Or use Amazon (I’m guilty), or shop at Walmart (sometimes guilty, but not often), or shop at Target, use Tiktok, use Facebook (reunion coordination only - but still guilty, I guess), use PayPal (very guilty), use LinkdIn, use Google (guilty).

It’s really difficult to live a modern life, without being guilty of using anything exploitative of something. Of course, all the things (and many more) mentioned above are made to make people reliant on them by design.

Amazon operated in the red for over 7 years, before turning any profit, often selling and shipping items for a lower cost than they purchased the items for. But after that 7 years, they’d driven much of their competition out of business. Now there are fewer choices with regard to finding some items, because Amazon drove everyone out of business. The cheaper prices on Amazon? Nothing like what they used to be - they don’t have to compete.

How many small towns have Walmart as virtually the only place to shop and/or the only employer?

It’s very important in our modern, separated society, for people to return to basics…get to know your neighbors, stick together, become friends, and help one another out. Reddit used to really drive me nuts, in the work-related subreddits, where everyone used to say, “Your co-workers are not your friends.” I wondered if many people ever looked past that, to ask if that’s how HR wants things. How do you ever achieve solidarity in the workplace, when you walk in with that attitude? I’ve certainly had my share of hated co-workers, but much more often, I have been friends with many of them. Co-workers are a great resource to vent, problem solve, find out what’s going on behind the scenes, and if there are problems - a great co-worker can be honest and let me know if I might be the problem, or not.

But, separated and isolated within our own little tribes/families, too busy working too many hours, for too little money, trying to keep up with too many financial obligations, is exactly how they get us exactly where they want us.

My mom (boomer) has been scammed twice, and it’s not been a simple issue of naivety or even stupidity…it’s been that, and a bit of greed, thinking more about what she’d get out of the deal, than how much sense the whole thing made, in each case. The underlying thing that attracted the scammers in each case, were her Facebook posts about going on multiple vacations and cruises.

The first one was the scam about an inheritance in probate, in Nigeria. She just had to send the money for the courts to get past probate, and then she’d be able to claim the inheritance left by her mysterious relative. Now, the maternal side of my family is Polish and Romanian, and the paternal side is British and German. I just don’t know who she may have thought bounced over to Nigeria and keeled over.

The second scam was the Exxon executive, who woke up in a hospital bed after a car accident, missing his wallet. The hospital was holding him captive in his hospital room until he could pay his bill, which somehow she could help with, by sending Amazon gift cards. The greed part comes in with him apparently having his phone, and being able to send her pics of his cars, properties, and bank statements. The stupid part comes in from about a thousand different directions and 4 dimensions…I mean, she even met his “daughter” in a video call, and adoption was discussed (the mother was apparently long dead). My mom spent a full career as a RN - in hospitals (in the US) - where they don’t incarcerate people until the bills are paid. Additionally, one would think that since any Tom, Dick, or Harry, missing their wallet, but with their phone, would be able to get ahold of someone - anyone, who might be able to contact a financial institution or work colleague, to secure proof of funds availability, replacement credit cards, or access to their finances. An executive with Exxon should definitely be able to show at least enough bling to pop themselves out of “hospital jail,” one would think. Finally, Amazon gift cards?

With my sister going through their correspondence, we found the name he gave my mom to be one letter off the correct spelling of the Exxon executive in the photo of himself that he sent her. The location of his grand home, on Google Earth anyway, appears to be the pool maintenance shed at a motel in TX.

Me: “Mom! It’s a scam.”

Mom: “No! I love him, and he loves me! I’m flying out to meet him, and help him out of the hospital. His daughter is picking me up from the airport.”

Me: “Wait. You said you were thinking about adopting his daughter when you got married - to this guy you’ve never met in person. The daughter is an adult?!”

Mom: “No. She’s 16 and has her driver’s license.”

Me: “So wait…she lives in his house with no adult supervision, since her father is hospital-bound. She has access to the car, but somehow can’t help with transportation, banking access, or the replacement credit card/replacement ID situation?”

Mom: “You’re so negative. You just don’t want to understand.”

Me: 🙄😒🫤

Wow! We have 5 vehicles in our household, a camper, and we used to have 2 motorcycles. 1 vehicle was inherited after a death on the family, 1 vehicle was found in a sales-paper/magazine called “The Trading Post.” The camper was bought new from a dealership via eBay, and we saved $13.5k buying the 5th wheel version of the same camper that we walked through locally in VA, in its tag-along version - I just had to drive to IA to get it. The 3 other vehicles and 2 motorcycles were bought through eBay, and they’ve all been good experiences.

Bad headline…should read, “doesn’t care to do anything, with regard to getting him back.”

Wouldn’t it be great if Denmark asked NATO to send peacekeeping force, to protect them from the US?

Isn’t 04/02 supposed to be some martial law day? Maybe he’s getting ready to declare that he can’t wear a suit again, until the “war” is over.

Critical assessment from a politician who’s a failure by most assessments. As a person who doesn’t care what you think, thanks for your opinion? I guess?

What’s that? I think I heard your mom calling you. It’s probably time to go home now.

Well, Russia didn’t want NATO members, and what can come with NATO membership at their borders, much like how we didn’t want Soviet missiles in Cuba, in 1962. They certainly viewed their former Soviet states and bloc countries joining NATO, as an expansion of NATO.

Regardless of what looked like who, and who thought what, Russia invaded Ukraine, and they shouldn’t have.

I think our allies are doing everything they can do. They can’t “help” us militarily. What they can do is help us economically. Then the US attempted to help itself during trump 45, what did all the censures, panels, investigations, lawsuits, and eventual impeachments amount to? Liberal tears. Prior to Inauguration Day, one of the democratic strategies discussed, was to let trump do his thing, without all the interference. Of course there are the lawsuits - anyone can sue anyone. Maybe the way to get MAGA voters to recognise how terrible trump (and MAGA) is, is to just let things happen, to the point where the MAGAs get pissed at MAGA.

Our allies are doing their part to come to our defense by retaliating on the tariffs, moving away from buying American goods, finding other trade partners, moving away from depending on the American Military, and potentially moving away from the US Dollar. No matter how this all plays out, it will hurt Americans, because in this case, the threat to America is coming from within America.

In the end, if our democratic republic survives, do we really need to be the “world police?” Do we really need a military that’s bigger than the next 13 militaries combined? I’m not really saying that we should or shouldn’t, but the “liberal world order” that has been enjoyed since WWII is expensive, but well worth it, considering what the cost of WWIII will be. Additionally, the expenses endured by the US in “running the show” also bought the influence of American Interests all over the world. Do we really need to run the show? Do the interests of the US align with that of our allies close enough, that we could simply be members of the team, instead of having to watch the “orange dipshit” shove his way to the center of the front row of every photo, where national leadership is gathered.

America has lost its way. Our allies are doing everything they can, to help our nation recover from the threat within. While President Turd-gurgler swings his bludgeon of tariffs, then no tariffs, then new tariffs, Canada targets its tariffs at the people who voted for the president and his tariffs. When the half of the nation who didn’t vote for trump is joined by the half of the nation who did vote for trump, the trump problem can be solved. Until then, any objection to trump is simply another liberal tear.

And don’t forget the importance in supporting our institutions, the ones that DOGE is working hard to kill.

Ukraine should declare that they’re withdrawing from the Lisbon Protocol, and will start working towards creation/procurement of nuclear weapons. Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belaruse agreed to give up their nuclear weapons, in exchange for guarantees on their border security, secured by the US and Russia. Since Russia has reneged, and the US appears to be doing the same, maybe Ukraine could bolster the “cards in their hand” by looking towards rearming. While I hate the idea of another nuclear power, Ukraine was the #3 nuclear power, between separation from the USSR and the 1992 Lisbon Protocol. Maybe their next strategic move should be to fail, like the US and Russia have.

I understand Russian concerns - Gorbachev was told, when the Berlin Wall came down, that NATO would not expand towards the Russian Border. That promise was not ratified by NATO, but was a part of the decision making process, as it was a Russian concern. NATO has expanded 12 times since then, towards the Russian Border. As mad as they might be, the answer is not to simply take back lands they gave up.

The same goes for the US. A few decades passing by, is no excuse to simply decide to not honor obligations previously entered into.

But, if everybody is just changing their minds, and simply “doing whatever we want” is on the table, I’m sure, since Ukraine supplied much of the Cold War hardware and expertise to the USSR, that manufacturing and knowledge base is still there, at least to some degree.

They probably wouldn’t have to do it…mentioning the interest as a strategic consideration could be the kick in the ass needed, to help the Lisbon Protocol participants to remember their roles in the guarantees made, on the condition of giving up those nukes.

So, shortly after checking aboard the first fast-attack submarine I served on, in April 1991, the boat was locked down one evening, when the engineer couldn’t find his Zenith SuperSport 286e computer. Suspecting someone stole it, the boat was locked down and searched - for 3 hours. Everyone was really angry… It’s 2025 and I remember it well.

Anyway, after 3 hours or so, at the Captains insistence, the ENG, doing paperwork in his stateroom, let someone else in, to look for his computer. There it was, sitting plain as day, on his bunk, where his pillow should have been. The ENG said he didn’t notice it, as he thought it was his pillow…gross, considering everyone else’s pillowcase was white.

The Captain immediately lifted the lockdown, and all the off-duty people went home. The anger lingered though, and the Engineer seemed to have a dark cloud over his head. He was fired a few months later, and I’ve always wondered if it had something to do with that computer - I was just too new to know anything about the guy, and I didn’t work in engineering.

LOL! I had the Timex Sinclair 1000. It connected to a B&W TV, and a cassette tape player for a drive. My dad won it from our local bowling alley.

I didn’t get too far with it.

Boomer: What?! Just walk into the building, go up to the receptionist or bossman, and demand to be interviewed for a job, and fill out an application form. Refuse to leave without a job offer. They’ll be so impressed by your dedication, they can’t do anything else, but to hire you! What are you waiting for?

Well, this is America, and parents are free to make those kind of choices. My children will not be working those fields (especially considering they’re in VA). As always, the poor and their children will be the most exploited in this endeavor, but considering these same people are orange voters, I really only feel bad for the children.

“The beatings will continue, until morale improves.”

Or the poor stop letting themselves be taken advantage of, and the not so poor, but poorly educated or informed, graduate to better informing themselves. All the information is available out there. People simply need to open their eyes and consume it, instead of being told what to think from a talking head on tv.