Biden, Trump, Haley, or other?

Two futures are at stake in 2024: America's and The World's  

With all of the events taking place around the world and in America you can just smell major trouble in the air. It is like an approaching destructive weather system: smelling rain, hearing thunder, seeing lightening, hearing the locomotive sound described when a tornado hits. The international leaves in many nations are going limp and turning upwards. The animals are getting restless.

LIke many of the post WW2 generations, many of us thought we were fortunate not to have lived through another major international madness. Now I am not so sure. Whether you favor the Jackass party or the other Dumbo one, America has become a human depiction of two rams, moose, bears, lions - pick your species - battling it out for dominance. Only winning matters - compromise has all but disappeared.

Over the pond you have even more choice - the Middle East, Russia and Ukraine, Sudan, Syria, China to name a few - all allowing base human instincts of greed and power to boil over into death and destruction already or very soon.

Recently I saw an Email with attached "posters" showing the worst of Donald J. As a Canadian they seemed to depict so clearly to me and I suspect the rest of the world just why he must not be in the White House again. They also make us wonder how so many of the MAGA crowd can be totally befuddled by him and his cronies.

There is for sure a LOT wrong in the Biden camp as well - most notably the old style of Washington politics which badly needs new and fresher thinking minds making decisions that are begging to be made. Note those words - making decisions!

The worst poster was that of the Donald mocking and mimicing a reporter with a physical handicap. Who does that? We have also seen him in a cemetary of America's fallen warriors asking somebody what was in it for these military heroes?  He actually called them suckers and losers.

MAGA or not, how can you vote for such a man? Seriously - HOW? Some of you must have handicapped friends or family members and for sure have lost family members who made the supreme sacrifice.

The only bullets this person has ever had to dodge are now rightfully showing up in courts across the nation. He is not as adept an artful dodger as he thought.

It's a good thing he seems to like orange.

#thebrewsterblock.

How many American Parents Buy their kid a Gun?

 A TV or a Phone OK. But a GUN?

The case involving Ethan Crumbley and his parents is tragic. Our hearts must first go out to the four kids Ethan shot dead when he was only 15, and their families. This is just one more reason that Americans should give their heads violent shakes - hopefully before another of their kids blows holes in them.

I read that federal law prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from owning a handgun. A youth can own and use a long rifle to murder people - but not a handgun. Right.

It is apparently the case that Ethan's father James bought him that gun using Ethan's own money! Seriously? It is also alleged that his mother Jennifer emailed him at school when he was caught doing a search for ammunition, telling him not to get caught! That's just as bad as the dad.

A big deal is now being made that if parents are potentially liable for their childrens' actions it would set a big precedent. IT'S ABOUT TIME when it comes to kids using guns acquired by adults. Giving it to their kid is a slam dunk. GUILTY!

Is there any other country on the face of this planet, that seems to rank having guns in the house right up there with stocking the shelves with salt, pepper, and ketchup?Should parents in ANY country allow underaged kids to even handle a gun?

NO!

We all know that the gun makers, sellers, and lovers will repeat the old crap that it is people who kill people, not guns. So I am going to repeat my usual response. That kid did not stab the victims to death, club the victims to death, or poison them to death - he SHOT them to death - with a GUN doing exactly what it was invented and then perfected to do.

Wake up America - while you still can.

#thebrewsterblock

Social Media - Good or Bad?

Social Media has become the Unsocial Media

I am not a big fan of social media. Is it a good thing or not? If not what can be done to make it better? The majority will probably say it is a good thing.

Electronic media from the first cumbersome email networks now allow real time contact . What has not changed is the tendency for people to write things that they would never say face to face. Anonymity makes people brave and brazen while hiding behind an electronic shield.

Networks like FOX News and those on them, know they are spreading lies but don't care. In some cases, legitimate corporations do rein them in. The potentially criminal part is that these "news" celebs know what kind of audience will get fired up by what they say and that many will resort to violence as a result.

Free speech is important in a democracy - it is cherished and fundamental in America. That is not always a good thing - hate mongering is an example which should be restricted and come with negative consequences for those guilty.

The violent ones often act without any true fact checking of what they have been fed. They were just looking for an excuse in the first place. People like Trump and his former crew throw chunks of beef to them as they would to a school of sharks or piranha. They also know where the fish reside. America will probably experience more Jan. 6th incidents.

Social media just accelerates the apparently insatiable need for many people to be FIRST to hear something so they can forward it. The content and its impact don't matter anymore as long as you are first. Hollywood and celebrity gossip have always been an example of this even without immediate access. It is prime entertainment for some people.

Try this: read a good book and pass THAT on.

Imagine the following analogy and we have seen some examples almost as extreme. Some poor soul is on a rooftop or bridge contemplating jumping. There was a time when everyone would be united in trying to de-escalate the situation and talk the person down. Now half of the onlookers would only be there to video the jump and the resulting horror. Then the race to be first would be on - first on Facebook; first to text to a "friend"; first scoop to a paying media company.

What has happened to people? Every person with a phone is now both a paparazzi and a shark. Is social media the cause or has it always been inside people just waiting to come to the surface? I suspect both are true.

I suggest that Social or Unsocial Media has been responsible for many more deaths than other forms of media before it. It is really unfortunate but now that ot os in the hands of the truly evil it will be resposible for thousands - possibly millions - more.