Trump is SOOOO stupid! Look how STUPID Trump is!

This is just getting so friggen tiring AND boring. Every figgen time there is a republican in the White House the media eventually gets around to how friggen STUPID the President is. How he is so backward and doesn't understand technology. Such a dumb hick.

They did this with Bush when they went on and on about how he didn't know how a grocery checkout scanner worked, which was a lie of course but who [that REALLY matters] cares, right? It made a GREAT story.

Well we have a republican in the White House again and so it is time to drag out the "look how stupid he is" meme. The latest example is Slate with their "Two Years Into His Presidency and Donald Trump Still Doesn't Use Computers" story.

What an OUTSTANDING, fact based, hard hitting exposé,

There are just a few problems though, for any sane person that is.

#1, this photo that they used in the story:

what pray tell is that off to the side there? Not a coffee machine, not a basketball... Why it is a laptop computer! Sure it could be a prop but why bother?

#2, Though one can not be sure where Trump does it, he does tweet a LOT. He is doing that on some device. It might not be a desktop or laptop computer but it must be at the very least a tablet/iPad or a "smart-phone". Most people understand that a modern smart phone is a computer.

#3, Trump often tweets about what he sees/hears/reads on the news, on YouTube, and on Google. He accesses those "feeds" somehow...

Now to be fair, we are given some supporting evidence for the story's suposition:

1#, We have a tweet by a White House reporter:

He doesn’t use a computer. Someone is doing the googling but not him. https://t.co/8QAdK7s69t

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 28, 2018

Well, it is hard to argue with a NYT reporter on what the President is or is not capable of as they follow him around 24/7 right? And the NYT has absolutely NO reason in the world to make up something negative about the President, right?

#2, We are presented with another tweet from another reporter, this one ABC:

ABC News reporter Tara Palmeri, who also covers the White House, further explained that Trump sometimes reads on an iPad, which he refers to as “the flat one.”

sometimes Trump reads things on a iPad that he calls "the flat one" https://t.co/ZnbWRRSXY4

— Tara Palmeri (@tarapalmeri) August 28, 2018

Again, there is ABSOLUTELY no reason to suspect a ABC reporter for texting out something negative about this President, is there?

We are also treated to this insightful passage:

But more critically, this once again raises the question of whether the president of the United States knows how to use a laptop, and the answer seems to be “nope.” This is hardly the first time Trump’s tech habits, or lack thereof, have been talked about. As recently as 2016, it was reported that Trump rarely uses a computer: He preferred to read paper newspapers and magazines and to have emails printed out for him. He has Barron for the cyber, remember?

Based on this mountain of evidence this from Slate, you would have thought that Trump had replied to a question about a deleted/wiped server with "What, you mean with a cloth?" (nice Clinton dig, right?)

Look, maybe Trump uses a computer, maybe he does not. According to Forbes, at the start of 2017 Trump was worth $3.1 billion (with a B). The guy might just know a thing or two about how a business is run. He may have had a little bit of experience dealing with Government (at many levels), and may just understand the impact that Government, regulations, and taxes can have on business and the economy. With all that, do you honestly care if he knows how to install a Win10 service pack?

Lack of Agency

If one were to go by the way news stories are presented, over [let us say] the last 50 years, one could be forgiven for thinking that we already live in a "Skynet" world. It is amazing how many "things" do things. "Cars" run into buildings. "Guns" go off. knives cut people. All sorts of inanimate objects just up and decide to do stupid and/or harmful things.

Where is the individual human agency in all of this? In order to find responsible and/or culpable individuals, these arbitrators of truth need only find a way to be able to shift the blame to a conservative and/or Republican [or group there of] who in many cases take the blame for things that they were not even directly involved in.

Take for example the NRA. According to liberal/Democrat pundits and news media, the NRA is responsible for all mass shootings. In the case of the recent school shooting in Florida, apparently everyone from the FBI on down to the local school resource officer, all knew of this individual. Had been repeatedly warned by citizens of this individual and of his ill intent. Yet they all did NOTHING. The shooter committed his ugly act of violence and then every news person, liberal, and Democrat, quickly blamed the NRA and those evil gun owners for the disgusting acts of this individual.

Never mind that every level of Government knew of this "troubled" youth. Never mind that some [like the school resource officer] worked to shield this individual from accountability for prior bad acts. Never mind that those that have taken an oath to uphold the law and protect the populous [and are given arms with which to do so] chose to hid outside the building while unarmed adults and children attempted to protect and save the lives of others by acting as human shields and/or trying to stop the gunman. Nope. None of that matters. It is all the fault of those evil gun nuts and the NRA.

It is unimportant to these folks that the NRA is the oldest and [one of if not the] largest civil rights organization in the country. It is unimportant that the NRA worked/works to enable people of color to posses arms for self defense while the Democrats were working and continue to work to ensure they stay unarmed. Nor that as a group, members of the NRA are far more law abiding then the population at large (and CCW holders even more so). None of that matters.

We are told by these very same folks that only the police should have guns. That the average citizen can not be trusted with guns. Though if you listen to BLM, liberals, and Democrats, your average policeman is simply biding his time until he can gun down innocent person of color (but I digress).

So, where are the individual "people" and their agency in all of this?

On a related note, England (that once great country) has been held up by the American left as a model for America. A country that has seen the light on guns and [for all intent] has disarmed the population. Recently a retired couple was asleep in their home. The husband (of 78 years) heard a disturbance down stairs and went to investigate. He encountered two intruders burgling his home. He was accosted by one and taken into the kitchen where he continued to be threatened with a screw-driver, while his wife continued to sleep up stairs. When the other thief continued to ransack the home, the man got into a scuffle with the other [38 year old] thief. The elder managed to defend him self and stab the thief once with a kitchen knife. The two thieves fled. The injured man collapsed in the street, was taken to the hospital, and later died of his injury. The 78 year old was taken into custody and charged with murder. He may likely get off but he may not. THAT is what liberals want for America. They want you to cower in your home while thieves ransack the place and take what they will. They DON'T care if lose your property, your virtue (if you get raped), or your life. They want you defenseless and helpless. Do you?

Now THAT is badass!

Instead of being a "reporter"...

Instead of being a "reporter", she apparently chose to be a unpaid intern for the Clinton campaign while at the same time drawing a salary from the New York Times. At least that is the impression one gets from reading this excerpt of Amy Chozick's book "Chasing Hillary" published in Vanity Fair.

Either Amy did not go to "Journalism" school, journalism degrees are not what they once were, or both (never underestimate the power of AND). This sample reads like a teen-age girl's diary of a week-end sleep over at the house of the girl the other girls don't really like but feel obligated to go to cause she is the head cheer leader.

I am curious as to why (as an example) the revelations in this chapter were not submitted by her to her employer for publishing while she was on the campaign trail with Hillary. Was it because Amy did not think it was the "truth" her paper wanted? Was it because despite all she saw, she NEEDED Hillary to win cause it was time for a woman Democrat? Was it something else or all of the above? Did she and her associates think that if they just kept putting more lipstick on this pig that they could help drag her over the finish line? To a degree I can get that. I get wanting "your" candidate to win so badly that pushing the fantasy you have in your head over the reality you see and experience makes some sort of strange sense, to a 6 year old but not to an adult who is supposed to be a professional.

You wonder why the media is held in such disregard? Why the label "fake news" has stuck (and stings you all so much)? Read your own book with "new eyes". Compare that book with what was actually published for the "deplorables" to read as the campaign was on-going. This would be submitted as exhibit A.

As a grown up, you are expected to not be so blinded by your hopes that you can't see reality. If you had spent more time actually looking at your candidate, her actions, reactions, and history, you maybe would have been able to realize that she was not and is not anything like what you wanted (a similar thing can be said about all of Obama's fans as well).

Look at it from my perspective for a moment if you could. The media did everything in their power to put a clean coat of glittery paint on Hillary and also did all they could to strip Donald to the bare wood. You showed Hillary in the best light you could even if it meant covering for and lying about her actions and misdeeds. You did all you could to show Donald in the worst light possible even if it meant lying and making up stories about him and/or not even doing the minimal amount of investigating expected of a "journalist". By election day, America was aware of every single Trump flaw real and imagined. America STILL preferred and picked him. Enough of us saw through your candidate and saw through you. If you and everyone else in your "profession" had bothered to actually do your jobs instead of acting like Clinton campaign interns, we all might have had a better choice. Don't forget, you all worked hand in hand with Clinton to make Trump the news until he won the primary because you all thought she could beat him easily. Just like your profession helped Clinton cheat to win the primary.

I was not a Trump fan during the primary season. Like many that voted for him, he was my second to last pick. There were any number of other candidates I would have been happier to pull the lever for but "you all" ensured that he was my only option. In hind-sight, thank you for that. I do not think the country would be where it is today (economy on the way up, employment on the way up, illegal immigration on the way down, conservative on the court, gov regulations on the way down, now this Korea stuff, wow) had any other Republican been elected (not that Donald is a Republican, but one takes what one can get).

As it seems that you in the media and your associates on the left can't seem to learn anything and are continuing to #resist, it looks like we are well on our way to 8 years of Trump. I suppose I owe you thanks for that too.

"Free air" holograms are coming!

Everyone that has ever seen a "holodeck" from Star Trek wants to experience one. Just about all future Scifi movies show interactive, three dimensional displays, from Iron Man, to Star Wars, to Star Trek.

I thought we were getting close when I encountered virtual, laser projected keyboards and it looks like we are just about there!

You should watch this video of laser plasma holograph. It is incredible!

Isn't science awesome! Here is another video showing this and other forms of "free air" holograms.

Minimum Guaranteed Income

There is currently a lot of talk about America "needing" to implement some sort of minimum guaranteed income. All of the really progressive societies do it! It just "feels" right! No one should be FORCED to do a low paying job they don't like, they should be able to follow their muse!

Much of this is a smoke screen to enable the liberal left to further enslave low income voters/low information voters. It is simply welfare by a "nicer sounding" name. Progressives are all about changing/twisting the meaning of things once the old names have been worn out.

There actually could be some good in a guaranteed minimum income BUT only if it is implemented in a thoughtful way. I actually have some ideas on that AND I am not saying this is a perfect plan but I think it gets us pointed in the right direction.

a) Any minimum guaranteed income would need to be a replacement for all welfare. Period. Do this and that or do nothing. All state/local/Fed welfare programs end.

b) The minimum guaranteed income program is 100% voluntary. You can choose to sign up for it or NOT. Your choice. You get a free ID card when signing up.

c) This program is ONLY available to US citizens. Period.

d) If you sign up for the program, you are NOT eligible to vote in any / all elections between your date of signing up and the next Presidential election until 5 years after you leave the program, resulting in missing at least one Presidential election.

e) Any / all minimum wage laws are eliminated / rescinded and no jurisdiction may enact any minimum wage laws.

d) Social Security is ended. No additional SSN funds are deducted from anyone. Individuals currently vested in SSN can elect to have either 1) all of their contributions returned, tax free, or 2) continue in the system at their current benefits level with those funds as tax free.

e) The minimum is set at what the poverty level was 4 years prior to the enactment of the law and is tied to the inflation rate.

f) One CAN sign-up for the minimum guaranteed income AND earn an income. Earned income is subject to income tax but the minimum guaranteed income is not. The "standard deduction" is the minimum guaranteed income or the standard deduction rate, which ever is greater.

I understand this is not prefect and I think there are some other tweaks that could be done to this but I think these general strokes are close to the mark. This plan would simplify the system, prevent recipients from gaming the system, prevent politicians from gaming the system, and limit the damage that such a program can cause.

Real useful advice for young adults

This is advice that all young adults should be getting but are not. Sad...

Windows 10 - Thanks a LOT Microsoft!

In an effort to save us simpletons from helping Russian hackers to exploit security flaws in Microsoft operating systems, as part of the latest Windows 10 release/update (and maybe earlier), you can not much control patch downloads and installations.

You can determine if downloaded software is JUST critical patches or other stuff too. You can control (through a setting) what your "work hours" are, up to an 18 hour window. But you can NOT tell Windows 10 that you only want it to reboot (if it has to as a result of a patch) at a specific time. You used to could but that has gone away.

So, if you have a PC that is used for business and is needed on a 24/7 basis and needs to perform on-going tasks (or services) like scheduled file transfers, you can NOT instruct Windows as to when you want the system to reboot (if it needs to as part of an update).

Too bad, so sad if that untimely reboot happens to interrupts your work. If you happen to be online you can postpone the reboot for a bit. If you happen to need to, you can postpone all updates for 25(?) days. What you can't do is you can NOT manage your own PC updates any more. YOU my friend are just too stupid.

The result of this change is that more and more "professional" folks will simply disable the Windows update service so that it NEVER runs. Which in turn will make the security environment that caused Microsoft to make this decision, even worse. Nice going Microsoft! Shame that Microsoft did not consult with folks that use their software before making this sorts of changes. It is even more of a shame that Microsoft is so BAD at writing secure code that this sort of process change is even needed.