserved.

The 2018 midterm elections are already underway, so I’d thought I’d keep a record of what has happened so far. I’d been thinking about doing something like this before, but my schedule was out of whack and I already passed up a chance to do something similar for 2016. Anyhoo, let’s take a look at the midterms from state to state and see how things are shaping up.

Note: I will need some time to catch up, but there have only been primaries in 10 states held so far. This post will be updated.

Are You Still Following News of the Russia Probe?

Did this guy somehow collude with Russia? I don’t know, but something’s off …

On April 24, I started a two-post series in which I discussed my overall view of the Russia probe that is currently dominating headlines in the United States. While I said I felt that the probe was a distraction (in terms of its focus), I felt there needed to be an investigation in order to finish vetting Donald Trump and some of his cohorts.

Now, while I might disagree with this probe’s focus, it has turned up some interesting events I could not ignore or refrain from sharing. Also, there have been some recent developments in regards to how this entire probe and suspicions are being reported.

That said, let’s discuss what this probe is about and how I plan to cover it.

Tech Companies Suck (and I’m Not Talking About Social Media, Surprisingly)

Only one of my laptops has a reliable keyboard. Image via Pixabay by Simon.

Yes, tech companies suck!

Today’s my birthday (don’t ask), and I’ve decided to make another blog post here. (It’s been over a year since I posted on this blog, and I didn’t publish anything in 2023! 😲) What am I talking about today? I want to complain about Microsoft, HP, and tech manufacturers in general.

If you had asked me a few months ago, I would tell you I’d think about becoming an ambassador for Word and Microsoft Office 365. I pay $99 to use it annually (it sure beats the prices for Adobe), but I use Word daily because I rely on it for my research and writing projects. In short, I love the products (outside of Outlook and Calendar and the changes the company made to them) but hate the corporation that produces the suite. The problem has become more pronounced as of late.

This past week (years, really), I’ve had to deal with issues concerning two laptops. I use one daily and try to use the other at least once a week. They both have their own set of problems.

People Ruin Everything: Why I Hate My Job

Grammarly before my edits to this post. While I like using this program, it can be too aggressive, especially for work.

I haven’t taken care of this blog much lately, but I had to write something today to manage my anger.

I hate people sometimes, and recent events provide another example of why. You should know that I don’t like confrontation. I try to be polite most of the time because I don’t want any trouble. That hurts me sometimes because I should defend myself more, but I will speak up when someone is being cruel, dismissive, and out of line.

Marking #ForceTheVote’s First Anniversary

The image taken was from the website ForceTheVote.org.

Saturday, December 11, 2021, marks the first anniversary of the #ForceTheVote discussion that broke out online but was much discussed in leftist circles. What is it about, and is it still relevant today? This post serves to answer the first part of the question, but the answer to the second part of the question is a resounding yes.

I have written this post because this topic has been on my mind for an entire year. Also, establishing a universal health care system for the United States has been my goal for much longer. That said, I want to recount a bit of history. Even if what I discuss might not sound all that important, people’s motivations are. And what I have seen in this discussion points to a major problem in Western politicians and our society at large.

I was there for most of the Twitter drama surrounding #ForceTheVote. At the time, I decided to grab as many screenshots of tweets as I could. Unfortunately, I lost them all because my stupid computer hard drive crashed in the middle of January 2021. I had to purchase another PC and take only the most relevant screenshots.

There is a lot to discuss since much has happened in a year, and the discussion about #ForceTheVote has not gone away. I am going to break this up into a few posts and use this one to give you some background Information on #ForceTheVote.

COVID-19 Discourse: What Are We Doing, and Where Do We Go from Here?

Image by geralt, via Pixabay

It’s been a while since I posted on this blog, but I’m writing tonight to say that the COVID-19 discourse bothers me. Most of the contentiousness involves vaccines and treatments (namely Ivermectin). Also, I have seen the effect that these discussions have had on people.

I may make a series of posts on the subject, but that would require a lot of research and commitment. However, there is at least one post that I have started working on that is pressing.

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What Is Bothering Me About the COVID-19 Discourse?

Off the top of my head, these aspects of the pandemic have bothered me:

• The pandemic response by the United States government
• How people politicized the pandemic from the beginning
• How fear has turned people against each other
• Propaganda (its effectiveness, how blatant it is, how it has contributed to people turning people against each other)
• The effects shutdowns have had on individuals and small businesses
• Other things that the pandemic has exposed about various governments, human nature, and society at large

After more than a year and a half, I have barely taken part in discussions about COVID-19. For the most part, these discussions have been landmines. Talk about vaccines and treatments has been the most contentious from multiple angles. However, I have noticed that people with a specific political outlook have been responsible for most toxicity.

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What Would I Like to Talk About Regarding the COVID-19 Discourse?

If I do make some in-depth posts about the pandemic, these are a few of the topics that I would like to talk about:

• This pandemic has shown me the worst of humanity.
• What makes someone an “anti-vaxxer?”
• What should we have done to deal with the pandemic properly?
• Why are we turning on each other?
• Was Joe Biden right in calling this “the pandemic of the unvaccinated”?

If I do get around to making these posts, I will go back to this one and add the links here.

A Fond Farewell to Mike Gravel

Image by David Oks, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Two weeks ago, on June 26, 2021, the world lost former United States Senator Mike Gravel. He was 91 years old.

Gravel had served in the Senate for 12 years, from 1969 to 1981. The most notable part of Gravel’s tenure as a U.S. senator was his decision to read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional record. Not only did that do a great public service, but it highlighted one aspect of Gravel’s character and legacy that lasted all these decades: his anti-imperialism.

It is that anti-imperialism that I like most about Gravel, but that part of his character was also what brought him the most scorn from the media, his own party, and ruling class in general. In this post, I would like to talk about the things I learned about Gravel, his legacy, and share a fitting tribute to Gravel that his daughter and others gave recently.

I was inspired to write this (albeit late) post after seeing a livestream from Katie Halper. During the nearly 2-hour session, she talked to Lynne Mosier (Gravel’s daughter from his marriage to Rita Martin) and Daniel Ellsberg, the former Rand Corporation contractor who leaked the Pentagon Papers 50 years ago.

June 30, 2021: These Are Some Posts I Plan on Making in the Future …

It’s June 30, 2021, and I’ve noticed that I haven’t made any blog posts since early last month. I’m checking in with this blog update, but I’m also trying to get myself back into the mood of writing on this blog again. To that effect, I want to share a list of topics that interest me and posts I plan on making in the future.

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I Love Mother’s Day. Do You?

Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay

Happy Mother’s Day!

May 9, 2021, is Mother’s Day where I am (and in at least 95 other countries¹), so I wanted to make a post to commemorate it. I did not make a Mother’s Day post last year and I usually publish a Famous Sayings post, but this year I will do something different.

I Just Did a Blog Inventory. These Are My Thoughts …

For the past few days, I have been looking at each of the 572 previous posts¹ I published on the blog. My main purpose was to keep a limited blog inventory; that is, I wanted to record all the titles and permalinks. I also took a trip down memory lane.

I recently did a blog inventory. Before this post, I only published 7 posts on this blog in 2021.

Initially, I was just going through the Posts page on this blog and recording the data from there, but that got tedious. I then tried to go through the WP Admin page, but that was taking longer than I expected, and I didn’t want to accidentally erase anything. I finally decided to click directly on my first post and do some copying and pasting from there.

I honestly meant to do this from the beginning. In fact, I created a Word document for this purpose and started putting my first links in, but I got lazy soon afterward. Maybe it was for the best because I lost 3 years of work because of my old computer.²

Anyway, I finally caught up. After recording all the titles and permalinks from my previous posts, I have a few notes. And yes, this is a blog update.

March 27, 2021: I’m Back, Baby!

This isn’t what my current PC looks like, but I might have to do more handwriting from now on … Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay.

Hello, peeps! It’s been a while since I last posted to this blog, but that was not my intention. I had fully intended to create/stick to a regular posting schedule this year, but disaster struck. Hence, this blog update.

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What Happened?

If you have seen my last few posts, you might have already guessed that my absence was due to technical difficulties. Shortly after posting about my excellent news, I realized that my troubles had only started. Over the next two days, it was getting hard for me to work with my computer because I kept getting the Disc Repair message. It got so bad, that I had to partially write my latest post (before this one) with my phone.

Pai Is Finally out at the FCC. What Does That Mean for Net Neutrality?

Ajit Pai’s tenure at the FCC officially ended on January 20, 2021. The agency is finally free of this douchebag, but his work against net neutrality likely isn’t done yet.

On January 20, 2021, Aji Pai’s tenure as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission finally ended. Pai was easily the worst FCC chairperson in history, so his departure is cause for celebration. Now, I don’t know how much President Joe Biden or his choice for FCC chair will do to mitigate all the damage that Pai did while holding that position, but I have a few ideas.