My Break-Up with FB

Recent revelations regarding Facebook’s complicit role in unauthorized sharing (selling) of it’s users data with 3rd party companies as well as the enormous propaganda machine the social media giant turned a blind eye to during the 2016 presidential campaign have caused me to take serious issue with the social media platform. 

To be fair, Facebook & I had already been sharing an estranged, on & off again relationship over the past 10 years or so - I guess I’d long since fallen out of love with many things people chose to share & perhaps more importantly, my (admittedly) presumed reasoning for their doing so. What once seemed like an excellent way to keep in touch with (or tabs on) friends, now very much feels like a never-ending competition among co-workers, peers & family members alike.

I hate having to witness the brazen insensitivity of folk when it comes to relationship issues, death announcements & other handle-with-care posts of the like. None of the rude comments, jealous reactions, or First 48 theories do anything to enhance my quality of life, so I’m simply choosing not to partake.

But it was really the weaponization of Facebook in recent years, by both foreign & domestic players alike, to further sew decent, hate & bigotry into the very fabric of our democracy that pissed me off. On top of that, its just hurtful to know there are so many among us who absolutely refuse to see any issue from a perspective different than their own.   

It’s recently been estimated that about 50% of Americans get their news from Facebook. Yes, an unregulated, ad driven, unverified news saturated & highly politicized social media website is now responsible for how roughly half of US citizens obtain news content - just think about that. 

In some ways, I guess its all a not so friendly reminder of the work we have left to do in this country. Still, the general lack of accountability that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has shown before, during & since the past presidential campaign when paired with recent trends of cyber-bullying, suicide posts & racial stand-offs have all left a bad taste in my mouth.

Moving forward, I anticipate using Facebook as more of an emergency telephone book of sort… if absolutely necessary, I can always reactivate my account with the sole intention of retrieving pertinent information regarding friends & deactivate immediately afterward. Otherwise, I really don’t expect to miss it much, if at all.

Governing By Crisis...

7:27a -- Washington (CNN) – “The country crashes into the debt ceiling at midnight, and there is no deal yet in Washington.”

It's now day 16 of this silly government shutdown & I'm finally pissed enough to blog about it. What on Earth is our Congress doing??? 

This is exactly why the 2 party system in this county needs to be addressed & revamped. Our elected Republican & Democratic officials are simply too driven by their respective party lines & NOT the very constituents who voted 'em into office. 

The constant bickering & hostage-taking by these politicians is tearing this country apart. Every 6 months there's a potential shutdown due to the ongoing congressional in-fighting & ironically, very few folk on the Hill would even be affected by any of the resolutions that have been sent forward for a vote, so this pisses me off that-much-more.

Everyone is busy posturing for political leverage, while the citizens of this country spiral deeper & deeper into a full-on panic. Yesterday's bright idea was a bill that promised enough funding for the government to operate until December or so, then we'd have to do this all over again.

Sure they'll tell you the idea is to reach another, more long term, agreement before reconvening in December, but this current state of the shutdown was never supposed to happen either, so I take very little solace in any future promises from this (or any) crop of politicians.

Municipalities all across this nation are hemorrhaging & no one from any party -- yes, including you Tea Party -- is doing a damn thing about it, if it doesn't clearly paint them as the hero for saving our country, that is. Everyone wants to wear the white hat, but no one wants to fall on their sword.

Help us lord…

Civic Duties...

Boy... workin the polls is a pretty thankless job - but with the long waits & lines each election, that's certainly to be expected. This year we had about a thousand new voters in my precinct, so that made things a bit more hectic this go-round. 

After being on my feet since 5:30am - I am pooped! So what's my reward? A desk full of sh!t to do just as soon as I get into the office to perform my full-time job tomorrow, lol. Ahhh well, what can ya do. Hopefully my presidential candidate wins the election! 

But at this point, I really don't care, lol. I'm so exhausted, I've got a good mind to lie down right now & just catch the results in the am. On the positive side, there was a steady line all day long, so it definitely seems like there was a really good turn-out.

Both the am & pm rush hours were brutal, but I've never seen the line wrapped around the building like it was this am - people were really committed to getting their votes in! As you'd imagine, I heard quite a few 'interesting' political views today. 

The most controversial issue was easily the proposed gay marriage law here in MD. I've never heard SO many people opposed to something that affects them in no way at all. I'm really curious to see what the public decided on this one.

Definitely thinkin of takin a 'Me Day' at some point next week, been dealing with alot & so have the people close to me, so it'll be nice to take a day - just to focus on MY mental therapy. It's hard when your the rock, most times you're left with nothing to lean upon yourself.

But it's my own fault, so I don't complain - you see, I'm pretty good at concealing my problems. I just hate to burden others with my issues, so most assume that my life is smooth sailing, but uhhhh... lol. In the end, another day, another dollar... hopefully, I'll awake to good news :-) C'mon Obama!!!

'Dubya'

Amazing – I still can’t quite believe this myself, but I’m actually reading the memoirs (entitled 'Decision Points') from George W. Bush’s two terms in office as the 43rd President of the United States of America, but that’s precisely what I’m doing! For many years, I’ve harbored ‘certain’ feelings for this man & never dreamed that I’d ever feel any differently. Yet incredibly, my feelings have since changed in that regard.

1st off, let me emphatically state that I claim to be neither republican nor democrat (I think BOTH parties suck ass). As far as political affiliations go, I guess I’d be best described as an independent; however, I’d beg to differ with that assessment in many instances as well.

It all started with the 2008 release of Oliver Stone’s biopic “W.” which traced the ultimate rise to power of the former President (played by Josh Brolin). Though much of the movie was more or less frowned upon & viewed as sketchy by the Bush camp in general, it allowed people to see a side of him that was often rumored & discussed, but rarely documented & never before depicted on-screen.

It was at this point that I started to think to myself, ‘this dude actually ain’t that bad,’ sure he might have been misunderstood & aloof at times (ok, ok – most of the time, lol), but far from the devil reincarnate that many people would have you to believe that he was.

As far as his opponents & critics (including myself), I think his perceived lack of intelligence & foresight simply became the easiest thing to attack. Though I still question many of his domestic & foreign policy decisions, I feel I have a clearer understanding of why he felt the need to make some of the choices he did.

Then came his November 9th appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show. To me, he appeared to be a far more relaxed & easy-going person & while I've come to understand this to be typical of most presidents following their respective presidencies during my lifetime, he seemed far more genuine in his responses to the various questions that Oprah placed upon him & she certainly threw some hardballs at him, so I was pleasantly surprised to observe the candor in his responses.

Sure, it's common for people of his stature to get coached before making appearances, but I don't really see the motivation for such in this instance. He's done with all hoopla we've come to know as being Head of State — so really, why would he even bother to put forth the effort of so triumphantly fooling people at this point? I realize at the end of the day he's still a politician, so it may be deeply ingrained into his subconscious after so many years, but I really don't feel that's the case in this instance.

I was especially interested in hearing his thoughts on the tanking of our economy, 9/11 & the Katrina/FEMA debacle. Those were definitely the biggest issues during his reign & he again succeeded in pacifying my thoughts, even though the hour-long format of the show only afforded him to briefly touch upon each topic. I can't really determine how his interview came across to other viewers at this point, but my gut leads me to believe that many felt the same afterwards.

I look forward to finishing the book & will undoubtedly share my conclusive thoughts of the man with you all upon doing so...