The Border Wall/Fence/Barrier Will Always Be With Us

This is a repeat of a repeat.

First republished January 18, 2019  

September 30, 2022

This Silly Blog Is Always Current Because the Foolishness It Brings To Light Never Goes Away

This Blog Posting is approaching its 12^th 16^th Anniversary...

It Is Still As Current As It Was On the Day It Was First Published

The first published day was June 30, 2007. It was about The Wall. The only thing that has changed is that back then it was called a “Fence” more than it was called a “Wall”. Now it is called a Wall or sometimes it is called a Fence or sometimes it is called a Barrier.

 

Watch today’s news and you will actually hear Members of Congress saying things like, “I unequivocally opposed to a Wall but I am willing to entertain the idea of a Barrier if it is constructed more akin to a Fence. In the past I have made it clear that I leaned more toward a Fence/Barrier but, due the changing demographics of the situation, I am more inclined to think that a Wall/Barrier that looks like Barrier/Fence is the way I am leaning since last Thursday. Actually I may have changed my set in stone position on this vital issue on Friday a week ago. No wait, it could not have been Friday because I have not worked on a Friday since that President (I forget his name) before President Reagan was in office. You know the one. He grew some kind of Nuts in that state he hailed from. Give me some help here. You know the state. It is the one next to Alabama...Or is it?”

 

The First Published Date Was SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 2007

Quick Border Fence

Wanna know how the Border Fence could be built in a heartbeat? It would be easy. Allow me to explain…

If the Mexican/U.S. Border were being crossed in huge numbers by Mexican Congressmen and Mexican Senators who were taking the positions in our Congress of our sitting Congressmen and Senators and our sitting Congressmen and Senators were losing their jobs, the Border Fence could be built darn near overnight.

Use your mind’s eye to picture with me for a moment...

Ø Members of Congress climbing all over the fence as it was being built.

Ø They are all sweaty but are refusing to take breaks as they work at a feverish pace.

Ø They all have Home Depot Aprons on their sweaty bodies.

Ø They have power tools in hand and other tools stored in their golf bags nearby ready for quick access.

Ø They have nails in their mouths ready for pounding.

Ø Dianne Feinstein is standing guard holding a Tommy Gun and has two 357 Magnum Pistols strapped to her hips.

Ø They are chanting, “Hell no, we won’t press one for English!”   

What a sight!
  
Would I kid u?  

Smartfella

 

Yes Sir, You Are Right!...Or are you?

Democratic Presidents ought to be required to watch Fox News 2 hours every day.

Republican Presidents ought to be required to watch CNN and/or MSNBC 2 hours every day.

If they did this the Presidents would not think that everyone in the Good Ole USofA agrees with everything they are doing while President.

Why is this a Fella Brilliant Idea? It’s because Presidents are surrounded by people telling them they are always right. Our Presidents would benefit if they were exposed to a second opinion or two.

In some cases the President’s advisors tell the President what to think and when the President comes around to thinking the way they have been telling him to think the advisors agree with the way he is thinking and tell him how smart he is to think the way he does.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lawyers to the Rescue

When In Doubt, Cast Doubt...

If your dog bites your neighbor’s leg, turn it over to you lawyer and have your lawyer deny everything...

• Your honor, that’s not my client’s dog.
• Your honor, that’s not my client’s neighbor.
• Your honor, that’s not my client’s neighbor’s leg.

Banana Peels Are Dangerous...

Your honor, over the decades banana peels have caused an untold numbers of injuries to countless innocent victims. My innocent victim client slipped on a banana peel on the way to the big football game last Saturday and he was forced to miss the first half of one of the greatest games in the last two weeks. My brother-in-law is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and he is going to introduce legislation in the House next week to ban the sale of bananas in the Good Ole USofA until banana importers have demonstrated their concern for the innocent butts of this country by developing the Peelless Banana!

Honest Client...

Your honor, my client has sworn to this court that he did not do it. More importantly, he has personally assured me that he has never told a lie in his entire life except when he thought it was necessary to achieve an honorable or a dishonorable outcome.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: Maxwell Smart often told the truth but with him the truth was flexible. If his truth was not believed, he often would modify the truth with one or more of his Would You Believes. Here is a funny example...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA-UPrK_x-k

The Forgotten Man Is an Integral Part of the American Family...Or is he?

 

Back on April 29, 2009 I wrote one of my Favorite Blog Postings (1,853 out of 1,854 are officially classified as one of my favorites). It was entitled “Dear Mister New President”. In it I laid out 20 Pressing Issues of Great Importance to the Good Ole USofA’s Future Peaceful Coexistence with itself and I asked our new President Barak Obama to address them after he got settled into the Oval Office.

Of course, I understood that he was going to have a couple of his own issues that he would prioritize ahead of my 20 but my issues were so compelling that I just knew he would be getting to work on mine in short order. I was wrong. He paid me no never mind.

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One of my 20 issues went like this...

Dumb White Guys … Stop TV commercial makers from always depicting the White Males as ignorant buffoons. I find it unrealistic and insulting that we have to always be instructed how to do anything and everything by every other type of species on the planet. This includes other men, women, children and talking animals.

Since April 29, 2009 this issue has grown into more of a devastating problem than Fella could ever have imagined. When the White Male does appear in TV Commercials, he is still being portrayed as an idiot but it’s worse than that, the White Male Has Almost Completely Disappeared from Our Commercials.

For example, today I saw an ad that had something to do with Health Care which showed two young females holding a baby with a caption that read, “Health Care for the Entire Family”. (I found myself thinking, “Where do they think babies come from?”)

I know there are cases where two young females do have a baby and they are being called A Modern Family but it concerns me that I may never see a white male and a female holding a small child with a caption that reads, “Health Care for the Entire Family” again?

Such family units do still exist. Actually most American Families are this type of family. Does It Not Make Perfect Sense That They Be Advertised To?

The word needs to be gotten out to the people paying for these commercials that these Forgotten White Men have money to spend. If that were to happen, then maybe they will be allowed back into American TV Commercials.

Did I just hear a significant number of My Dear Readers say out loud, “What’sAMatterFaYou,Fella? Don’t You Know That Ain’t Gonna Happen?”

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It looks like Fella has been put into his place. Okay, from the place I have been put, allow me to ponder this, Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others remember things that used to be and ask, “Where did they go?”

My Dear Readers, I am I now sensing that some of you are upset with me all over again. This time it is because I almost used a quote from the Late Robert Kennedy? Those some of you have fallen into my little trap. I did not come close to quoting only Robert Kennedy I really almost quoted George Bernard Shaw because Robert Kennedy actually paraphrased George Bernard Shaw’s famous quote when he delivered his famous quote...

Ø Kennedy: Some men see things as they are, and say why. I dream of things that never were, and say why not...Robert Kennedy, June 28, 1963.

Ø Shaw: You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?'...from George Bernard Shaw’s play Back to Methuselah (1921).

I’m done blogging this blog because I am too confused to go on.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: Fella’s Chuckle Time...Henry Ford was being criticized because he was not building cars that people wanted and his retort was, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”.

There Ought to Be a Law

Please take the time to read these excerpts (italics below) from 2 new California Laws (2 of 40 new Climate Bills signed by Governor Gavin Newsome last Friday). The link to the complete article is: https://www.wsj.com/articles/gavin-newsoms-2024-climate-platform-california-40-climate-bills-energy-electricity-blackouts-11663702766. After you have “enjoyed” the excerpt below, I will tell you about a Law That Isn’t a Law but It Ought to Be a Law Law.

The excerpt is...

“Another new law would require that the state reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to 85% below 1990 levels and achieve “carbon neutrality” by 2045. The state Air Resources Board would have free-wheeling power to impose regulations to achieve these benchmarks, including restricting new housing construction, manufacturing and agricultural production.

The Western States Petroleum Association says these new targets would cost every California household between $5,600 and $10,700 a year and increase the cost of building a new home by at least $50,000. Like all of California’s climate policies, the new CO2 goals are a hidden regressive tax that will smack low- and middle-income residents hardest.

Ditto a new law limiting new oil wells within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, parks or businesses open to the public. California’s oil production has fallen 40% since 2014 owing to climate regulation that discourages investment. The state has had to import more oil by tanker from overseas. Can Mr. Newsom explain how this reduces CO2 emissions?

California’s new oil production limitations could destroy tens of thousands of jobs. The State Building and Construction Trades Council warned they would eliminate “high wage industrial manufacturing union jobs in California’s most disadvantaged and underserved communities,” which “represent the only path out of poverty” for many.”

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Time out for a Fella Did You Notice?...

Did you notice these words? “The State Air Resources Board would have free-wheeling power to impose regulations”. This means a law has been passed to allow Bureaucrats of the Future to do whatever they want to do. To me this means they have ongoing power to make ongoing laws.

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The article mentions the year 2045. By golly, Batman, that’s 23 years from now before California’s Citizens will be able to see the full ongoing impact of this law. Many of the people who passed this law will be an unpleasant memory by 2045 (if they are remembered at all).

The Law That Isn’t a Law but It Ought to Be a Law Is...

People who pass such Long Term They-Gotta-Be-Nuts Laws ought to not be allowed to die before the full effect of their legislative “wisdom” is finished having its full ongoing devastating impact.

If they are still with us, the good people of California could go demonstrate in front of their house (that seems to be the thing to do nowadays). It is simply not the same thing to go demonstrate in front of a grave marker.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: Does it not get under your skin when you see the words in the first paragraph above, “agricultural production”. It makes farming sound like a dirty word. Who would have thought we would get to the point in our foolishness where we would hear our rulers say something like, “I know what you are up to! You are trying to grow things that people can eat! If we let you get away with this sort of thing, the next thing you know, people will not be starving to death!”

 

Is it a Humanitarian Crisis or an Immigration Crisis or is it Both?

Martha’s Vineyard is in Crisis! The zillionaires there often post yard signs that say “we stand with immigrants, with refugees” and “all are welcome here”. But there was complete chaos once 50 Immigrants and Refugees actually showed up...

The island’s authorities actually declared a “Humanitarian Crisis”.

Before the end of the day, Lisa Belcastro, coordinator for Martha’s Vineyard homeless shelter Harbor Homes, said the migrants couldn’t stay.

“The difficult challenges are, we have, at some point in time they have to move from here to somewhere else,” she said. “We cannot, we don’t have the services to take care of 50 immigrants, and we certainly don’t have housing. We’re in a housing crisis as we are on this island. And we don’t, we can’t house everyone here that lives here and work here. We don’t have housing for 50 more people.”

Below is the link and an excerpt from a CNN Internet News Article: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/16/politics/marthas-vineyard-migrants-shelter-desantis/index.html

“At a church where they had been staying on Martha’s Vineyard, migrants cheered Friday morning when they heard the Massachusetts government would shelter them at the Cape Cod military base. They boarded government-arranged buses willingly, officials said, and they arrived at the military installation Friday afternoon.

Joint Base Cape Cod – already an emergency shelter designated by the state emergency management agency – is set up to provide “a safe temporary accommodation appropriate for the needs of families and individuals,” Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s office said in a news release.

The migrants “will be housed in dormitory-style spaces at JBCC, with separate spaces accommodating both individuals and families,” and families will not be separated, it said. They will have access to services including legal, health care, food, hygiene kits, and crisis counseling, according to Baker’s office.

At the base, some of the migrants from Venezuela received general information about US immigration laws, according to a migrant who spoke to CNN. At this time, CNN is unable to verify what exactly was shared or from whom due to lack of access.”

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Del Rio, Texas has yet to declare a Humanitarian or an Immigration Crisis but they are keeping an eye on the situation.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

 

Vietnam Wall ... THIS IS AMAZING!

 

This is really sobering. 

First, click on a state.

When it opens, scroll down to the city where you went to high school or any other city you have interest in and look at the names.

Click on a name and you will see details of the person's death, a picture or at least their bio and medals.

Someone spent a lot of time and effort to create this web site.

I hope that everyone who receives this appreciates what those who served in Vietnam sacrificed for our country.

Pass the link on to others, as many of them knew some of these true heroes (not sports heroes).

http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm

FellaO 

How Much Salmonella Is Too Much Salmonella?

 

I am sure the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) knows more about Salmonella than I do. I am also sure the FDA knows precisely how much Salmonella I can eat before I turn green or something worst than turning green...Or am I? Read this Blog Posting if you are concerned about how much Salmonella you can eat before something you don’t want to happen to you happens to you.

Here is a Consumer Reports Article that might make you start greening up before you eat any Salmonella. The Bolded Text was done by Fella. Those are the parts of the article that made me more than a bit concerned. Read on and see if you agree with my concern...

Building a Better World, Together

By Consumer Reports

September 8, 2022

Join with us to make a safer, fairer, healthier marketplace.

Making Poultry Safer to Eat

There is simply too much dangerous salmonella in the poultry we eat. Almost 1.35 million people get sick from the bacteria every year, and about a fifth of those cases come from eating chicken or turkey. (Did I just hear you say, “A fifth ain’t much”? I’ll save you the trouble of getting your calculator out. A fifth of 1,350,000 is 270,000. That sounds like a fairly big chunk of us to me.)

The reasons are fairly well-known. One is the crowded and dirty conditions in which chickens are often raised. Another is that the Department of Agriculture actually allows poultry producers to sell meat that may be contaminated with the bacteria.

That’s right: While poultry producers must routinely test for salmonella, up to 9.8 percent of whole chickens, 15.4 percent of chicken parts, and 25 percent of the ground chicken they test may contain the bacteria. Even at higher amounts, the USDA doesn’t stop the plant from selling the meat; it just issues a warning.

Want to Read All About It? Click here: https://www.consumerreports.org/consumer-protection/building-a-better-world-together-october-2022-a1156210233/

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I wonder if the head of the FDA comes home from a long day protecting us at the office and sees one of his children about to bite into a Scrumptious Looking Chicken Sandwich panics and shouts, “Don’t eat that!” and then turns to his wife and says, “I hope you did not give any of that Scrumptious Looking Chicken to the dog!”

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

 

Ah Ha! I Have A VPN Which Means You Can’t Track Me!...Or can you?

Is nothing about the Internet true for long? If you learn something that makes you sound like you know what you are talking about, don’t quote it to others for more than a week because what you knew to be true a week ago (maybe even yesterday) may not be true today. Below are bullet points from an article in PC Magazine about Browser Fingerprinting that prove my point...

Ø Internet experts proposed reining in this abuse by letting browsers add a Do Not Track header to page requests.

Ø This effort fizzled because sites were free to ignore the header.

Ø Security companies responded by devising Do Not Track technology that actively prevented tracking.

Ø Trackers responded with new technologies such as supercookies, evercookies, Flash cookies, and more.”

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I use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). I have always thought this made me private because it kept the bad guys and the simply annoying guys from tracking me. Now I find out that My Security is a False Sense of Security.

Cleaners and Browser’s software can help the VPN maintain your privacy but VPNs do not make you fully anonymous online. Advertisers, for instance, have numerous ways to identify and track you as you move across the web.

More from PC Magazine...

Ø Trackers and cookies in websites try to uniquely identify you, and then watch for where you appear next.

Ø Sites and advertisers can also identify you by noting several unique characteristics, such as browser version, screen size, and so on.

Ø On their own, this information is harmless, but when companies compile enough of these identifiers, they form a Unique Signature—so much so that the process is called Browser Fingerprinting.

The Browser Fingerprinting link above is a long read. I read it. I don’t necessarily recommend you take the time to read it because, now that I have read it, I am not sure I can do anything about it and I’m more confused.

If you are better than I am, read it and be enlightened...Or will you be?

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

We Need To Put the Mafia in Charge

Reporter to congressman: The country is going to hell in a handbasket. What are you going to do?

Congressman to reporter: Invest in handbaskets.

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The world we live in today appears to be spinning out of control. Those in the past who thought their times were bad didn’t know how bad bad can be. The old saying about Going to Hell in a Handbasket appears to be coming to fruition.

Actually I am pecking this Foolishness out while sitting in that proverbial handbasket itself. Don’t get too smug about my predicament. I can see you from where I sit and you are not that far away and you appear to be drifting in my direction.

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I wish the people who invent words had not invented the word, “indiscriminate”. There was a time when bad people would be very specific about who they tried to kill. Now we see, over and over, examples of people not caring who their victims are. This all may be Nike’s fault. We are surrounded by a world full of people who ... Just Do It.

We all have read case after case of Gang Members shooting at whoever happens to be over there. They shoot into crowds of people trying to hit one specific person in the crowd. The problem is there is no academy that trains these criminals on how to shoot straight. Actually they don’t seem to care whether they shoot straight or not. They kill or injure other people and later that day they brag to their fellow gang members, “I almost got him!”

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Examples of Going to Hell in a Handbasket...

Ø Some people a few races ago threw tacks into the pathway of the oncoming riders in the Tour De France.

Ø Some people have put needles into airline food.

Ø Some people have put rocks onto train tracks and caused trains to derail.

Ø Some people have been setting fires in and out of populated areas.

Ø Some people have blown themselves up in public markets.

Ø Some people have blown themselves up at wedding receptions.

Ø Some people have blown themselves up on busses.

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When it comes to the Mafia it was different...

I once read a book about the Mafia that contained a story about a murder that, compared to today’s standards, was something to be admired. This happened in the 1930s...

Ø It was decided that a certain person needed to be killed.

Ø Two hit men rented an apartment across the street from where their intended victim lived.

Ø For weeks they watched the comings and goings of said intended victim.

Ø They were trying to determine the best time to rub the intended victim out when there was no chance that unintended people would be harmed.

They Got Their Man ... they got only their man.

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They were not indiscriminate. There is something to be admired about their precision. We don’t give medals for such things but, compared to today’s indiscriminate mayhem, at the very least an Attaboy Youse Guys might have been in order.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: Did you say you wanted to know where Going to Hell in a Handbasket came from?... The origin of the phrase ‘hell in a handbasket’ can be found in the practice of capturing the heads of guillotine victims in a basket, with the presumption being that these criminals would be going straight to hell for their crimes.

 

I went over the hill yesterday. I was in Costco and I was trying to get to the Bargain Bottled Water but a Jerk was blocking my way.

Costco always has a bargain on bottled water. For years it was 40 16.9 ounce bottles for $2.99. Inflation has now shot the cost up the price to $3.39 (above pic shows the Bargain Bottled Water display during a dollar off sale).

I was waiting to get back in to where the Bargain Bottled Water was but the aisle to the Bargain Bottled Water was being blocked because a young man and his cart were clogging up the aisle to the Bargain Bottled Water. Have you noticed that texting people get tunnel vision when they are sending a very important text message? Have you noticed that texting people think every text message is a very important text message?

I was probably looking at him like he was a jerk because he was a jerk. Another young man saw me and he saw the Hey Jerk You Are Blocking the Aisle to the Bargain Bottled Water look in my face. He must’ve misinterpreted my Jerk Look for Old Age Confusion Syndrome.

So he came up to me and said, “Sir, would you me to pick up a case of Bargain Bottled Water for you”.

He apparently thought I was so old that I Could Not Pick One Up or I was Over the Hill Confused.

It gives me solace to know that My Dear Readers do not think I Am Over the Hill...Or do they?

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

I Like the Old Dwight Better Than the New Dwight

 Old Dwight...

New Dwight...

Old Fashioned Fella is not kidding u!

Smartfella

A Blog Posting I Did Not Post

My Mind Wandering has often slithered past a potential Blog Posting about the Commercial Speed Speakers we hear every day on Radio or Television. You know of which I speak...Or do u?

The Blog Posting I did not post would have been about how our Rulers pass laws to make us do things or stop us from doing things only to turn a blind eye when the law is circumvented or even completely ignored. They appear to think that their job is to pass laws. Once that has been done they are done. Whether or not anyone pays any attention to their laws is of no concern to them.

A fine example of which I speak is the law that says certain warnings must be spoken to consumers for the consumer’s protection at the end of commercials. The sellers of the product comply with the letter of the law in a way that almost does not count. The words are spoken by a High Speed Word Speaker at a speed that is unable to be understood by anyone including the High Speed Word Speaker.

There you have it. The warning words have been spoken. The law has been complied with. The sponsor of the bill that became this crazy circumvented law of the land is at Happy Hour when the announcement is made that the Folks Back Home have elected him to yet another term in office.

Oops! Another related shoe has dropped. To find out about that shoe read below the bunch of asterisks below.

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I have more and more become bothered by an offshoot of the High Speed Word Speaker Phenomenon by an unsettling tendency of many TV Shows and News Broadcasts to talk their words faster than my ears can hear them talked.

Everybody is in a hurry. It is not important that their message be understood. It is only important that the words be spoken. Once that has been done the High Speed Word Speakers go to Happy Hours where they never get anything to drink because the bartenders can’t understand what they are ordering.

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In the past I have told you about the Reticular Activating System. If you want to read an article that will confuse the heck out of you, click here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK549835/ but I recommend you don’t click there because you won’t understand much of any of it. Don’t contact me and ask me to explain any of it because I am certain I understand less of it than you are going to understand of it.

To get a better understanding let’s try this...

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a bundle of nerves at our brainstem that filters out unnecessary information so the important stuff gets through.

The RAS is the reason you learn a new word and then start hearing it everywhere. It’s why you can tune out a crowd full of talking people, yet immediately snap to attention when someone says your name or something that at least sounds like it.

In other words, if you develop a need for something, you become aware of that something all around you. In my own experience I once had a need to buy a used car. Until I acquired the used car that I eventually ended up with, I saw used cars for sale (used car lots and private owner's cars) along every road I drove on. Once I bought my used car the used cars disappeared. Actually they were still there but I had no interest in them any longer, therefore, I drove right by them paying them no never mind.

I hope to activate your Reticular Activating System about the High Speed Word Speakers in TV Shows and News Broadcasts. They have been there for years but now you will notice them there.

If you are like me, you will find yourself shouting at the TV, “You are talking faster than my ears can hear!” but they won't hear you.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

 

Blind Auditions for Musicians Are Not Only For Blind Musicians

Maybe I could have written the title above better. Allow me to try again...

People Who Can’t See Are Not Excluded From Blind Auditions. Nor Are Blind Auditions Only For People Who Can't See.

Still confused? Read on. It gets less confusing...Or does it?

The original intent of Blind Auditions was to have musicians perform behind a screen to shield their identity. This was done to address the belief that there existed a longstanding exclusion of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color from Orchestras.

Blind auditions were successful in some regards, but the percentage of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Musicians has not risen significantly over the years.

Is it time to rethink blind auditions? Many are stepping up to offer new ways to approach the audition process to create more Diverse, Equitable American Orchestras.

Fella has to tread lightly here because he wants to quibble about the original objective of Blind Auditions. The reason why it has not increased the mix of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color musicians is because the chosen-hidden-behind-the-screens musicians are not not being chosen because they are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color musicians but because the people behind the screen being chosen to play in the orchestras are the people who play best from behind or in front of a screen.

The surest way to increase the number of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Musicians in any orchestra is to not audition anyone behind the screens who are not Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Musicians.

Do we not want to listen to the best music coming at us from in front of the screens? If we do, we need to pick the Musicians who play the best music from behind the screen, so when they come out from behind the screens we will hear the best music.

Time for a Fella Irrefutable Logical Point (which a lot of people will attempt to refute)...

If The Blind Screen Audition Results In the Very Best Musicians Being Selected and They Play The Finest Music Possible and Every One Of Them Looks Exactly Like Albert Einstein On  Bad Hair Day Then That’s the Best Outcome That The People Who Pay Good Money To Attend Symphonies Could Hope For

Ok, start arguing about that.

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If we were to discontinue the Blind Audition and instead set up a Quota System that would openly be intended to increase the number of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Musicians regardless of the playing ability of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color musicians we will definitely get more inferior music coming out of our orchestra pits.

Did you just say, “Ah ha! Fella, you are guilty of believing that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Musicians cannot play as well as White Musicians!”

To that Fella says, “Absolutely not! Take a look at these two bullet points”...

Ø White Musicians will not play as well as they once did because they will not practice as much as they once did because they will know they cannot get a job playing music.

Ø Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Musicians will not play as well as they once did because they will not practice as hard as they once did because they will know they don’t need to be real good to get the job.

It is time you, My Dear Readers, to say, “Fella, that’s a brilliant point. Music in the future is gonna stink!”

Fella will not go that far but he is confident that music of the future will not be as good as it could have been.

See, I told you it would become less confusing and it did...Or did it?

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Hello Grandchild of Mine. Do You Want To Hear Me Drone On About The Old Days Again?

 

Here are a few observations from a Retired Mind which remembers things you probably don’t want to hear about...Or do u?

Ø Did you know that, when I was young, postage stamps did not have glue on their back and (hold your nose) we were required lick them with your glossa? (Google It) We had no idea what yucky stuff was lurking back there.

Ø When away from home we had to go into a phone booth to make a phone call. These phone booths were the same places that some people often used for urination.

Ø Since Steve Jobs had yet to be invented to invent the Cell Phone, we had to go into those smelly Phone Booths to make phone calls but now cars are Phone Booths and we hardly ever urinate in them. That’s progress.

Ø Since the Button had yet to be invented, we had to reach up and pull down the lift gate on the back of our SUVs to close them.

Ø Since the cell phone had yet to be invented, we had to drive with both hands on the steering wheel.

Ø We did not have little self-sticking return address stickers with pictures of cute little doggies on them for our envelopes. We had to write in the Return Addresses by hand. This was a tremendous time waster.

Ø Because the Flicker had yet to be invented, we actually had to get up out of our chairs and walk all the way across the TV Room (which had just been invented) to change TV Channels.

Ø You are going to find this one really hard to believe...The Electronic Key Fob had yet to be invented and we actually carried around Medal Keys to stick in our car doors just to get into our cars. What a pain that was!

Ø The manufacturers of Luxury Cars love this one...It appears Car Thieves are having a field day by electronically hacking into cars and driving them away all over the Fruited Plain. I have been noticing that the number of luxury cars on the road has multiplied a whole bunch. The thieves are driving their stolen cars all over everywhere and the Luxury Cars Manufacturers are selling new Luxury Cars to the rich people who had their cars hacked and driven away and they are driving their Replacement Luxury Cars all over everywhere.

>If you search something like “thieves hacking key fobs” you can read reports about this happening all over the Good Ole USofA.

>Here is just one... https://duckduckgo.com/?t=piriform&q=thieves+hacking+automobile+key+fobs&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dxk_fTTlGcMA

>Here is where you can buy protection... https://duckduckgo.com/?q=protect+key+fob+from+hacking&t=piriform&ia=web 

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: This message from Amazon sounds very important but actually it proves that a computer does not know the difference between a Significant Price Change and a Teenie Weenie Price Change...

Important messages about items in your Cart:

1 item in your Saved Items has changed price.

Items in your Shopping Cart will always reflect the most recent price displayed on their product detail pages.

• Ikea Bevara Bag Sealing Clips 30 Pack has decreased from $6.90 to $6.89

It’s Going To Happen But Can’t We Be Smart About It?

Took a Smiley Face out on 9/1/22 cuz it appeared in the posting as a triangle with an exclamation point in it & when re-published it became published 9/1/22 & not the real date of 5/2/13.

Supporters say the Internet Sales Tax Bill is about fairness for businesses and lost revenue for cities and states.

Yes, that’s the Good Ole USofA today ... We are all about Fairness and Revenue.

As much as I wish Congress were not going to start taxing Internet Sales, it is going to become the law of the land. I am resigned to that fact because it means Increased Tax Income to several levels of government and there appears to be no stopping our various governments once they see the possibility of getting more money out of us.

What I am about to convey to you in this Blog Posting is not straight out of my usually foolish head. I will be parroting an article in the Wall Street Journal by a John Donahoe on April 23, 2013. Mr. Donahoe opened my eyes about this issue maybe I can do the same for you.

I have no such hope that Congress will open its eyes like I did. They are too obsessed with “fairness”. In their way of thinking, it is not fair that Mom & Pop Stores on Main Street have to collect taxes but that evil Internet Stores up in the clouds do not have to collect taxes. This results in Evil Internet Stores having an unfair sales price advantage over Main Street Mom & Pop Stores and that is not fair.

If we really want to level the playing field, what they ought to do is require that Mom & Pop Main Street Stores charge for shipping like Evil Internet Store have to charge to get their product to you. When you protest, “Why should I have to pay shipping when you did not have to ship?” You can be told, “It’s only fair.”

The first new fact I saw after Mr. Donahoe started opening my eyes was that Mom & Pop also reside on the Internet. Actually there is a GigaTon of such small stores on the Internet. Mr. Donahoe has this to say...

• Today small businesses that operate online are responsible for collecting sales taxes on purchases made in the state where they are located. That is fair. But the proposed bill would require them to collect sales taxes on behalf of every state where they make a sale. That would make it difficult, if not impossible, for them to succeed.
• Mr. Donahoe says small businesses with fewer than 50 employees or with less than $10 million in annual out-of-state sales should be exempt from the chore of collecting sales taxes nationwide. This is a reasonable exemption, equivalent to other federal standards, such as those set by the Affordable Care Act.
• This bill, as it now stands, could put entrepreneurs like Colleen Rast out of business. Colleen and her three employees run all of their business operations out of a small office in Kalispell, Mont. Although her apparel-sales business is located in a state without sales taxes, the Marketplace Fairness Act currently under consideration would require Colleen to track and comply with the tax laws of more than 9,600 tax jurisdictions across the U.S. It would create costly paperwork and accounting burdens and subject her to potential audits and litigation from tax collectors in states that could be thousands of miles away from where she lives and works.

I am responsible for the bolding in the above bullet. Don’t you think it was a very appropriate place to put in bolding?

• The $10 million exemption would protect businesses like Colleen's. To put the exemption in perspective, Amazon makes more than $10 million in sales every 90 minutes. This would be a reasonable exemption that recognizes that small businesses are vastly different from the nation's billion-dollar retailers. These are very small startups, mom-and-pops and entrepreneurs whose businesses and cost structures are nothing like billion-dollar retailers. They should not face the same tax-collection burdens.
• This isn't a debate pitting Internet Store Sales against Main Street Store Sales. This is actually about big retailers, like Amazon, trying to undermine small online businesses. Amazon supports the bill, while at the same time it negotiates local tax exemptions across the country where it builds warehouses. Small businesses don't have that kind of bargaining power.

Do you think Big Businesses like an Amazon would be sad if their many small competitors went out of business? The Smartfella does not think they would shed a single tear if their competitors were reduced in number.

The late Paul Harvey just came in and asked me to tell you the Rest of the Story. Mr. Donahoe is the president and CEO of eBay Inc. This means he has a vested interest in seeing Mom & Pop Small Internet Businesses survive.

That being said, it is up to us to make up our own minds. The Smartfella believes that asking small businesses to comply with 9,600 Tax Jurisdictions is asking too much and (are you ready for this?) is Unfair!

This posting is so serious that as I was writing it I sometimes became confused that it was really me. I kept saying to myself, “Self, this isn’t Foolishness!” Can you ever forgive me? I’ll get back on track next time. 

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

More: If you want to read all of what Mr. Donahoe had to say, click here... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323735604578438643723029594.html

LiveJournal Tags: Internet Sales Tax,Marketplace Fairness Tax,John Donahoe