Kamala Harris Archives

Thursday, Sept 26th 2024

Blog

This may be older news now, but I’ve been reading a little about what’s been called the Chase Bank Glitch. If I understand correctly, some TikTok person came up with the idea that you can deposit a check made out to cash to your account, and they credit you that money until the check processes. I don’t think that’s a glitch as much as it is check fraud, and that’s a felony. The only ‘glitch’ you’re going to see is the one where you have to explain your conviction to future employers, if you’re lucky enough to have any.

On the creative front, I’m working out the blocking for a vlog. I think I want to document the process I’m going through, so I don’t know if it’s going to be fancy. Now that I think about it, it may not need to be. It just needs to be me.

Watched the Kamala Harris interview on MSNBC last night. While it was refreshing to hear an interview that was conducted at a normal volume and without a lot of lunacy, it annoys me to no end that we’re this close to the election and we’re still on vision and the 30k foot view. I want nuts and bolts. That’s why I don’t like these interviews, and why I don’t like debates. Kamala, your campaign keeps talking about Project 2025 as being the playbook for Trump. Where is your playbook? Where can I read it? I think it is necessary to point out that in order for Kamala to be able to do anything, the Democrats must take the House and hold on to the Senate. Even then the corporate tax is Everest, and the Senate filibuster is already locked and loaded for that one. There’s a needle to thread here, and we’re better off believing that the Dem Agenda won’t pass, and be surprised if it does.

I’m not taking it as read that Kamala will win, far from it. There’s no way this isn’t a squeaker. It shouldn’t be, but here we are. What I can’t do under any circumstances is vote for Trump, and let’s be clear about why: He’s not a serious person, but the people who have lashed themselves to his mast are. He’s a real life Zaphod Beeblebrox, a lunatic distraction while a radical legislature implements a radical agenda, and the judiciary declares it legal. I’m not down with that.

As I’m writing this, Hurricane Helene is making its way towards the Big Bend area of Florida. It’s a Category 2 storm right now, but they believe it could be a 3 or 4 by the time it hits. It’s been my nature in the past to turn on the Weather Channel and watch the coverage, but it felt different this time. I stopped to ask myself what it was I was going to watch, and the answer is someone else’s destruction. Somewhere in Florida and points North, some nameless person is going to lose everything. It suddenly felt…dirty. I decided to watch Major Crimes instead. Sure, I’ve watched the entire series at least three times, but it’s comfort TV. Also, Mary McDonnell.

Did I mention Mary McDonnell?

Meta’s Connect event was yesterday, and while I’m not interested at the Quest headset (gaming doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest), The Orion prototype is VERY interesting. Think of the Apple VIsion Pro, but as regular glasses. This is the future I want. As of now, this is a prototype, a developer model. But the ability to put that information in a pair of Ray-Bans? Yes, please. I would like it to be customizable so that the user can get the full immersion treatment, or something minimal. A heads up display of information in one lens. Maybe we could get monocles back in fashion. I’m kidding, but as I’ve said before give me what Vegeta was wearing in Dragonball, and I’m set.

Tuesday, August 13th 2024

Blog

The Only British Railway You Know

Tooling around looking for something interesting, and the NC PBS Station was showing British Scenic Railways, and the episode was about the Jacobite Line. If you’ve been paying attention for the last 25 years, you know why eleventy billion tourists show up for this train.

It’s THAT Train.

Also, when the PBS station listed all the TV stations in the NC PBS Network, I learned there is a Bat Cave, NC. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Just This Once, Hit Back

The stepping aside of Joe Biden and the ascendency of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz has the empty barrels doing what they always do. Honestly, we should be insulted by these carnival barkers. You should be insulted by dirty tricks, the twisting of words, the quotes out of context. The truth is, we have allowed this. We like the ad hominem, the ‘owning’, the bomb throwing. I hope one day we will get back to a debate that’s worthy of us, but it won’t be in this election year. Frankly, it shouldn’t be. I think the Harris/Walz campaign has cracked the code on how to deal with MAGA, and it appears to be getting under Trump’s skin. We can still do that and talk policy, I think. What can’t happen is that the Dems go back to being the polite academic folks they’ve been historically. They’ll get slaughtered if that happens. There’s ~90 days to win or lose this, and with the abbreviated nature of Kamala’s campaign, they cannot afford to miss.

An Honest Question

I believe that the housing/real estate market is a bubble that’s going to pop, and it’s going to fuck things up. The question is when. The long term bet is that it will pop when those of us who own houses shuffle off this mortal coil, and the market will find themselves with one or two generations that can’t afford a fucking studio apartment for $1500 a month or more. A STUDIO. There may be some factors that could cause it to pop sooner, I wonder if the fed raises interest rates more than a couple times that it may hasten things? Keep your eye on this. A home in a lot of cases is the most significant portion of a families’ wealth in this day and age, and if home values drop, we’re all going to be taking a bite of the shit sandwich.

Monday, June 15th 2024

Blog

Recently I thought I’d try writing things—jokes, mainly-as they came to me. I liked it, but it just doesn’t fit with my mindset of what I (think I) want this site to be. I am forever a work in progress. There was a time where I was convinced that being forever a work in progress was a bad thing. I think there were people around me that were frustrated that I couldn’t be set in one thing, but that’s just not me. I’m going to be 54 next week, and my GAF was all but destroyed years ago.

It’s not me, it’s you.

Apparently my former employer is still ‘restructuring’. I saw that some remarkable human beings I had the pleasure of working with were told that his services are no longer required. I’m sure it’s nothing more than cutting the higher paid people in order to have someone else do the same job (or twice the work!) for less money. Still, the thing that’s really bothering me about this round is that it involved call center associates. They said over and over when I dodged the first two rounds of layoffs was that they weren’t going to touch the call center floor. I guess that’s been forgotten. It was only a matter of time. The company makes cameras and printers, neither of which are widely used by consumers anymore, and they were way behind the curve on things the rest of the camera world had embraced years earlier.

I know it’s not supposed to be personal, but when you invest a great amount of yourself and your time it’s hard to not take it personally. In my case, I’ve always felt it WAS personal. It really destroyed me for a long time to the point that I couldn’t do anything creative at all. I hope my friend can bounce back better than I did. I also hope he can make an honest go with his photography business. I’d like to direct you to his photography website, but it appears to be down. So I’ll direct you to his Facebook Page. Please have a look and if he brings back his shop site, please consider buying something from him, and by all means spread the word.

We’d like you to decide, even though you’ve already decided.

I honestly don’t know how this isn’t the simplest of decisions. I don’t care who the Democratic nominee is, I’m voting for that person because I am not interested in opening the Seventh Seal of the Apocalypse. Is Biden older than dirt? Of course he is. Do I care? Maybe, but that’s what the 25th Amendment is for. I’m waiting for the first Republican to say a damn thing about the 25th Amendment, but if I was a betting man, I’d bet they will stay quiet about handing the Presidency to Kamala. Funny thing, that. I bet they do return to the birtherism real quick, tho.

That said, Biden hasn’t helped his cause. The stuttering is baked in, as far as I’m concerned. What isn’t baked in is the switching up of names, the rambling and gibberish with no real direction, and the long—LONG—pauses. Yes, Trump does it too. Breaking News: They’re both old as fuck. However, that’s the ballot. Unless there’s a real, successful draft at the DNC in Chicago (the irony!), Biden is the nominee. No draft movement has ever been successful.

He’s Just This Guy, You Know?

Trump is the immediate existential danger, but if I’m being honest it’s not Trump himself I’m worried about. What worries me is the Zaphod effect.

In the classic-oh-my-god-this-is-required-reading novel The Hitchikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, the President of the Galaxy is Zaphod Beeblebrox. He brings nothing to the table. He’s a party animal and an idiot. But his antics distract the people so they’re not paying attention to the folks really doing the work. That’s Trump.

Trump is going to Trump. We know this. They know this as well, and they’re counting on it.

Yeah, but when is the Two Minutes of Hate?

The RNC convention started today, and maybe I’m just old. I remember conventions being run differently. Not covered differently (although I can make that argument as well), but it seems more like a marriage of informercial and cult worship than it used to be. I’m watching C-SPAN for neutral coverage (because I am that nerd), and some minor amusements.

*First, I see Marsha Blackburn, the protokaren from Tennessee, found the time to brush that rats nest she calls a hairdo.
Second, it’s funny to hear the band playing Where The Streets Have No Name, but dare not speak a word of it.
They’re doing the nomination election at 3pm on the first day. Why the first day, and why not in Primetime? Also, it has been my experience that at some point, someone makes a motion to wrap up the nomination by acclamation. Not so in this case. Ego much?
Junior’s a twat. Also, Junior’s a twat.
Youngkin is slightly less of a twat than Junior, but the twatfulness is still strong.
They are really calling The Orange Mush ‘the bravest man in America.’
All the folks who read their speeches from a phone or a sheet of paper and STILL mangled their way through their state delegate votes totals need to have a fucking seat when it comes to Biden’s stutter or prompter use.
You can always count on old white dudes (including me) to have the worst rhythm in the known universe. Awkward knows no party.
In what must be the first documented Karen moment of the convention, Senior Karen was upset that Middle-aged Chad wanted her to stop waving her Trump placard long enough for him to get a picture of…something. Probably the house band, Slightly Spicy Mayo (I don’t know, why not?), to document their playing ‘I Want You To Want Me’ for 15 minutes.

It’s only 4pm. This should be fun…