SKYNET EXISTS !!!!

            In the Terminator movies, SKYNET is a computer program that literally takes over the world in 2017 so that humanity no longer has any control. The computers have control of everything. There is no way to turn it off. Any resistance is met with fatal results. John Connor and company have the mission to prevent SKYNET first from occurring then to destroy it.

            Would it surprise you to know that SKYNET exists now, in 2015? It does, just in a different form.

            How many of you own a cell phone? It does not matter if it is a Smartphone, an Android, an iPhone, or any similar device. If you answered yes, how often do you use it? Odds are that you use it much more often than you are aware.

            You check you mail? How many times a day? Same for texting. For games. How many apps do you have? How about Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all the other social media? How often do you use them, and for what meaningless reason do you use them?

            When do you use them? In the home; at work, outside? Do you use it when you are standing still or sitting? Or do you use it when you are moving and are oblivious to where you are going? How many of you keep checking them when you are driving? How many have gotten seriously injured or died because they did not look where they were going?

            How many use them in places they should not be used? Do you use them in school? Do you use them in a theater while the movie is playing? (I went to see a movie [believe it or not, it was “Terminator: Genisys”] and several people had their cell phones on and were using them for one reason or another despite the notices)

            How many have had relationships break up because someone could not put down the phone?

            What is it with people that they cannot take time out from these devices, to put them down and turn them off, as if they have trouble living in the world that exists around them?

            This is what I mean that SKYNET exists now. The ever present internet and the communication satellites that connect our cell phones is the present form of SKYNET to which I refer. John Connor symbolically is the drive to get people to put them down and live their lives, to move around safely, to connect with each other face to face.

            Message to the people of the world: Don’t let your cell phones rule you, like SKYNET. Remember, you rule them.

Missing Half the Problem in Education

            For several years the state of education in the U.S. has been declining. At one time we were the world leader. Now we are sinking miserably in all major subjects. Graduation rates have dropped badly.

            For years the answer was to lower the requirements because all that mattered was that the students can pass the tests in order to graduate. The bar, instead of being raised, has been lowered. Dramatically. And it continues to decline.

            For the past few years teachers and principals have been graded on their proficiency and results they have with the students. If they don’t do well they can be fired, or the school would be deemed failing and risk closure. I can’t possibly understand what this would gain. My question is: why is all the pressure being put on the faculty?

            Doesn’t anyone in charge understand that once the child leaves the school at the end of the day the responsibility for the child’s learning falls to the parents or to older siblings (if there are any)?

This part of the equation has in essence been ignored.

            Teachers can try every possible way of teaching the students, as imaginary as it can be, to get the message across. But if there is little or no back-up at home, the lessons have difficulty in sinking in.

            Here are a few possibilities why students have trouble away from the school:

 

            Due to the economic conditions of the times, some parents work two or three jobs to try to keep the family financially viable, but this takes most if not all the time from monitoring the child’s education.

            Since, as I stated before, the bar had been much lowered to allow students to graduate, many parents don’t really have the level of knowledge to help their own children’s schooling.

            There could be peer pressure keeping the children out beyond when they should so there is less time to get the homework done.

            With all the technology, there is the question why they should learn when the information is already in their computers. Or, they can be so wrapped in their smartphones or iPads or other devices that they detract from their learning.

            The child can be in a broken home and the environment can make the child depressed, detracting him from his studies and everything else.

            Materials including books can be difficult to get or badly out of date. In some areas of the country, officials are foolish enough to change history and science texts as they like, either because they are deniers (e.g. climate change, evolution) or due to religious beliefs.

            There can also be any number of other reasons that keep students from continuing their education at home.

 

            What should be done is survey the situation after school. Is it something at home or outside? This could find the problems and they can be addressed and hopefully to respond to them so the children can learn. It is wrong to say that the teachers and principals are the sole reason the children aren’t learning. The children must also be open to getting up to date and correct information from every source available.

            In reality, the problem can be anywhere or in more than one place. It could be in the school or out. To improve the child’s chances of success, all possibilities must be investigated and addressed.

            Children can be very resilient and resourceful. It is up to everyone to give them every chance possible to allow them to reach their potential and improve this world despite all the various deniers in the sciences.

Traitorous GOP

Senator John Boehner invited Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to address Congress, clearly a foreign policy decision. Now 47 GOP senators have signed a letter telling Iran that any agreement they reach with Obama is good only until the end of this term and would be seen as no more than an executive decision between President Obama and the Ayatollah Khamenei; more foreign policy.

These are traitorous decisions. Under the Logan Act of 1799, last amended in 1994, executive power to engage in foreign policy is only vested with the President. It forbids and unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. The intent is to prevent US citizens without authorization from interfering in relations between the US and foreign governments. A violation is punishable under Federal law is a felony and is punishable up to three years in prison. Therefore, by law, all the 47 GOP senators and Boehner should be impeached and thrown unceremoniously into jail.

It seems that Mr. Boehner and the rest of the GOP believe that since Mr. Obama cannot be re-elected, he is no longer a recognized president and that Mr. Boehner thinks he is taking control of the government. This again is treason. Nothing more, nothing less. This could be a dangerous precedent for the future. It is up to the Democrats to stand up and prevent this take-over. The quicker they act, the better for this country.

It’s Climate Change, Not Global Warming

            I, for one, am so tired of people who, when it gets extremely cold, complain that global warming is nonsense. Someone used this term initially and, unfortunately, it stuck, no matter how often it was corrected by scientists and meteorologists everywhere.

            There was another one of these fools in the ‘Voice of the People’ section in the New York Daily News on February 18. This is someone who does know the difference between climate and weather. The latter is in one specific location is short-lived. The latter is over a large area and is of a more permanent duration.

            Global warming indicates that the temperature around the world is rising and it cannot and does not get cold anywhere. This is absolute nonsense.

            Without espousing the entire theory, climate change indicates that the climate in large areas around the world changes over time. If it’s humid and temperate in a large area at a certain time, it can become more of a hot desert if the climate changes. Temperatures in some areas of the world will rise over time and in others it will decrease. Since records have been kept since the 1800’s, the average global temperature has steadily risen since the 1990’s, and it’s going higher every year.

At the moment it is extremely cold in the northeast of the United States where we have to deal with the Siberian Express, a weather pattern that originates in Siberia and comes through along with high winds, drastically dropping the wind chill. If you check the temperatures throughout the Northern Hemisphere for January 2015, you would discover that  the northeast United States, Greenland and north central Asia are the only places that are very cold. All other places are above normal and much of Asia is way above normal. This is a signal of a change in climate.

            Anyone can research this theory in more detail anywhere on the internet. I strongly suggest that everyone does research it.

A Week without Kim Kardashian

            Do you get the feeling that if all forms of the media in print and verbal were to stop printing or saying anything related to Kim Kardashian, the industries in question would collapse?

            Think of the multitude of people who are struggling to make a living and are just getting by. She doesn’t do anything but take pictures of herself and makes millions through publicity. It just makes me sick.

For the sake of my sanity and everyone who thinks like me, please give us a rest from Kim Kardashian.

Where the Maxim of the Law is in Reverse

            It is generally known that the adage when pertaining to the law when someone is accused or arrested is that the person is innocent until proven guilty. It is the fundamental principle that, no matter how guilty the person is, even though any obvious evidence, they are innocent until proven guilty when a court passes judgment. This goes for everything, except in matters of sex.

            In all instances regarding sex, the person is guilty unless proven innocent. The list is endless. Three examples come to mind immediately: President Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky, Prince Andrew with an underage girl, and Bill Cosby with numerous women.

            The ‘guilty until proven innocent’ belief is so pervasive in our society that periodicals don’t stop printing their opinions on the matter, every celebrity must give their view, every comic must make jokes at the accused’s expense, etc., etc., etc.

            But why is this stance taken on this subject?

            Is it the fascination about sex? Is it that a famous person could have done something against societal mores? Is it that sex is usually what people love to do, they don’t talk about out in the open, but to hear about it concerning a celebrity makes us feel uncomfortable?

            I really do not know. What I do know is that the axiom that the aphorism is backwards. It’s morally wrong. Anyone is in the place of being accused should not be held to ridicule until they are proven to have committed the crime.

The Blizzard that Wasn’t

            So many people are complaining that it was a waste of time to close the city for the snowstorm that hit the northeast on January 27.

            These people suffer from a common malady – 20/20 hindsight. These people do not understand what it takes to determine what the weather will be based on multiple sources of data. Anything can change a forecast.

            The National Weather Service, based on the information available, said that New York City would get 12 to 24 inches of snow. There were no exceptions of which I know.

            Following the predictions from the blizzard warning, and from past experience, the proper thing to do was close the city to traffic, get people to stay off the streets, and to shut down all trains and buses.

But something very interesting occurred. There was a ridge of drier air from about New York City to the west. All the bands of snow headed west hit the dry ridge and practically petered out. No forecaster saw this happening. Central Park got 9.8 inches. Just 30 miles to the east, Long Island got 2 feet or more. That was close.

            From all the indicators, Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio did the right thing. It is always better to play safe, especially when it comes to the lives of millions of people. The worst thing to do was leave everything running, have the storm hit as conjectured, and let millions get stranded in feet of snow with no way to get around.

            No one should be complaining that the city was closed down. They should be grateful that the governor and mayor did what had to be done to protect them.

Deflate-gate Nonsense

            This whole investigation into the many under inflated footballs in the AFC Conference Championship last week is absolutely ridiculous.

            All of the footballs were under-inflated except one. If only the New England Patriots used these balls, I can understand the problem. They were approved by the officials and both teams used the same balls. So neither teams had an advantage.

            So what difference does it make? Where’s the problem?

            This whole thing should be dropped. If they should not be deflated, the officials should not approve any that are.

            Now let’s get on with the Super Bowl.

Belief in Doing No Wrong

            In a review of the past few weeks’ events in relation to the NYPD, it seems that they are under the belief that they can do no wrong.

            We had the Eric Garner grand jury decision that the police were not wrong in performing the choke hold that killed him, even though that cop was brought to task for other instances.

            We had other police gunning down other unarmed black people in dark stairways or on the street and the police are still not held accountable.

            The police recently had the policy of stop and frisk. The number of black people stopped and frisked as compared to non-black was about 80% to 20%, if not greater. That is what finally led to the end of the policy instead of amending it.

            By appearances, the black populace was targeted by the police as the most dangerous people around. Could this be considered borderline racism? Perhaps.

            It was under this landscape the led Mayor De Blasio to give advice to his black son to be weary and be careful and act with caution in his behavior around the police. This was sound advice. To me, the mayor did nothing that any decent and responsible parent would do. He was 100% correct.

            However, the police were alarmed. According to them, the Mayor blasted them, pretty much saying that they were dangerous and they might pick on his son for almost anything. They felt betrayed and in fear of their safety. With the actions that the police take toward the black people, the question is – who is afraid of whose safety?

Actually, they are very afraid of each other.

            Police union boss Patrick Lynch blasted the mayor and demanded an apology. Many police demanded the same. At many functions, many police turned their backs on the mayor. Regardless of the situation, this was extremely disrespectful. These police should have been reprimanded.

            Further, there was a tremendous work slowdown. Tickets and summonses for minor offences plummeted 92%. Traffic violations dropped 94%. Drug arrests dropped 84%. In New York there is the Taylor law which forbids public employees from going on strike. To me, this tremendous slowdown is tantamount to a strike. Therefore, every member of the Police Department who took part in this slowdown should be punished according to the Taylor Law’s rules.

            For all the calls for the mayor to apologize, he won’t and he should not.

            The bottom line here is that the police and the union head labor under the false assumption that they can do no wrong. They fear for their lives, mostly in the black community. Sometimes depending on the situation, it is as if they have itchy or nervous trigger fingers. I can certainly understand the need to use their guns when necessary, though at times they can be bit too ready. Also, the police may be under the belief that if they are taken to court, they will be found not guilty for one reason or another leading to their belief in infallibility.

 

 

            Perhaps if the police stop the seeming targeting of the black community, if the police responsible for breaking the law (shootings, choke holds, etc.), and police are taught better community relations and restraint, then we will have better respect in both directions.