America's Got Talent

I hate most television; but, I like talent shows. I like to watch old style variety shows, it reminds me of the Ed Sullivan Show and seeing the Beatles and variety acts. After Mr. Sullivan, that type of variety show sort of stopped playing. America's Got Talent is a true variety show and I like the interplay by the judges. I have seen some amazing acts this year and am going to post a link to the performances by my favorite ones, ones that could go professional today, in my not so humble opinion having worked as a stage manager for over a decade.

In the dance catagory, I love these two. Blue Journey. I think it is beautiful and sublime and I don't usually like dancing. This is worth your watching and I don't think you will be sorry that you did.

The Willis Clan. Music Groups. They could tour right now and I would buy a ticket, what a family, all beautiful (including the parents), all talented and a joy to hear.

David and Leeman. Magicians. I was performing magic when I was a child, I studied Houdini, I read books about his magic. My father and I performed a trick better than the one other act that was performing it and they were playing Vegas. It is a very difficult trick and I haven't seen anyone perform it in 40 years. The act only really pays off when you have a young boy and his father, it is a mind reading act and you have never seen it performed and you probably never will. It takes years to learn and you can only perform it for at best, 5 years and that would be stretching it. My father taught me the trick after he discovered that I loved magic and he also worked with me as I taught myself escape tricks. I bet this surprises some people. LOL. Magic is not about the trick, it is about the presentation and David and Leeman are very possibly the best act this year. I want to give an honorable mention to Smoothini, loved his act.

Julia Goodwin. Singer. I love the style of music that she sings and she does it well. She is only 15; but, you would never know it. I would buy her album of this type of music tomorrow.

Honorable mention and an explanation goes to this last act. Adrain Romoff. This young man is very talented and will go far; but, he will truly succeed when he writes his own music. His playing is very good; but, I have heard others equally good. He needs to grow and write his own and then we will be able to better know his abilities.

I would like to see the final two be David and Leeman and Julia Goodwin. If I based my choice on who could open a Vegas show tomorrow, it would be David and Leeman, they already have their act ready. If I base my choice on talent alone, it would be Ms. Goodwin. I want to hear her again, I would pay to see either of these acts.

Conspiracy Sites

I don't believe everything I am told and I know that the government has lied and hidden things. There is absolutely no question in my mind that we should not take things without questioning them. There is also a big difference between opinion and fact. If you believe 2 + 2 = 5, you cannot tell me that your opinion on the matter is just as valid as other peoples. The answer to the simple math question is not an opinion, it is a fact and one that is pretty hard to disprove.

Now the Pimpernel writes every week and often for days straight, questioning things that are written or produced, the claims of others; but, I don't write about conspiracy theories. I write about what is going on and cite mainstream media articles on the same things, I just try to add a little context. If I want to discuss government brainwashing programs, I post to the congressional record of the hearings on the matter or to the interview with President Clinton who apologized for the program. Extreme beliefs require extreme evidence or it should just be questions, not conclusions.

In the course of my writing a post, I read all the news of the day from multiple sources. Some of the sources are what I would call "conspiracy sites". To me a conspiracy site is a website that has an agenda that outweighs their reasonably weighing the evidence. I want to talk about some of these sites and their authors.

Rense.com. Mr Rense claims to be the most format and content plagiarized site on the web. This is interesting in that 99% of his content is links to other peoples work. One of his regular contributors is the ex head of the Klu Klux Klan, David Duke. If there is a anti-Jewish article anywhere that he can link to he will. Not a day goes by that he doesn't link to anything that could remotely support his comical beliefs. He has no objectivity.

DavidIcke.com. Now I want to start by saying that Mr. Icke has brought a lot of things to the publics attention at the risk of his own career. Now many have attacked Mr. Icke for being anti-Israel and believing that the hidden rulers of the universe are reptilian spirits; but, the problem I have is that he is unwilling to consider alternative explanations for his beliefs. I have never read where Mr. Icke recommended violence against anyone, so, we agree on that; but, I believe his focus is too narrow. I should say that I have seen him speak in person and found him fascinating. I don't have to agree with someone on everything to appreciate their abilities.

Alex Jones. Mr. Jones appears the most rationale; however, he is paranoid in the wrong way. He assumes everything is the end of the world and disagrees with everything that the President does. He seems to support people that are of the Ayn Rand school and is an extremist. I cannot recommend that people follow him.

These three are the three biggest in alternative media and I cannot find one that I recommend. If I were to recommend any site, I would recommend The Young Turks; but, I recommend nobody. I recommend reading all the sites, mainstream and alternative and questioning them all. I do not follow anyone nor lead anyone, I merely read them all and take what I find to be indicative of a bigger picture.

Never trust anyone who won't admit to being biased. I have listed out my biases in the past and and more than happy to respond to any comments asking me what they are. You should read the media and recognize that they have a bias and view what they say keeping that in mind, whether you agree with their bias or not.

A Little Bit of Every Kind of News

YouTube - British Institute of Posthuman Studies. - PostHumanism An Introduction. PostHumanism, Transhumanism, whatever you wish to call it is the belief that we will not be able to keep up with technology and the technology will exceed our abilities. The movement is funded by some very famous and rich people. In fact one Billionaire from Russia believes that he will be able to transfer his "mind" (which he views as his thoughts and memories) into a android, a robot, within the next 50 years or so. His gruesome utopia would be a computerized "better" (faster, smarter) version or himself. If you want to understand why we are headed in the direction that we are, you better understand what the people leading us believe.

Huffington Post - Weird Al's 'Lame Claim To Fame' Stop Motion Video Name-Drops Celebrities He Almost Knows.  Fortunately for us, Weird Al is still around and giving us a reason to smile. This linked post shows most of his new releases that he has made in the last month. Al himself posted them onto the internet. The first time I heard him was on Dr Demento before most people had heard of either. Al was in college up in Santa Barbara I believe and the good Dr was teaching and going out on college radio, CSUN.

YouTube - Rockford Files S02E09 Chicken Little Is A Little Chicke. James Garner died. I liked him as an actor, hope you did too. Here is something to remind you of him.

Yahoo - Reuters - Iraq Catholic leader says Islamic State worse than Genghis Khan. Saying that ISIS is Muslim is the same as saying the the Westboro Baptist Church represents Christians. Both use the names; but, act and say things that are not in either's bible.

Wired - In 20 Years, Most New Cars Won’t Have Steering Wheels or Pedals. I know, my regulars readers will know that I already wrote about this a couple of times and even posted a video of one of the cars that Google made and is legal in California. The context is diferent here and I believe the article is important to read, it will not take you long and might help you to understand my conclusion at the end of the blog later.

Motley Fool - How to turn $5,000 into $998,000. Financial people who have done well and many smart people who come from middle and upper classes believe that they are better and have worked their way there by themselves and that everyone else could too. Many I know that I have dealt with in business know that I could take their money away and keep as much as I want for myself (their biggest fear is losing their wealth) and they cannot figure out why I don't. LOL. That joke alone makes it worthwhile. Remember when I wrote about the Billionaire who said that if you made a million dollars you should never be required to pay taxes again or the one who said that you should get one vote for every million you had? Oh, and the Constitution only intended to give votes to land owners and freeman originally.

Yahoo - Business Insider - China's Total Debt Surges To 251% Of GDP. More financial lies and meanignless articles by "experts". The difference between China and the US is simple, they manufacture things and we don not; therefore, they can pay back their debts with real assets. The article also points out that our debt to GDP is even higher.

Huffington Post -  We're Heading Into a Jobless Future, No Matter What the Government Does. Vivek Wadhwa,  the author of the article talks about many of the same things that I have discussed over the years regarding automation, self-driving cars and the reduced need for real people to do the actual work. The author is confused by what is going on because he does not understand the intent behind it all. He understand that we won't need any people to work at all; but, cannot understand why the economists and futurists don't see this, he is wrong, the best of them do. The article also points out that because of technology we could easily feed, clothe and improve the lives of everyone, he is surprised that we don't take of this utopia and does not understand that those who run this place have a different agenda and belief, they want a utopia; but, see no need for more people than it would take to achieve such a goal. Start putting all the articles in this post together and you will begin to see what has been discussed for years in certain circles.

Wikipedia - Georgia Guidestones. This stone monolith was placed on a farm in Georgia and states the wishes of someone for the future. Both Yoko Ono and Ted Turner, amongst others, have praised the words on them. Amongst those words it says that the earth's population should stay at 500 million, there is currently 14 times that with roughly 7 billion people on earth.

I wish I could write better fiction; but, all I prefer to write is the truth, reality and let others take it where they will. Let me put it another way. People used to use woodburning stoves to heat their homes and cook their food, they worked fine and we could still use them today; but, there is not need to. We have easier ways with gas and electric stoves. It does not mean the old technology ceased to work, it is merely no longer needed, we don't require it. The same goes for people. There are many things we can do today that are done by computers or automation, it does not mean that we could not make or do the same things using people; but, the cost does not justify it in the eyes of financial people. Efficiency means achieving your goals with the least amount of effort and energy (or capital) expended. If we can automate 90% of all the labor then how many people do we need?

The funniest part of all this is that one of my hero's foresaw the end of society and predicted what would come first. The people who believe the non-sense of efficiency also consider him a hero. They never really understood what he was saying. The first "written historian" was a Greek named Thucydides. He recorded the Pelopenisian Wars. My favorite historian/social student of all time was Arnold Toynbee. He was a professor and wrote a ten volume series entitled "A Study of History". It is Mr. Toynbee of whom I referred. He said that society failed and fell apart when it was the most efficient. It means that a society has no wiggle room, no room for error and there is always an error.

Corruption, Something Beautiful and an Attractive Italian Lady

cnsnews.com - Schumer to Religious Americans: Pick One--Your Faith or Your Business. Mr Schumer basically argues that religious people need to either not incorporate as for profit businesses or accept the laws that apply to them, such as providing insurance that allows people access to contraception. I agree. A lot has been made about this Hobby Lobby case; but, it usually misses the point. Should you be allowed to pay $1.00 an hour and claim it is your religious belief? Maybe you shouldn't have to follow the state safety laws. Don't be too thrilled by the courts decision because it was never really about faith, it was about allowing businesses to ignore the law.

Yahoo - Reddit users fulfill grieving father's touching Photoshop request. A touching story about people helping the family of a child who passed away.

And finally, the Italian woman. I go out for dinner with a married couple on a fairly regular base, at least once a month. I have been tasked with finding new places to try and chose an Italian restaurant. We got to the restaurant and it was nice. In fact, the food was excellent and we all enjoyed ourselves. The waitress was Italian and was probably related to the owners. She was probably in her 40s and had an enchanting laugh. For some reason she took a liking to me and made if fairly obvious, not unpleasant and not inappropriately; but, it was clear that we both saw something in each other. I don't usually assume a woman likes me, they have to be obvious for me to get it.  When we left, she came over and shook my hand, she did not do that for anyone else in the restaurant.

When my friends and I go out like this it is fairly obvious that I am the single one as I never bring another with me. Having said that, I never feel like a third wheel. In fact, we enjoy each others company immensely. It has the feeling of a family outing and we are very open with one another about everything. We have a lot of history. I actually save our dinners for giving them very personal information, updates on my life. And here I was joking with this beautiful Italian lady. She was so charming and warm with a wonderful authentic accent. I think it is the accents that get me. In either case, it made me think again.

I enjoyed having the lady flirt with me, look me in the eyes, smile at me when she came by. I have lived with Italians and have many Italian relatives; but, this woman was born in Italy. She had a presence that I cannot explain, very Italy Italian and very full of life. I like Russian women because of their calm and contemplative nature. I don't like drama. I am trying to describe what this woman was like; but, can't seem to find the words. She was different. She had a playful confidence. She was very expressive and not reserved at all. She lacked guile, it is so hard to explain.

I want my readers to consider the question. What if I both love integrity and calm while feeling a need for emotion and joy? Which would be the best for me to be with, given the choice. Do we not seek out what we lack? Do we not seek to bridge the gaps in our being? I don't know if I can handle that. I don't know if I could handle being with someone with strong emotions and no buffer to their expressions. This post is not about the beautiful and enchanting Italian woman that I met, it is about choices.

I had a nice night. I found out that there were still some women that found me attractive, there are still women my age with bad eyesight and they can still find warmth in their hearts. That feels nice.

Lots of News and Dumb Stuff

Okay, this post took a long time. I began it about a week ago and then came back to finish it a week later. I don't have any idea what the end of it will look like as I will be incorporating lots of news that came out after the initial writing. By the way, my readers need to be inviting others to read the blog if they enjoy it, spread it.

This is going to be all over the place, hope you enjoy. To begin with, I was going to see my granddaughter this weekend; but, something came up with my daughter. Hey, at least when I retire, I will have more time to visit her and I read something very interesting.

CNN - Can heart attack damage be reversed? This is sort of amusing to me on a personal level; but, my answer is actually easy for me. I have had two heart attacks and they have left me with less stamina. Apparently, stem cells might now be capable of making me better and eliminating the damage done. I do not, did not have a bad heart. My heart attack was not caused by bad veins or blocked arteries. I have never been told that and they have spent an enormous amount of time testing me in ever conceivable way. My doctors have spared no expense in checking me out and have all cared deeply for me. My heart attacks were the result of very high blood pressure. Not unlike King Kong, it was tension killed the beast and me. LOL.

The article points out that my now damaged heart can be possibly be repaired using stem cells and the place where this can be done is close and knowing what I know, I could probably be allowed the procedure. This raises many fascinating questions for me. I know for a fact that my aorta and heart have received damage. I do not doubt that at all and my doctor and the specialists have assured me of the fact. No cure has been offered, nor is one expected to appear.

As far as I can understand, the article says that when you have a heart attack, you kill heart cells and never fully recover. You might get better; but, never regain what you had. I am much better than when I had my heart attacks; but, have not bounced back to what I was before they occurred. I know I will never get better and have no idea what a third heart attack would do to me. I need no stints nor bypasses, neither would help and eventually the blood pressure medication and other medications will indeed kill my organs. Still, I will not accept stem cell cures. I will not do it. All stem cell understanding came from killing babies. We would have come to the same conclusions if we hadn't killed babies; but that is how we got here. From a scientific position, new life, unique life begins at conception. To say otherwise is to disagree with basic science. I dare anyone to contradict me on this point.

Yahoo - Motoramic - Steve McQueen's restored Ferrari stampedes toward $12 million auction. Not long ago I had written about a family whose father owned a famous Ferrari, the father passed away and they sold the car for charity. It made even more at sale than had been anticipated. I actually exchanged e-mails with the daughter who now runs the company. I did not update on the sale because the daughter had exchanged information with me that she had asked me not to reveal and therefore I did not; but, I found her and her family to be quite amazing. In either case, while not a Ferrari person (more of a Lamborghini or De Tomasa guy), I sort remotely keep an eye on Ferraris now. Steve McQueen had actually tried to buy the Ferrari from the man I wrote about; but, he said no. Now a Ferrari owned by Mr. McQueen is on the block and expected to go for even more; but, this time, the money will not go to charity.

Yahoo - The downside of minimum wage hikes. Garbage arguments are always worth examining. Start with this, the CEO of a restaurant chain is claiming that if we don't raise the minimum wage then salaries will actually increase. That is the crux of his argument and is innately a flat out lie or just stupid. If you owned a company and there was no minimum wage, would you pay people more than you did when there was a minimum wage? Did the south increase the pay for slaves when they had no wage at all? The truth is, you cannot outsource Restaurant help.

Forbes - Raising Minimum Wage Is Not The Answer. I want you to read this short article that I linked to and as you read it I want you to think slavery rather than minimum wage. Think about the evil in it. If we eliminate the minimum wage, why not allow indentured servants as we once did or allow people to sell themselves into slavery, it would increase the number of people working? What is not discussed in these articles is the value of human life and effort.

The Washington Post - This is what happened when I drove my Mercedes to pick up food stamps. This is the story of a woman who excelled in her career, married well and then lost most of what she had and had to take food stamps to feed her family; but, still retained her Mercedes. An interesting read.

Huffington Post - The Ridiculous Minimum Wage Argument. A good argument and interesting math regarding the minimum wage.

Yahoo - Business Insider - This Company Saved A Lot Of Money By Tracking Their Employees With Fitbits. I told you  this was coming a long time ago and it is here. Giving up your personal privacy for a job, it is slavery. Read it, think about it and consider this being imposed on your children.

Forbes - The "Income Inequality" Debate Is Not About Income Inequality. This article, in Forbes of all places, appears to be against inherited wealth and in favor of merit pay. The owner of Forbes inherited his wealth. My belief goes beyond theirs, I don't believe one person should be able to own the world, I don't believe in that right. There was a movie, it was called the Devil and Daniel Webster. Mr. Webster was one of the greatest attorneys ever and a personal favorite. He argues that only God can own your soul.

Yahoo - The Cheat Sheet - The Income Gap Cycle Continues: Millionaire Heirs. The .01% are scared and are now arguing amongst themselves over who deserves the wealth. The meritocracy or the inheritors. They miss the real question, how much do the rest of us deserve.

YouTube - The Young Turks - Income Inequality ROCKS, says 'Shark Tank' Host Kevin O'Leary. You have to watch the video to believe it. This person believes the best thing is if one person owned everything and the rest of us had nothing.

Yahoo - The Detroit Bureau - Daimler demonstrates its driverless big rig on the Autobahn. Come on kids, I have written about this in the past, all vehicles being driverless and you at the will of the machine.

I think I provided a lot of stuff to think about, so think about it.

I Am A Republican, Old School Type

I have been reading so many articles and am so disgusted by what I have seen happen to the Republican party. It may surprise my readers to know that I voted Republican all my life. I would consider myself a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. If you would have asked me, I would have told you that I had Libertarian leanings. I think we should have as much freedom as possible; but, I also strongly believe in community and taking care of the needy. I detest Ayn Rand and her philosophy of total selfishness and lack of empathy. Unfortunately, it is those who now run the Republican party and it would make William F. Buckley sick to his stomach.

In case people forgot, Lincoln was a Republican as was Teddy Roosevelt. The last true Republican was Nixon. I am disgusted by Republicans who loathe Progressives, Teddy Roosevelt was a progressive. It meant to improve things, to protect people, to promote good government rather than government controlled by special interests. It was the Republican progressives that created Civil Service, prior to that, when someone became President, they replaced all the federal government employees with their own lackeys. Teddy thought that was a bad thing.

What happened to the Republican party? When did we become such selfish Anti-America swine? When did we think that sending jobs to Communist China was a good idea>

There is a line in the Bible, In 2 Timothy 3. It says"

1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

6They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

Some stuff you might find interesting

My apologies to my readers for taking so long to post. I have been thinking about slightly delaying my retirement. I have decided to leave that decision up to my employees. In the meantime, I have been reading the news and came across some interesting articles.

First off I bring you an interesting interview with Russell Brand. YouTube - Keiser Report: Russell Brand talks revolution with Max & Stacy (E620.

Yahoo - Live Science - Big Earthquakes Double in 2014, But They're Not Linked. I like the stupidity of the conclusion. Why should we assume there is no pattern linking this extraordinary occurrence? What did the scientists discover? That there is no explanation and they appear to be random and unrelated, this surprised them; but, does not surprise me. Read your bible and you will understand too. What if the bible is right and the birth pangs have begun?

NewsMax - Gallup Poll: Confidence in Government, President at New Low. What does it mean for a nation when only 7% respect their government and the elected officials don't care? The politicians do not understand what is going on either and neither do the powers that be.

The Week - America is only half-primed for a violent revolution. The article concludes that mass corruption is the one thing that is needed to cause revolution. The author, perhaps mistakenly, assumes that there is not mass corruption; but, people know better. Are we being urged into a revolution? Are we being manipulated into seeking a structural change? It should be apparent that things are not as they should be, the question is what or who is behind it.

The ukColumn - Reset: The Savage Destruction Of Our Constitution. There is a move in Britain to give them a new Constitution. That is not quite accurate as they have never had a true constitution; but, they have the Magna Carta which is effectively the same thing. I  believe we should keep an eye on this situation and what their final constitution looks like. My little autistic brain says this has meaning. I cannot explain it; but, I know this matters. It will determine their rights.

Yahoo - The Fiscal Times - The Next Financial Crisis Is Brewing Right Now, and Regulators Are Missing It. Risky lending and a housing bubble, this cannot end well and is completely intentional. If they didn't understand it last time, they do absolutely get it this time, think about it.

Huffington Post - Unpatriotic U.S. Corporations Becoming Hot Political Issue That Unites Right and Left I like that this article points out something I have previously mentioned. Globalists do not carry about any of us, we are just chattel.

Yahoo - AFP - London's scandal-hit gold price fixing under spotlight. These are the same people trying to decide if they should make it a crime, to fix markets. Every market is fixed, the stock markets, the commodity markets, all markets.