Tag: politics

Social devaluation

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

After like two months, I decided to get off my high horse perched atop a pedestal that was boosted up on a soap box, and opened up Facebook.  I had a couple of new friend requests, some group conversations that were now a month past since the last message, and 99 new notifications that’s really more, but Facebook only registers up to 99, and apparently, only one month’s worth.  But all in all, I still don’t feel like I really missed anything.

Admittedly, I’d been peculiar about when I’d dive back in, because I didn’t really want to jump back in the midst of a tragedy, or too big of a political shit storm, and if it were up to me, I’d like to have something interesting to post about as well.  But then shit like all the killings of black people, the bombing of Istanbul airport, protests, politics and other things kept happening around the world, and if they were insufferably covered by the media, I could only imagine that the opinionating by people on social media would have been a hundred times worse.

The thing is, if I waited for the world to be peaceful for just a week, I’d probably be waiting until I was 90 years old.  So I realized that I needed to lower my expectations, and when the coast was clear for like five minutes, I dove back in.  Not to mention that I was still kind of on my high for being the first winner of the Willy’s Road Trip, and I figure it would be something somewhat interesting to post about.

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Oh look, moar proof

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Bloomberg: The Braves Play Taxpayers Better Than They Play Baseball

For all the words I’ve spent talking about how the Atlanta Braves are a bunch of money-grubbing immoral crooks in regards to the covert planning and execution of the construction of ScumTrust Park, I’ve neglected the other branches of the Braves organization, namely the minor leagues.  And despite the fact that I far prefer minor league ball over the trash at the major league level, as far as the Braves are concerned, it turns out that they’re no less despicable in other towns too.

Now I knew about the swindling of the people done in Lawrenceville, when it came to bringing the Triple-A Braves to Gwinnett, since I know people who live up there, who don’t like baseball, who are less than impressed with the idea of having to pony up extra pennies on their daily purchases, to finance a ballpark.

However, it turns out that both the Low-A Rome Braves and the Double-A Mississippi Braves are also instances where the Braves moved teams to their current homes, after basically strong-arming their previous residences, giving them a tiny window to meet gargantuan demands, and when they predictably fail, pulling the teams and moving them to towns that had been prearranged to build ballparks at the cost of taxpayers, with hopeless promises of local financial stimulation, and a benefit to all parties, but then failed and saddled debts on the public, while the Braves and conspirators are last money in, first money out.

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Still shunning social

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It’s been nearly two full months since I stopped checking Facebook.  It’s also been about that long that my brog’s been down, keeping me anxious and feeling voiceless when it comes to routine and a simple enjoyment, but that’s a different story.

I’ve learned that Facebook notifications caps at 99, based on the periodic emails I get letting me know that I’ve got 99 notifications since the last time I’ve been on Facebook, and the number is no longer climbing.

In that time, I’ve more or less lost touch with people, as I don’t know what exciting or mundane things that are going on in the lives of the 140+ internet personas that Facebook deems as friends.  Birthdays have come and gone, and the odd random “so-and-so has posted” emails keep me in the loop that people are in fact gabbing away.

There are a few group conversations going on that I’m aware are happening because Facebook notifies me that they’re happening over email, but out of not wanting to break my chain, not because I’m (entirely) antisocial, I’m blind to them.  I haven’t seen any photos or any posts that have me tagged, because I’m a hipster and obtuse.

The thing is, I’ve been mulling over in my head when it is that I want to come back.  I’m enjoying the freedom of ambivalence, and the time I’m not wasting both literally and the time spent thinking about the things people post, because I’m not checking Facebook repeatedly.  I’ve read lots of books, watched some television and movies, did a lot of writing for a brog that I have no idea when will ever be back up and been on two trips so far.  I’m not saying that none of those things would’ve have happened if I’d still been engaged on Facebook, but I did have the luxury of being fairly clear-minded and undistracted by potential distractions.

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I’m convinced this is all orchestrated

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Impetus: Georgia governor Nathan Deal officially vetoes House Bill 859, AKA bill that would have allowed for legal right to carry concealed weapons on public school campuses.

Combined with the recent vetoing of HB 757, Nathan Deal is coming out looking like a fucking superhero, to those with common sense, and to those, with brains.

Given the fact that he’s Republican, and should be characterized by conservative thinking and led by the book of Jesusland, he’s either secretly still the Democrat he once was, or taking part in a blatantly elaborate song-and-dance routine where he snuffs out no-brainer oppressive and discriminatory bills to appease the Democrats, while declaring himself a Republican to appease the conservatives.

Yeah, no shit it’s a horrible idea to let gun owners carry their firearms onto college campuses.  I don’t even need to write out a bunch of doomsday scenarios that I’ve already written out before to explain why.

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Probably a very smart decision

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Thank the fucking lord: Georgia governor, Nathan Deal has declared that he will veto House Bill 757, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, AKA Operation to Okay Discrimination.

When this passed the Senate and made it’s way to the Governor’s desk, I thought to myself, “there’s absolutely no way that Deal is stupid enough to alienate billions of potential dollars for the state, just so a few fucking hicks can be legally allowed to discriminate against, mostly homosexuals.”  It was the no-brainer of no-brainers, pitting the Stig in a Corvette against Fred Flintstone’s car with no wheels and Fred Flintstone himself missing his legs.

You know what the scary thing was though?  In the spirit of jinxing it, Murphy’s Law, and all other superstitions, I never said anything aloud along the sort.  That’s the scary thing; that Georgia could be that much of a fucked up backwater state that its governor just might agree with the bigots and just let HB 757 to have passed.  And then the entire state collapses on itself, and when Florida is declared unfit to remain a part of the United States, might just have Georgia dragged along with it when it’s sawed off the country and shoved into the Gulf of Mexico.

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VOTE FOR RHYNO OR ELSE

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

OR ELSE YOU GET A GORE! GORE! GOREEEE!!!

If you’re a wrestling fan, I dare you to try and read the rest of this post without having watched that YouTube montage first.

Long story short: former professional wrestler, Terry “Rhyno” Gerin declares that he will be running for state representative of his hometown of Dearborn, Michigan.

All obvious professional wrestlers being meathead idiot jokes aside, I have to objectively say that Rhyno is no layup to be a complete flop in this endeavor.  In fact, I would venture to say that Dearborn, a community just outside of the maligned City of Detroit, probably couldn’t do any worse with anyone else as representative, and that what they might just need is a guy that seems to legitimately care about his hometown.

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Making rednecks happy vs. tanking Georgia

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I like to use the phrase “who cares?” a lot.  Mostly amongst my closest friends, as a means of ribbing each other, to let each other know that particular topics are uninteresting, certain wrestlers or baseball players aren’t really as good as they might think they are, or as commentary towards random issues that when the day is over, aren’t really that important on a substantial scale.

But that’s really the basis of the words “who cares,” because it really does boil down the point of a lot of things in the world, that really just aren’t that important.

I don’t often discuss political matters, on my brog or in person generally, because frankly I don’t see any good out of it, in either arena.  However, it should come as no surprise that I have a tendency to lean towards a liberal way of thinking, and that I don’t have any problem when it comes to the notion of equality.  Frankly, people should be able to do what they want to do, within mostly legal parameters, including if people of the same sex want to be together.

When people come out of the closet, be them people I know, celebrities, athletes, or any other public figure, my response to such news is usually “who cares?”  Not because I harbor any malice or wish that my appearance of indifference indicates hostile feelings, but because I honestly do not believe it’s a big deal, and although many would disagree, sexual orientation isn’t an important issue to me.

If a dude wants to marry another dude, more power to them.  If a woman wants to get married to another woman, good on them.  They have as much right to live happily ever after, or come to the decision that marriage wasn’t a good idea and have to confront the uncomfortable divorce process as well.  None of it affects me in way, shape or form, so to the notion of the existence of homosexuality, I say who cares?

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