Tag: government

Oh, Atlanta #877

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

To quote an internet commenter who was quoting any brand consultant:

the best diversion to consistent mediocrity is new branding and messaging.

That being said, you know what that means!  A new logo was made for something that didn’t need it!  And not only was a new logo created for something that didn’t need it, it also cost $590,000 to “make!”

Man, I am absolutely in the wrong business.  I totally need to find a way to get back onto the agency side that somehow has entire cities in their back pockets, to where they can charge over half a million dollars to rip off the Airwalk shoes logo, and then package it in 75 words of fluff and bullshit that could sell water to the ocean.  Because I’m pretty sure I could plagiarize one thing a year and be completely satisfied pulling in six figures for doing such and then calling it a year.

I mean I don’t even know where to begin with this perfect example of federal waste and in all likelihood crooked Atlanta politicians spoon-feeding their bedroom buddies.  But I think the most succinct place to start is with just the symbol itself:

  • The shapes that form the “star” in the logo are a series of “A’s” – or arrows – that spiral around a central axis, “symbolizing the freedom of movement provided to the region.” 
  • The arrows point toward and away from the center, “creating pulse-like movement.” 
  • The shape is reminiscent of a star, “and stars have provided guidance to travelers for thousands of years.” 

Continue reading “Oh, Atlanta #877” →

I’m proud of Metro Atlanta

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Considering that at the time I’m writing this, the midterms were ten days ago, and the State of Georgia has still not officially declared a winner for the governor’s race, I was initially going to wait until the result was made official before writing anything about this.  But I’m leaving the country for the next week and change, and I just know I’m not going to want to bother retouching this subject after a long vacation, and frankly the result looks like it’s pretty much in the bag, in spite of the valiant effort put forth by the Democrats, so let’s go ahead and get this shit out of the way.

It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion at this point that Brian Kemp is going to be the new governor of Georgia, much to my dismay.  Color me part-mortified that the guy I ridiculed months ago for having a campaign ad where he’s basically holding a shotgun to a teenager is going to be rising to amongst the highest offices in the state, but at the same time, I can’t say that I’m the least bit surprised in this day and age; especially if you stop and think about who’s in charge of the United States at this current juncture.

I have several mixed feelings about the whole clusterfuck that ended up being the governor’s race, but I think the one that bubbles up to the very top of them all is simply put, fuck the Libertarian party.  Given the extreme narrow margin of victory that Yosemite Sam had over Stacey Abrams, I have this opinion that the presence of a Libertarian candidate on the ticket basically usurped votes that could have either solidified a Republican win, or swung the entire race in favor of the Democrats.  Considering the general ideals of the traditional Libertarian versus the perceived extremes between the Repubs and Dems, I feel like if a gun were to the head of a Libertarian, they’d probably swimg Democratic, and we’d have a completely different story on our hands right now.

I feel that the Libertarian party in this instance were being selfish and incapable of reading the room, and even they had to realize that Babytrump couldn’t possibly be in the best interests of Georgia.  And with that in mind, why would they bother to interlope in a critical election that was already expected to be razor thin from the onset, and usurp essential votes that could very well have changed history at this time?

Frankly, the Libertarian party disgusts me currently, and I kind of fucking hate their existence right now.  I’m not saying that their votes would have definitively all swung blue, but in a hypothetical, majority blue scenario, they’d not only have led the election to a run-off but probably a Democratic win.  And maybe with some modicum of change achieved, maybe they’d have a better chance for notoriety running in a not-red state.

Continue reading “I’m proud of Metro Atlanta” →

Did Atlanta really lose the HQ2 sweepstakes?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

In case you missed it, Amazon finally ended their year-long goose chase of deciding on what city was going to win the privilege and exalted honor of being home to HQ2.  And because contests don’t really need to have rules or hold true initial claims anymore, not just one city, but two, were picked to split HQ2 into what I guess might be HQ2 and HQ2-2 or HQ3 or whatever they choose to call it, but the bottom line is that there wasn’t just one winner, but two co-winners: Crystal City in Virginia, and Long Island City in New York.

Admittedly, in the start of the whole HQ2 saga, I was actually hopeful that Atlanta would end up being the winner, especially after it made it past the first few rounds of cuts, and bettors were actually placing odds on the whole thing, placing Atlanta along with Austin, Texas, as the odds-on favorites to be where Amazon decided to go.

I think a part of that was just kind of the sports fan in me, that is pretty eager to see Atlanta, or the state of Georgia get any sort of win, that even a competition like where a major corporation is deciding to go, would’ve been sufficient enough to be able to declare that Atlanta came out with a major win.  And the knee-jerk thoughts of what a company like Amazon would be capable of doing with its arrival, like jettisoning property values, infusing the city with fresh new people that might be able to break the norm and shape something new, and the outlandish thought that being home to HQ2 might just supercharge Prime deliveries for the hometown immediately came to mind.

But then as time passed, and the saga drug on and on and on, with more cuts and more bullshit happening, where Atlanta kept moving on, but kept dumping more and more money into trying to impress Jeff Bezos and Co. to come to Atlanta, it began to get old hat really fast.  Skeptics were quick to point out that a place in the DC/VA/MD would have the inside track, since Bezos owned the Washington Post, and why wouldn’t he want to base his primary business near the major media outlet he owned?

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I give it five minutes before it’s used inappropriately

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

TL;DR: the City of Atlanta announces the launch of Fix-It ATL, a website where people can report issues such as potholes, beautification needs, and other infrastructure problems in need of attention

Here’s the thing – if they had pretty much said that it was specifically for potholes, this might actually not be used inappropriately.  But since they use the phrases “beautification” and “other” in the description of how this service could be utilized, that’s why I give it five minutes before Fix-It ATL is going to be used inappropriately.

Because people are trolls, dicks, racists and just a whole bunch of generally terrible people.

I’d love to be on the receiving end of the computers that are in charge of Fix-It ATL, when people start reporting things such as like, “too many black people on the Beltline,” or “a pothole on Ponce de Leon… next to all the illegal Mexicans waiting outside of Home Depot,” among many other terrible things that people are going to report, because they’re terrible people, they know they can get away with it, or all of the above.

But if it were just potholes, then the potential for terrible shit is somewhat mitigated, but I wouldn’t put it past people to figure out ways to make things as corrupt as possible, because the world is full of shitheads.  The idea is good, and I certainly hope that among the fifty pounds of crap that is bound to flow into their inboxes, there are some actual constructive reports and requests that might actually make Atlanta just a little bit nicer.

The flipside is that the corrupt city doesn’t really have the ability for deniability anymore.  With a service like this firmly in place, when people report issues like potholes and things that need repair, the city can’t play dumb or deny it was ever received if a service like this is launched, which will create a nice little digital paper trail for things to be requested of the city.  The idea is really nice, but now the pressure is on for the city to actually follow through with their claims, lest this become yet another bullet in the list of broken promises that the city continues to claim is going to happen.

Is anyone really surprised by this?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

As much as I want to say that I don’t really pay much attention to the political climate of America, I feel like it’s one of those things that people kind of grow into as adults, or maybe it’s just me.  Perhaps it’s because I’m at the age where the decisions of politicians can actually affect me in some capacity that makes me a little bit more astute to them, or maybe it’s the existence of social media that opens my eyes to people I know who are all more well educated and pay more attention to them than I do, which kind of passively makes me curious as well.  Maybe it’s because I like to pretend like I’m pretty well versed in current events, so I like to read or pay attention to the news on a fairly regular basis.  Perhaps it’s all of the above.

Either way, the events of the Brett Kavanaugh saga and the ascendancy to Supreme Court Justice have been something of a big deal in the world of Washington over the last few weeks, and I’ve learned more about things than I probably really would’ve wanted to.  Frankly, there are far way more educated people in the topic of this whole story, but all I really know is that the president nominated this guy to replace a retiring Supreme Court Justice and because liberal America hates the president, they immediately hate his nominee.  Immediately, the nominee’s personal history is dug up in record time, and red flags are raised at the notion and multiple accusations that he has a little bit of sexual assault in his history and that perhaps he shouldn’t be nominated for, y’know, the highest court in the country.

Naturally, it devolves into what everything devolves into these days, a bold line in the sand drawn, and a vitriolic battle between Republicans and Democrats, conservatives versus liberals, or whatever you want to call it that embodies the stark and harsh divide that represents the United States these days.

The thing is though, and I try to be as objective as possible when it comes to stories like this, because I think it’s way too easy for people to pick sides solely based on scuttlebutt of what their social networks sound like, and not necessarily their own independent thoughts.  But frankly, whether or not the accusations are true of Kavanaugh’s past behavior, the bottom line is that surely in the landscapes of America, exist people who are vastly more unanimously qualified to become a Supreme Court Justice than him.

Continue reading “Is anyone really surprised by this?” →

Only going to talk about this once (hopefully)

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

So Yosemite Sam won the Republican nod to run for governor this November; this is not at all surprising, as victory was pretty much locked in as soon as the Donald Trump gave him his endorsement, which all but guaranteed all of his brainless sheep worshippers would vote him in.  Also not surprising was the relative ease in which he won the primary, defeating Casey Cagle by nearly 40 full points, going to further show just how much power a president that everyone loves to make fun of truly does wield.

So the field is officially set for probably the most important state election that I’ve lived in Georgia for, between gun-toting, Trump-worshipping, immigrant-threatening, unapologetically redneck Yosemite Sam, versus Stacey Abrams, a black woman, in a racist-ass state in busted-ass America, for governor of Georgia.

Obviously, I’ve written a lot of words about this particular topic, more than I ever thought I’d care to ever expend.  But I’m a grown-up (relatively), and I guess this is what happens to grown-ups, caring about politics, and I like the general state of Georgia these days, and I fear that a radical change in the political regime of the state highly jeopardizes such chill state of Georgia.

The bottom line is that no matter how much money, exposure and awareness that the Democratic party has funneled behind Stacey Abrams, she is obviously going to be the underdog by being both black and a woman, trying to make history, by becoming the first-ever black female governor in the United States.  In Georgia.  A state with deep roots involved with slavery, white supremacy and barely a decade removed from when they actually got the Confederate insignia off of its flag.

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Not sure if this is a good thing to disclose or not

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Long story short: City of South Fulton Renaissance Wakanda City of South Fulton’s entire law enforcement division led entirely by African-American women; publicly acknowledged as “black girl magic”

Yeah, if I were still living in South Fulton county, I’d be happier if the law enforcement arm they weren’t doing photoshoots and were actually doing some work.  I’m not entirely sure this is such a great story to break currently, because for those who don’t really follow what’s going down in the City of South Fulton, the whole place is kind of in shambles, infrastructure wise.

The fact that they can’t even land on a name for the city goes to show just how disorganized and lacking in structure the whole place is in general, but the law enforcement is a whole other story.  Seldom does a day goes by where the front page of the AJC doesn’t have some sort of story that contains the words “shooting,” “killed,” “crime,” “South Fulton,” or any combination of them on it, because the crime is that out of control down there and continuously getting worse.

It’s the primary reason why I sold my house and moved away, and not a day goes by whenever I see a crime story emerging from down there, that I’m so glad to have gotten out of there when I did, even if it meant taking a loss on the house and going through a little bit of separation anxiety of parting ways with my first owned home, even if it was in a rapidly deteriorating area.

And as I’ve said numerous times, I’m still subscribed to the Nextdoor community online for my old neighborhood, because it’s giving me constant reminders and daily insight to just how much South Fulton is continuing to spiral downward.  I can see first-hand from people that still live there just how much they’re frustrated and exasperated with the escalating crime problems down there, and this is exactly why I’m not the least impressed by articles about how South Fulton’s law enforcement is helmed entirely by African-American women.

Continue reading “Not sure if this is a good thing to disclose or not” →