I recently watched the first episode of “Tracker” on CBS and Paramount+. My first thought when it came on was that I really liked the main character and the actor (Justine Hartley) who plays him. I have been a fan of his since his days on Smallville as Green Arrow. The first episode was not bad. Justin did a good job and the story was solid. His character is likable and has a mission in life, which also pays him well. The problem I had with the show was the DEI supporting cast that was put in place. Right off the bat, you can tell that no one else in the show got their jobs because they were the best actor/actress for the job. Most of them can’t act and got their job because they checked the right boxes. I have seen them before on other shows and they should not be in front of a camera pretending to be someone else. I am not sure what multiverse this show is taking place in but it’s not anything like the real world. Time will tell but I believe that the horrible supporting cast will kill this show unless some changes are made. Let me know what you think.
Infinite (2021)
What a great story that didn’t get told. This movie looked great and if you are just looking for something to kill a little time then, this will do it. It’s flashy and tries to be a big action flick but it just doesn’t do a great job. Yes, it is watchable and as a writer, it has given me a few ideas for future books but it’s just not great like it could have been. The primus of the story is, Highlander-esk. There is a race of people who come back every time they die but they remember everything they knew in those past lives. The group splits into two factions, one that wants to end all life on earth and the other that wants to better life for everyone. It starts in 1985 where the good guys are trying to keep the bad guys from getting their hands on the “killer device” that will wipe out every living thing on the planet. It ends up in the air with you feeling confused about what happened. It then jumps to the present day where Mark Walberg is going to a job interview. So right off the bat, it’s 35 years later and 50-year-old Marc is supposed to be one of the guys who died 35 years ago and came back? That was the first sign that the people who made this film really didn’t care about the story. The rolls should have been reversed. Walberg should have played the 85’s version and Dylan O’Brien should have been the 2020 version.
I don’t want to give a lot but Walberg’s character gets himself in trouble and this is when the movie turns into a “Wanted (2008)” knock-off. The guy doesn’t know he is part of a secret group and a girl comes in to teach him. After that, it is the typical race to save the world movie with very little character development and sexual tension between a woman and a man, who could be her dad, but who she is not in love with at all because her man is trapped in purgatory. This leads me to the biggest plot hole in this whole movie. The big bad wants his life to end, yet he has a way some stop his enemies from coming back but never thinks to just use it on himself? Anyway of course in the end Mark remembers who he is and beats the bad guy. It’s not a great ending but it could have been worse.
My biggest issue with this movie is that it could have been a great story. It had a great primus; the writers just didn’t care enough to tell you the story. The whole thing feels like a Micro-Machine commercial where everything just happens really fast and there is no time to think or soak up the story. Imagine if they told the whole Matrix trilogy in one movie, that’s what this was. This story should have been told in several movies or even in a mini-series (on a side note, mini-series were great and should be brought back). You’re telling thousands of years of history in 106 minutes. That’s just too fast for the audience to get anything out of it or care about the characters. In the end this movie the little engine that just could. The story was there and it wanted to get over the hill it just couldn’t. 2 Stars!
Bill and Ted Face the Music
I loved the first two Bill and Ted movies and I am a huge Keanu Reeves fan but this movie was GOD AWFUL! I would tell you that what I am about to say will spoil the movie for you, if you haven’t seen it, but nothing could spoil this glass of rotten milk. To start with, I don’t know what they used to against Keanu to make him do this movie but you could tell he didn’t want to be there. He completely phoned it in. There were times when he looked like he completely forgot who he was playing. It reminded me of a bad SNL skit were the actor to read the queue cards. The jokes weren’t funny and nothing about the movie made any sense. All they do is bounce from time to time talking to themselves at different ages and accomplish nothing. Meanwhile their daughters, that’s right “Little Bill” and “Little Ted” are girls now…ugh, get their own time machine and basically redo the first movie but this time it’s to put a diverse band together. Also, from the looks of it, the future is run by an all-women council as well. It’s led my Rufus’ wife and his daughter now has his job. This whole movie is one big GIRL POWER load of crap. Once it got close to the end and you find out that the daughters are the “key to everything”, I couldn’t take it anymore and turned it off. The only bright spot in this movie was Alex Winter who named his icon roll perfectly. If you haven’t watched this movie, don’t bother, you’ll only be disappointed.
“My grace is sufficient.”
That verse came to me last night when I was drive through town. Like many of you, I am really worried about what is going on in our country right now. The thought of four years of “Obama Part 2” is not something I relish. I am still hopeful the all this fraud will be brought to the light and the man who really won will get a second term. With that said though, it’s not looking good at this point and I am starting to worry a little. I found myself asking, (why?). Why would God let us go backward after all the good that has been done in the last four years? I really don’t get it, to be honest. I know things happen because of the sin that lives in this world but after decades of downhill, I thought things were going to swing back. After all, were where primed for a 1980’s boom all over again. Why allow the rug be pulled out from under us now?
I am going to tell you something that I have believed for years and hoped that I was wrong about. I have told people that I believed we will see another civil war in this country, in my lifetime. When I decided that, I made changes in my life. Most of my kids still lived at home at the time and I knew if something happened I wanted them to be able to take care of themselves. The first thing I did was to plant a garden. I had never done that before but if the crap hits the fan, you better be able to grow food. I bought a gun to protect my family. I laid out a plan to keep my family safe and made sure they knew what that plan was. This might all sound a little crazy but to me, it just made sense to be prepared.
Four years ago, I saw something that I didn’t think I would ever see. A man who had everything to lose and nothing to gain became POTUS. This man, though flawed, wanted to help put this country back on track. He wanted to get us out of the gutter and back on top again. Things were looking up. I thought we might dodge the bullet I had been worried was coming. If this man and the voters that supported him could put this country back on track, then the doom that awaited us would be avoided. For three years we worked hard while the other side of the aisle worked night and day to stop the good stuff that was happening. The great thing was, they were failing. We were in better shape than we had been in decades and things were going great. Then after three solid years of straight uphill, we got slammed with the biggest fraud in history, the “deadly” Covid 19. Before you get all bent out of shape, yes, it is a virus, but it is not the “pandemic” they have made it out to be. It was and is a pollical stunt that allowed the dirty politicians to take our rights away and set up the lovely mail-in voting which led to massive voter fraud. Election night or the next morning anyway, I was fit to be tied. I couldn’t believe what they did. It was plain as day that a hand full of cities had counterfeited hundreds of thousands of votes and cheated on a massive scale. Let’s be honest we all knew this was going on but no one ever thought they would have the balls to do something on this level.
Needless to say, I have not been as optimistic as I had been over the last four years. Even though the frauddemic, I knew that after the election it would all go away. Now, if this is allowed to stand, elections in this country are over. The dirty politicians will have free rein to stick whatever incompetent moron they want to in any office. No one should want that, regardless of who you voted for. Our votes will be meaningless and that will for sure lead to the bullet that I had started to believe we may dodge. Once people understand that no matter who they vote for, they are no longer choosing the winner, war will happen and it will be bad. My nightmare will come true. Then what do our kids and grandkids have to look forward to? I’ll tell you, pain and suffering. That is the thought that keeps me up at night. I don’t want that for them or anyone else.
That leads me back to my first point “My grace is sufficient”. What does it mean? I am not a bible scholar but I can tell you what it means to me. If you read the full verse you see that God does his best work, when the chips are down. Doesn’t mean that he causes it, it means he’ll be there when we screw it up. Things happen, people die, sometimes your world seems to fall apart but he has your back. I don’t believe we understand fully why these things happen. Most things we bring on ourselves unfortunately. It can be so frustrating and you want to someone to tell why, but that doesn’t always happen. In times like those, you have to get hold on and ride it out. When you feel like you’re all a loan…you’re not. When you feel like things will never get better…they will. He is there watching out for you, which lead me to another version I have also turned to in time of sorrow. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, in a nutshell, that he will not allow anything to happen to you, that you can’t handle. The comfort of knowing, he is there and will not allow anything that we can’t handle, happen to us, is what keeps me going during the bad times and it will continue to do so through any hard times ahead.
I hope this helps some of you, whether you are worried about our country or just having problems of another nature. You are alone, if you are a believer you need to remember that. If you are not a believer maybe it’s time to do some soul reaching and find out for yourself, what you really do believe. I’m not trying to preach at you, believe me, I have a mountain of my own issue I need to deal with before I tell anyone else how to live their life but I do know that I have survived things that would crush a lot of people and I did because his grace was sufficient.
2 Corinthians 12:9
New International Version
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
1 Corinthians 10:13
New International Version
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
You have the power!
Like many of you, this mask stuff is really getting on my last good nerve. Though I do have to wear one at work sometimes, which I don’t like either, I generally refuse to wear them. Now, before some of you get all crazy and send me comments about “It’s a privately-owned business and they have the right to require masks!”, you’re right they do. I also have the right not to shop there. Case in point, my wife, step-son, and I recently went shopping for him a new bed. We stopped at the first store and of course, the door was locked and they were meeting you there so they could maintain a headcount. The masked woman met us at the door and was very polite, letting us right in even though we were not wearing masks. We spoke for a minute and proceeded to look around. After a few minutes, the woman approached us once again.
“I’m sorry but they told me you are going to have to put on a mask,” she told us.
“Ok, that’s fine.”, I replied as we followed back towards the door.
“I have some masks here for you.”, She tells us as we get closer.
“No, thanks, we’ll just leave,” I told her as we exited the building.
I don’t know if it was management or a noise Nancy that made a big deal about it but someone cost that one a sale and took money from her pocket. Someone of you might disagree since I am the one that refused to comply but I would say, you’re wrong. This store had a choice. Enforcing these ridiculous mask mandates or let people make their own choice. They can choose to enforce it, which is their right to do so, but they really don’t have the power to do that unless we “the people” give it to them.
They are a business and that business is there to make money. They do that by selling you goods that they have bought for less money than they are selling it to you. Notice that “you” are a big part of this process. If you are removed from that process, then they don’t make money. Money, no business. It’s this fact that gave dawn to sayings like “The customer is always right.” They need your business and generally want to make you happy. Over the last few years though I have noticed that a lot of companies act like they are doing you some kind of favor by doing business with you. Rude employees, overpriced junk, and generally unpleasant environments have started to take over stores. One of my pet peeves is to move the produces around. UGH! That drives me insane. It would be different if it was done to make your shopping easier but it’s not. It’s done to make you have to look for stuff in hope that you will see things that maybe weren’t on your list of things to buy. You’re looking for taco seasoning and end up buying cake mixing and icing because you saw it during your search and thought it looked so delicious. We can choose to not shop there anymore but most of us won’t do that so they get the illusion that they have the power. To a degree, they’re right but it’s the only power which we give them and we can remove that power at any moment.
The power is in our dollars. I have told people for a year to “vote with their money” and stop giving it to people you don’t agree with or who will use that money to support things you don’t agree with. This mask stuff is no different. We “the people” have elected little dictators who think they are Kings/Queens and we are the peasants who must obey them. We gave these people power over us and we must take it back. That starts with anything you can do to resist their power over you. I choose not to wear a mask unless I have no other choice. If your job requires it, there is little you can do to stop it, unless everyone bands together. Losing your job may make a great statement but good luck finding another one that isn’t going to require a mask as well. This kind of thing is really on the people who run the businesses. They are the ones who need to grow a pair and stand up for their and their employees’ rights. You can however not shop places that refuse service unless you’re masked. This stuff would already be over if more people just refused. Businesses would be up and arms over these unconstitutional mandates and the court systems and paid for politicians would be up in arms over it.
But most people aren’t doing that. You pull, get out of your car, put that ridiculous mask on your face, walk in there, and give them your money (power). The ones that really crack me up are the guys who ride up to Walmart on their bike, tattooed, leathered, and looking like they just got off on parole then put a mask on to go into the store. I have to laugh every single time I see it. You want to put on this tough guy image but you’re scared of the flu and 100-pound Walmart employee at the door. Come on! Why, is the question I keep asking myself. Why do we allow people to rule us in such a manner? Some of you are simply scared and I can understand that to a point but if you haven’t caught on to the sham of all this stuff by now, you need to pull your head out of the sand and do a little research. The rest of you I don’t get at all. I have seen some of you who I know for a fact you don’t believe this stuff yet you give in to it and get led along like a good little sheep. Stop letting them do that to you. Stop giving people your money and power to use again. If you don’t at some point the power you have as a citizen of this great nation will be gone and your opinion won’t matter anymore. In the word of the late great Earl Pitts “WAKE UP AMERICA!” and take your power back.
Netflix doesn’t care if they keep you as a customer!
For the last few days I have noticed a Black Lives Matter ad popping up on my Netflix every time I open it. Since I believe this organization is not only bad but doing nothing to help the black community I get very frustrated when seeing it. Like most things, I thought maybe it would go away after a few days. By this morning I was ready to blow and wanted it gone. I contacted their support, thinking they would at least listen and send my complaint up to management. Instead “Cathy” copy and pasted some replies and basically told me she would be happy to cancel my service. This whole disagreement could have been resolved if they had just told me how to turn it off.
“Manage Profiles >> Edit Profiles >> Edit Maturity Settings >> Under Title Restrictions enter “Featured Collection” and click Save”
Instead they spoke to me like my business didn’t matter to them. I am not going to convince you to do anything, just read over the conversations and decide for yourself. I have turned it off for now but I will be looking for another streaming app and most likely will be leaving Netflix. I am just tired of these companies being political.
“Your issue is: Stop with the BLM crap everything I open my app or I am cancelling my service! I don’t pay for this service so I can be lectured!
You are now chatting with: Cathy
Netflix Cathy
I understand. No worries. Let me help your email address please?
You
pendleton.troy@gmail.com
Netflix Cathy
Thank you. You are having issue with the app?
You
I am having an issue with you post a BLM message on my screen every time I open the app.
Netflix Cathy
I see…I apologized for the trouble.
Netflix Cathy
Im checking on it.
Netflix Cathy
What is the exact details showing on the screen? If I may ask?
You
It a full screen Black Lives Matter ad with shows or something listed under it, that I have to click past to get to the home screen. If you want to put that stuff on the slide, that’s your business but I should not have to click past it, to get to the home screen
Netflix Cathy
May I ask your device?
You
Firestick
Netflix Cathy
thank you.
Netflix Cathy
Netflix does not push advertisements to members using our service. If you’re seeing ads or pop-ups when streaming video from Netflix to your computer, your computer or browser has most likely been compromised by adware or malware. To remove it, use the anti-malware, anti-adware or anti-virus software recommended by your computer manufacturer or a trusted IT professional.
Netflix Cathy
“We believe that one of the ways Netflix can have a direct impact is through our stories. The Black Lives Matter collection speaks to racial injustice and the Black experience in America – and we hope that highlighting these titles can help increase empathy and understanding.”
You
I should not have to click past it, to get to the home screen. Turn that part off or I will be cancelling it.
Netflix Cathy
I see. Thank you for the feedback. For all Netflix titles, we work hard to maintain the artistic integrity of our content creators, and present their work unaltered.
Netflix Cathy
If you decide to cancel We will understand and respect your decision.
Netflix Cathy
Still with me?
You
not for much longer. Your Political stand is much more important than your paying customers so, I will be leaving you service asap
Netflix Cathy
We understand. We value our customers. Netflix is an on-demand service, so members can choose what to watch based on the detailed descriptions of the titles. In this case, we are just notifying our members of what titles are available.
You
bull crap, I have been a member since the DVD days and I have never been stopped before getting to the home screen for an ad like that.
You
You are have decide to get political.
Netflix Cathy
We appreciate the feedback. I apologized personally. Would you like us to proceed the cancellation?
You
I will be doing that by the end of the day after I sign up for another streaming service.
Netflix Cathy
I see. I understand and respect your decision about this.”
Freedom or Socialist State, what will you choose?
The time has come when I believe all of will have to decide what kind of country we want. That sounds like a bold statement and something just a decade again people would have called a conspiracy theory but hear me out. From the beginning we have been a two-sided country. Some colonists wanted to leave the British Emperor, and some did not. Some wanted an American King, and some did not. In the end we chose to leave and we chose a republic, not a monarch. We need this because the majority of people understood that it was the best option for the people. It allowed them to be free from tyranny. If the elected reps didn’t do what the people wanted, the people would remove them. They set up a brilliant blueprint for a free society. It truly put the power of the country in the hands of its people. Along the way we used the blueprint to ensure all Americans regardless of race or religion would all have those freedoms. Nothings perfect, but it was working better than even the founding fathers could have imagined. Wars came and went. We debated over rights and wrongs. We took opposite sides on issues from time to time but one thing remained, we all wanted to have the freest society we could or at least that’s what we thought.
Quietly during the second world war a small seed was planted.
“Government can do much people job of taking care of people than private industry.”
The seed led to welfare, social security, government loans, government house…etc. All of which sound like great ideas on paper. We have a “safety net,” as many like to call it, encase something happens. There were two major problems with this idea. First, when you have a safety net, it takes away the fear or losing and will make some people lazy.
“I know I have to walk this tight rope, but if I can’t or if it’s too hard, the safety net will catch me.”
The second is that it gives government powers that it was never supposed to have. It was never supposed to be that kind of protector. It was meant to protect for foreign treats, not ourselves. These ideas now made the government a wealthy parent who would coddle us if we didn’t work hard enough to take care of ourselves. Now a parent instead of an employee the government took charge and decade after decade they took more and more control while handing out mountains of rules and debt.
That brings us to today. We now have a group hell bent on not only growing that original seed but using it to replace the amber waves of grain with fields of socialism. This group no longer wants a free society, they want power and government control. With that said some of these people are not evil and not even really socialist, they are just under the impression that it would be fairer for everyone. I call these people the “that’s not fair” crowd. They don’t really want people’s freedom removed, they just want everyone to have the same things. The rest are power hungry devils who want to destroy this country and everything it stands for. The latter is winning among that group and I believe that the rest are going along in fear of the devils. They have now spread from the government into all types of media and they will lie, steal or kill, to accomplish their goals. Our country is being pulled apart by these lies.
“White people are racist”
“All cops are racist killers”
“Black people are scary”
“Men are chauvinists”
“Men are stupid”
“Minorites aren’t able to help themselves”
“Mothers are always the better parent”
“Women are way smarter than men”
“Believe all women”
“Divorced dads are dead beats”
“Know your truth”
“Everything is normal”
“The new normal”
I could go on all day, but I think you get the point. These lies don’t even have to match up with each other. They will tell you one lie, then tell you something completely different the next day. They have used these lies to splinter this country into factions. Small groups of people that can be controlled with lies. The side effect of these lies is fear, and that is going to crumble this country. Right now, fear of other races, cops, and an invisible sickness are the tools in use. Look what it is doing to us. We are telling on each other for not wearing a mask and “social distancing” while our cities are burning because “Cops are bad”. This has to stop. You can’t have freedom when the people will help enforce unconstitutional mandates by power hungry governors. You are playing right into the socialist hand book. They can’t maintain or control the people without the people being willing to tattle like children on each other. They know this and they are using it to force rules upon that break your God-given rights.
You also can’t have freedom without peace. Believe me I was more than outraged about what happen to George Floyd but burning down cities is not the way to deal with it and it will make things worse. These riots are planned and executed by the very same devils that I spoke of earlier. It’s done for two reasons. The first of which is to attempt to get rid of our President. Like his style or not, he is a man that like freedom and I believe he wants us to return to a free society. The devils don’t like this man because he speaks out against them and they want him gone at any cost. The other is to force the government to take over policing. This is something they have been trying to do since 9-11 when Homeland security was started. If Trump is forced to send in troops to squash these riots, it will not only look like he is using them to get his way but it will set the president for a power hungry socialist like the last guy we had to use them at will. This is a very dangerous time and I believe the days of not getting involved and the “it doesn’t affect me” attitude are over. The time has come to stop this in its tracks.
Trump will be forced to call in troops to stop this. It’s not long, just property damage, they are murdering people now, and it has to be stopped. The socialist Majors and Governors aren’t doing anything to stop it, so someone will have to. I hate to see that happen, but as President, what do you do when cities are burning and people are dying? The thing we can do is know this and understand that he is not trying to take power. I believe what he will do is call in the National Guard to return order and then the local police will then take it from there. With that said, if he was to use this as some kind of power grab, we would need to stand again him as well. I don’t believe that is the case though and when he does as I believe he will, we need to support him for it. We need to stop voting for people who have socialistic beliefs. You can no longer have the view of (he or she is in the same party as me so I have to vote for them.) You need to choose the person that you believe wants freedom, not socialism.
The other thing we must do is stop allowing and helping to enforce these mandates by these people. As free people we have the right to manage ourselves. If this virus scares you, then you have the right to wear whatever you want to protect yourself or even to stay home. If it doesn’t scare you, you should the same rights. Fear is getting the best of people and they are giving the state and local governments control over how we manage ourselves. Let me be clear because I know some of you are thinking it. I don’t like stupid laws that are freedom suppressive and over reach. I think they should be done away with, period. With that said, those are laws passed through proper channels. These COVID-19 mandates are not laws, they are orders from 1 person being carried out by others below them. As business owners, customers and citizens we have to stand up to these mandates and refuse to be forced into following them. Stop telling your customers they have to wear a mask. Stop telling your employees they have to wear masks. Business are forcing their employees and customers to wear a mask, stay six feet apart and following these mandates to the letter because they fear their overlords will smack them down. As a business owner, stop it. Stand up for the rights or your customers, employees and yourself. If you’re too small to standalone, join with others and stand together. As a customer, stop giving in. If you go to the door and they tell you “You have to wear a mask” turn around and walk away. If you go in and it’s a two hour wait because half the tables are closed down or there is too many people in the building, leave. When no one is shopping or eating there, the business will be forced to stand up. As an employee, tell your employer no. You may lose your job but again if enough people do this, the business will be forced to stand up. The people of this country have to take it back from the socialist who would see it destroyed. We have to stand united as free “Americans” first and correct the course we are on. Then we can discuss any other issue we might have as a society. I only hope that it is not too late and it can be restored.
Time Brings Forgiveness
I have spent many years feeling guilty because I missed my grandfather (Papaw) more than I missed my grandmother (Mamaw). I wondered why that was because I was extremely close to both of them. My mother and I lived with them until I was almost four, and then I spent every summer and Christmas break with them until I was fourteen years old. They were more like parents to me than grandparents. Papaw passed away just after my thirteenth birthday, but Mamaw lived many years after that, passing away in 2011. Though his death was very sudden, hers was expected and less of a shock to me when it happened. What did shock me was how well I handled it and the fact that for a long time after that I would only miss her when I thought of something she had done that was funny or caring. To the contrary, there hasn’t been a day since 1987 that I haven’t missed Papaw. It bothered me but you can’t help how you feel so I kind of stopped worrying about it. Fast forward to a few months ago and I woke up one morning and had a thought. What if my anger with her was keeping me from dealing with her loss and missing her? See, though she did live much longer than Papaw, her death was, debatably, mostly her own doing. No, it was suicide but, in my eyes, it might as well been.
Let me tell you a little about her and maybe you’ll understand. She was probably the strongest and my willful woman I have ever known. This is a woman who would get up before the sun, make a fire in the stove, and cook breakfast before most people were even starting to wake up. Nothing ever stopped her from doing what she wanted to do and if someone needed help, she was the first person there. Sure, she had her flaws like everyone else, but she was extraordinary. I watched her face each challenge in her little head on and she never just gave up. Then the unthinkable happen, she gave up. For some reason this woman that I respected and loved so much did a complete one-eighty. She now had an attitude of entailment and a deep need to be taken care of despite there not really being that much wrong with her other than being overweight. She was also taking mountains of medication that I knew couldn’t have been good for her but she insisted she had every ailment known to man. Her loving sweetness had soured and she could be quite hateful when she wanted to. I was disappointed at first, but soon my disappointment turned to aggravation and eventually anger. I was furious that she had changed so much and was no longer the woman I loved so deeply. All my children knew of this great woman was that she complained all the time and was a little mean. That was heart breaking. I wanted them to see the Mamaw that I had and feel the love that I once felt from her. The last few years of her life I barely saw her. I just couldn’t take watching her turn into this person I didn’t know. I was so angry at her. “Why did she do still?” I kept asking myself.
Then one afternoon I got a call that she was dying. At seventy-nine years old she had decided; no more meds and she was ready to go. By now that medication she had been on, had ruined her body and without them things would start to shut down. It took days for her to pass away and twice I stood by her bed telling her it was ok, but it wasn’t. I told her what I thought she wanted to hear, but I was still angry at her for the years of transformation. I wanted so badly to just yell at her and tell her to snap out if. It was too late though, my Mamaw was gone and my kids would never know the woman I did. We buried her a few days later, and that was the end of it, or at least I thought it was.
Now, as I was saying earlier, a few months ago, and I woke up one morning and had a thought. What if my anger with her was keeping me from dealing with her loss and missing her? Why this thought came to me, I don’t know, but it didn’t. Was I really still mad at her? When I thought about it, I realized I wasn’t and it was time to move on passed the hurt I had felt. Maybe my anger was justified, maybe it was wasn’t. Either way, it was over and nine years of absence had forced me to rely on memories of her, not my anger. There was twenty-seven years of great memories to drown out the ten or so years of bad and now the bad stuff is just a small spec on the bottom of the pool. Sure it’s there, but it’s not keeping me from swimming. Time has brought me to a place of forgiveness. Today, I write this with a loving memory in my mind and heart about my Mamaw and I miss her very much. I think about her almost daily and that a good thing. I wrote this in hopes that it might help someone else out there struggling to let go of past hurts and anger. If you look in deep, you might find that Time brought forgiveness for you as well.
The Cowards of Industry
All my life I heard from people, the news media and movies about the “Titans of Industry”. Men and Women who take risk and dare to forge new paths in business. You know the people I am talking about. That person in your company that makes everyone sweat and sit up straight when they walk into the room. No one wants to get on their bad side for fear of losing their job or even worse, being blackballed in their industry. This person owns the room and the conversations there with in. They push the company forward with their bold, cut throat decisions.
At least that’s what I always thought, anyway. It turns out that they aren’t Titans at all and mostly just people scared to make waves. I started noticing this many years ago when Human Resource departments started to take over company policies. Many of these CEOs, Presidents and Chairmen knew these new policies were ridiculous and not conducive for a good workforce, but they caved in and allowed them to be implemented. Then I watched as HR slowly took over every company I worked for. They ruled the roost, and these so-called Titans did nothing. Page after page of politically correct nonsense became the law of the land and has ruin many formally great places to work. Now we’ve moved on to an all new issue, the dreaded Covid-19. At first, I understood some concern. This thing was a little unknown, though in my opinion it was mostly hyped, and it was probably smart to be cautious. I don’t think the shutdowns were necessary at all but a making your employees aware and asking anyone who is feeling sick to stay home, is not a bad thing. It’s the same thing most companies do for the flu every year. A little caution is not what we got. These companies folded like a house of cards and many shut their doors. This cost the companies millions and their employees lost jobs. Sure, the government over paid unemployment benefits but those took a few weeks to kick in and there are people that still haven’t got theirs. Not to mention it will take months if not years for some of these jobs to come back and what will these people do when that fat unemployment extra runs out? The companies that did stay open soon implemented rules on their employees that make no sense.
- You must wear a mask at all times.
- You must wear gloves at all times.
- You must wipe down every surface every fifteen minutes.
- You must stay six feet apart at all times.
They started doing stuff like stacking boxes in front of counters and desks to keep people apart. Hanging signs everywhere telling people the rules and to wash their hands. Talk about not having any faith in your employees. If you think the people that work for you are so dumb that they won’t wash their hands unless you they see at least five or six signs coming in and out of the bathroom, then you might want to get some new employees. As for the other new rules, hot masks and gloves aren’t good for anyone’s health. They over heat your and lower your oxygen levels, which can affect your immune system. There is no way I would force someone to wear those things while trying to do their jobs. Not to mention, they really aren’t doing anything to help. If there is something out there you can catch, you’re probably more likely to get it because you are constantly touching your face to adjust the hot, uncomfortable mask on it. Even better some of these companies have now start forcing their customers to wear them to come in and buy their products. Talk about bad customer care.
“We want your business, but put on this nice hazmat suit on first.”
Where are the Titans? Where are these leaders of industry who should be standing up for their employees and customers? Very few of these people stood up against this over reach of government power of everyone’s rights. These are the people that have the power and the money to do so, but they have not. Most of the people I saw fight back are small businesses. People who are so scared of loosing their business that they stepped up and took a risk. Many of whom have been jailed and had their licenses stripped. Elon Musk is the one CEO of a large company that I’ve seen stand up to this and you saw what happened, the government caved. The government knows they can’t push him around and that he has the money and power to push back. With that said, I here he is still going to impose the above nonsense on his employees but at this point, just fighting to reopen is a step in the right direction.
My point to all this is, we need those Titans back now more than ever. We need the people who will fight off government over reach. Someone to stand up and say, “ENOUGH! We are going back to work and getting people’s lives back.” We need the Titans of Industry from days long ago, not the Cowards of Industry we have today.
Good TV shows are hard to find!
Good TV shows are hard to find!
More and more I find myself re-watching TV shows that have long since ended. One of these shows, which I have watched about 8 episodes in the last week, is The Mentalist. I noticed it on Prime a little over a week ago and it has pretty much been the only thing I have watched since. It is such a great show and has a fantastic cast. The main star of the show is Simon Baker, who also stared in a show call The Guardian. Maybe I will write up something about that show sometime as well, it’s another great one. The Mentalist is about a man name Patrick Jane who loses his wife and daughter at the hands of a serial killer named Red John. A lot of back story revolves around catching him, but each episode has its own story and plot. Cast is made up of characters you can believe are real. Each having their own strengths and weaknesses. Each having a role to play. The acting is top-notch and the chemistry is some of the best I have ever seen on a show. The only one I can think of, off the top of my head, that would match it is JAG. The episodes are well written and thought out. They are not always hard to figure out, but there are some surprises along the way. It has smooth camera work and not a lot of jumping around and quick takes to make it look edgy or complex. I really just can’t say enough good stuff about it.
As I was watching the first few episodes it dawned on me that there really isn’t much out there like it anymore. Each character is well written and has their own style and characteristics. It was women on the show that really stood out when you compare them to today’s female characters. They are nothing alike on the show, other than both being cops. They all have ranges of emotion and handle themselves like women in the real world. nowadays, every woman is written the same way. Five foot three, one hundred and twenty pounds of tough chick. Don’t get me wrong, that works sometimes but not in shows that are supposed to be realistic. Most people, women and men, in the real world know their limitations. Not the women in shows of today. These women have no limitations and no flaws. They can do no wrong and are “unstoppable”. There is nothing worse than a show full of loud mouth, bossy, tough chicks that look like they would fall down if the wind blew hard. There is nothing appealing about it and in fact I would say it’s a smack in the face to women. Most women don’t act like that. They know there is a lot more to a person than something so one dimensional. How much fun is a story there the person can’t lose or is flawless? Even in the old school action movies, the heroes were flawed. Most of the time they had lots of flaws and the only thing they were good at was this one thing they needed for the movie.
This is all caused by lazy writers that are more interested in their agenda than telling a good story. They start with bad characters who they know nothing about other than their “oppression” type (gay, female, ethnic…etc.) and then go about writing a story that speaks out about that so-called oppression. This makes for bad stories and even worse characters with no depth or personality. It makes someone like me, who has always loved TV shows and movies, not want to even watch it anymore or at the very least not watch anything new. You just get tired of the same lame characters and the same BS story lines.
- White people are bad.
- Men are bad.
- Orange man bad.
- Any life style you have is normal and everyone should accept it.
- Women can do anything a man can do.
- Women don’t need a man.
- Everyone is oppressed.
These few things cover just about everything on TV now, and I am fed up with it. They have ruined several shows on Netflix that had great first seasons with good stories and characters with a crappy second season with terrible stories and characters. It’s as if they can’t help themselves.
This brings me back to my opening point, which I find myself watching more and more older shows. Maybe that’s what it will take for these companies to catch on that they are putting out garbage. If everyone stopped watching the new stuff and tuned in to old shows, they would see people don’t want this crap. If you do, make sure you check out The Mentalist on Prime. The show is funny, dramatic and just well put together. You’ll be glad you did.
One last thing, if you find a new show that doesn’t have all the SWJ stupidity, leave me a comment and let me know so I can check it out.