Sunday, September 23, 2018

CALIF. STATE'S RIGHTS -- GOVT. INSULTS -- BUG TAUNTS


CALIFORNIA'S NETWORK NEUTRALITY  PRESERVATION EFFORTS continue under assault by this current administration’s FCC hatchet man, Ajit Pai.   Our state’s legislature’s bill as I described in previous posts now awaits Gov. Brown’s signature.   

“...Ajit Pai might be doing fundraisers for organizations that have a vested interest in watching him wield the federal weight of the FCC against California's actually-legal state net neutrality laws...”  Where's the political support for state's rights here?

Our state found out what can happen with “throttling” during one of our worst forest fires ever.  If you think your state’s rights, and other issues, are unaffected you may be mistaken.  I strongly  urge that you read this article HERE:

(Also of note,  this article,  though four years old, may have information bearing on current and future activities of import to be aware of)

“...Facebook sponsors a US state policy clearinghouse for turning conservative ideas (like "faith-based healthcare") into state laws.”

“A Guardian investigation concluded that State Policy Network is a "nexus of funding arrangements behind radical right-wing campaigns" with "members in each of the 50 states." As in, the Maine Heritage Policy Center.”  

GOVT.  INSULTS

I am so angry with the failure of government leaders to respectfully give the accuser, Ms Ford, of the current U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Mr. Kavanaugh, the benefit of open-minded consideration she is speaking her truth that I can hardly restrain myself from making the most vile wishes for unwanted acts to happen to each of those leaders.   I won’t distract from her issues by describing how I know the attacks and arguments the deniers utter condemning her for not having come forward sooner, or condemning others choice to respect her initial wish for confidentiality are totally without credibility, but they are – at least for anyone with any understanding and normal intelligence!

This President’s comments are disgusting but that’s to be expected from him most of the time, especially given his own documented attitudes and behaviors toward females he regards as sexual prey to be groped at will.

I have sympathy for the accused and have no difficulty believing that SC nominee may believe this alleged event never occurred, but let’s allow the FBI to investigate and establish that and other facts. I think it's a legal investigative travesty to not be done.   If the event did occur, multiple explanations could account for his failure to recall this alleged occurrence, none the least of which is the degree of significance some males place on their behaviors toward women compared to how some females may perceive it -- inebriation complicates the matter for all but is never an excuse.  (assuming no one has unknowingly been given a mind-altering substance.)


BUGGY TAUNT


(YouTube video--not my cricket) 

Serious issues here – am going buggy!   A year or so ago, occasionally, I heard a cricket sound.  Determining the source was inside the house, not outside, I have concluded that during the time I was having a door to my covered patio reversed and rehung, one, or more crickets must have gotten inside.  The fact their presence continues indicates reproduction since their life span is only about 3 months. 

When I first heard the singular cricket sound (and I’ve never heard more than one cricket's plaintive cry with no response forthcoming) I thought I must be mistaken.  Complicating matters some public service TV announcement (PSA) features a cricket sound to attract attention -- it took me months to figure out that source.  By that time I had strategically placed sticky surfaced traps, advertised as attracting crickets, along the wall baseboard from whence the sound had originated.  These traps have been worthless as no cricket, or any other creature has become stuck on them.

For many months the only cricket sound I’ve heard has occurred when that PSA has aired, but I’ve left the traps in place – just in case.  Then, this week, as I sat across the room from where the cricket sound has previously emanated those months ago, I glanced down on my pant leg and there, briefly, sat a brownish-colored cricket – then quickly disappeared.  Research suggests to me this is the field variety rather than a house cricket which would correlate with how it entered into my house in the first place from outdoors.  As if I didn’t already have enough on my mind, I now have to figure out how to capture this wildlife threat. 

Any suggestions – hiring a professional debugger for a cricket seems quite out of proportion here?
Comments on other topics mentioned here welcome, also, if the spirit, or other, moves you. 

27 comments:

  1. In some cultures having a cricket in the house is considered to be good luck. But I sure know how annoying they are. I get them in the garage but my dog is pretty good at finding them. He likes to hunt them and (I think) he eats them. He will hunt out there for a half hour when I make him come in.

    I can't believe some of the nasty comments coming out about Ms Ford not speaking up for so many years. I know from personal experience why woman stay silence. The Republicans are the ones making a circus out of this. No one is condemning the men who are coming forward to name priests who sexually abused them years ago, but when women do it, they should "get over it." What gets me is they wouldn't even allow Garland to have an up or down vote for nearly a year but they have to hurry Kavanaugh hearing up, even withholding documents from the senators.

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    1. A cricket in the house apparently isn’t seriously destructive from what I read but they can eat at some fabric and other materials.

      Very good points on this Ford vs Kavanaugh matter.

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  2. We have roaches and ants inside the house, but so far, no crickets. Maybe a can of bug spray would eradicate that bug.

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    1. I think i’ll try to capture the cricket, then release it outside.

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  3. I'd probably "bug" Google to death looking for an answer or I'd just name him and leave food out for him.

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    1. Ha! Yes, after I published this I Googled again with different question and found an interesting video I may try.

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  4. On the accusation, she should go to the law if she wants to see him pay. Maryland has no statute of limitation on sex crimes. Let the police investigate. If he wasn't the guy, if it was young adults mistaking each other's motivations, the law can sort it out. Not sure the is the FBI's problem. But even though he was 17, if he really tried to rape her, there is a penalty for it-- legally speaking. I think the FBI is more an issue of politics as usual these days.

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    1. That’s one way to look at it, but think it’s long since past that point. Presumably she never had any intentions of “making him pay for it”, but the stakes were too high with his SC nomination given his character representation she may have concluded.

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    2. I think she wanted to make him pay. She put out an accusation that he tried to rape her. This guy coaches girls, has young daughters, a judge for a mother, probably all his life wanted to be on the Supreme Court. She'd take all that from him, if it's believed, but she wouldn't want to go to the law and make him spend a little time in jail? I don't know what happened that night but do know teens often see things very differently. She set out to destroy him but she didn't want to be identified, I agree, but if he did it, I think the law can figure it out. The FBI is about background checks for something the person did wrong. She could have put this out when he was nominated for the lower court. The thing is I could see how they might both be telling the truth as so much is about perception. He (whoever he was) thought he was seducing her. She thought he was attacking her. Even her scream could have come as a shock to him. Alcohol and libido definitely don't go well together :(

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    3. I don’t presume to assume her motivatations and all the shoulda, coulda, woulda actions others not walking in her shoes say she should have taken.

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    4. There has been a lot who have assumed he did it without any evidence either. I never said she should have then. I understand why she would have feared to tell her parents as I don't know how they'd have handled it. What I am saying is all those saying the FBI should be involved never say local law enforcement. This was not a federal crime. If it was a crime anywhere, it was in Maryland and they don't have any limit on when they can prosecute it. This has virtually destroyed a man's reputation and won't go away. Even if something came up to definitively clear him, I've heard too many say he did it to believe they'd believe anything that denied it. They'd figure it was faked because the are sure he's a wantabe rapist at the least. He has not gotten any presumption of innocence like Bill Clinton did and a lot is because of his political views.

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    5. btw, don't get me wrong. I don't know that he didn't do it. It would, from all accounts, not fit the rest of his personality in those years, but he could have had that one time he let loose and he's guilty as sin. If he knows he did it and lied, it is a current character flaw and could justify not letting him on the court. I'd guess though, if he did it and was a liberal, most who want him to be stopped, would say he was a kid and never did anything like that again. After all, we justified Bill Clinton who did worse and wasn't a kid. So much of this today is partisan.

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    6. I don’t second-guess what she shoulda, woulda, or coulda have done. What matters now is — what is and how this process moves forward, I think. Life is never fair and just when people are believed by some to be other than what they are, even if accusations against them are absolutely discounted.

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  5. I have a visceral reaction to the thought that we may have two Clarence Thomases on SCOTUS. It's bad enough that we have one. I've written emails to my senator, twice, expressing the same thoughts as those Jean brought out. Of course, being in a red state, I have no hope of success in getting his attention. I had mentioned Garland Vs Kavanaugh in a previous email to the senator.

    Cricket life span: Would a field cricket live longer inside? If there's a chance it is the same cricket, I'd let it die of old age.
    Cop Car

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    1. I share your concern. I wish Thomas would have the decency to resign. My Senator is Feinstein and I have written her brief notes several times indicating my support for how she has handled this, including respecting confidentiality for the accuser.

      I have waited on the cricket, but it’s way past the cricket life span, so this one must be a progeny.

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  6. How brave she is. I stopped going forward as did most of my friends who have been abused. Disbelief, horrific re-rapes at trial, etc. However, I would go forward, like her, if a rapist was being put on the bench. I am still shocked 45 is not accountable. I've heard and read some horrific stuff about him.

    XO
    WWW

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    1. I, too, think she is courageous and, in the very least, believe she deserves the right to a respectful hearing. Police those years ago and even more recently haven’t always done anything even when abuse and/or even rape have been reported to them. It’s a little harder for them to avoid acting today.

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  7. The whole cricket situation would make me completely nuts. I am very sensitive to repetitive noises. I'd probably get one of those "bug bombs" and fumigate the whole house for one little cricket.

    As for the Kavanaugh situation, I share your sentiments. And I am alarmed at the people who are so dismissive and insensitive towards Dr. Ford. Especially women. There is nothing I find so abhorrent and repellent as women failing to stand up for other women.

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    1. Your cricket solution gives me a chuckle. The “singing” occurs only briefly, infrequently as the creature seeks companionship — but never receives a response. How sad! I must capture and release the cricket outdoors.

      Why wouldn’t her word have the potential for being just as credible as his in the eyes of others — deserving of further investigation to seek what facts are knowable?

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    2. One person did some research into it and he's been ridiculed and now had to leave his job. He did the kind of research any detective could do and so far as I can tell none have.

      One thing about Thomas is he had a history of watching porn. It made it easier to establish a character link to what he did to her. He got in anyway based on partisan grounds. And that's how a lot of it has happened. We defend our own rats-- not admirable.

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  8. Yes, men come up with the most extraordinary excuses for sexually molesting women. Usually making out that the women encouraged it or enjoyed it or are making a lot of fuss over nothing. I hope Christine Blasey Ford gets him bang to rights and keeps him out of the supreme court. And I see another woman has accused him of sexual misconduct - Deborah Ramirez.

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    1. Unfortunately a few bad apples in any group do exist, but not all apples in the barrel are rotten. Hopefully, some of the erroneous attitudes that have prevailed about what’s acceptable in behavior toward females of all ages will be corrected as a result of examination of these issues.

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    2. And now a third accuser, Julie Swetnick....

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  9. As you might expect, I have no answers or solutions to any of your problems. I've never felt this helpless and at the mercy of so many mean-spirited people ever in my life. I've written lots of letters and I vote in every election but still I watch our beloved country fall apart. So sad. Guess I should at least be thankful we don't have crickets.

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    1. Would that a cricket in the house was all about which we need to be concerned.

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  10. Geeze - a cricket invasion. Usually when that happens I hink of Andrew Zimmwen - he loves to eat them, [lus he found a company in SF that makes cookies and cakes with them.

    On a serious note, EVEERYONE needs to hear about Verizon and that throttling incident. That was insane and borderline criminal IMHO.

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    1. Hm-m-m, maybe this cricket is a business opportunity. Yes, the fact of the throttling whatever the intent, or if a mistake, as I read the power company claimed, this should never even be allowed to be a possibility of occurring because no regulation preventing such exploitation.

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