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NEWS1 According to Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), if you do not read the news, you will be uninformed, but if you do read the news, you will be misinformed. "The government that governs best, governs least"-- Thomas Jefferson, third president and an original founding father of the United States. America is a country built on freedom, independence and self sufficiency Failed countries promise their populations "free " government handouts. Socialism, may sound wonderful, but it rapidly becomes a prison and slows down human growth and advancement. Having traveled extensively throughout the Soviet world, before the Wall fell, I never met a single person who was in favor of socialism. Everyone I met wanted to move to the west. The Christian concept that all people are equal under God is beautiful, but it does not mean that every person will have the same achievements or success in society. Socialism, at very best, provides minimal assistance to people to sustain themselves, but does not encourage advancement. It is human instinct for private ownership and to advance in society. Just go to any playground and watch young children playing with a ball and you will see a child scream out "that is my ball"! People under the yoke of socialism become a ward of the state.
DNA to enter the USA? What is happening to this country? Is it a country of the people, by the people and for the people? Extra judicial killings, without an indictment, trial by ones peers? Has the USA become a dictatorship? The USA was for over 200 years, the symbol of freedom and justice. Have we lost this? The United States State Department has published for opinion a desire to take DNA samples from all visitors to the United States. This would include those who are simply in the United States to catch a connecting flight to another destination. Often foreign countries copy American directives and it is highly probable that other countries will start doing the same including taking DNA samples from Americans. Foreign counties often share their information with other countries, including the United States. Many people have already expressed that taking DNA samples from citizens or anyone is an invasion of privacy. Further, it is not clear what will happen to the DNA information. For example, will it be sold or given freely to private companies such as insurance companies? In the future, will Americans be required to give DNA samples to get a passport or a federal ID card? Will providing a DNA sample become standard policy by companies in order to get a job? Many questions and concerns surround this very possible new policy. What is happening to this country? Is it any wonder why Mr. Zohran Mamdani has won the NYC mayoral election? Mr. Mamdani is a handsome, well spoken, clean cut individual and has promised the struggling people hope for the future. The collapse in the standard of living in the United States has been massive over the past 60 years. In 1963, the average man with a high school diploma at age 39 could afford a wife who did not work, a house in the suburbs, a car for himself and a car for his wife, three or four children and have enough money left over for a family vacation or perhaps a cabin in the country or a boat. Today, two highly educated people with advanced college degrees, can perhaps afford a one or two bedroom apartment, one child, no cars and both people must work. Further, many people with college degrees are burdened by student debt, can not find jobs or often work in jobs below their educational level, such as grocery stores, coffee shops and similar basic work. Often people in their mid 30's live in shared apartments and have barely enough money to make ends meet. Mr. Mamdani has said things that most young people wanted to hear such as free buses, a freeze in rent and much more. Of course this shifts the cost to established blue collar workers and the middle class. It remains to be seen if Mr. Mamdani's vision will be successful. Against all odds, Mr. Zohran Mamdani has won the NYC mayoral election by a majority of 50.4% of the voters. Mr. Mamdani is a Democratic Socialist and has promised free buses, free child day care, to freeze the rents, encourage and protect trans-gender individuals and to increase the taxes of "wealthy people "to pay for his proposed programs, which could amount to billions of dollars. These proposals by Mr. Mamdani is very appealing to struggling young people who are burdened by high student debt, unaffordable housing and the sense that they do not have much of a future. On the other hand, many middle class people feel that an increased tax burden will fall upon them to pay for what they perceive as a wealth redistribution to help, as they see it, less productive people. Mr. Mamdani has also stated that he wants to increase real estate taxes on properties in some areas that have gone up in value, but may have been bought years ago by blue collar and middle class people. Mr. Mamdani has also declared solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza for their ordeal under constant Israeli bombardment. This has angered some Jewish people, however it would seem that many Jewish voters voted for Mr. Mamdani. Mr. Mamdani is 34 years old and is the second youngest person to be elected mayor of New York City. Private ownership is a human instinct You can prove this to yourself by going into any playground and watching young children say such things as "that's my ball". They understand private ownership because it is a human instinct. Everyone wants their own space and their own property. Socialism can never work and has never worked. Socialism and Communism failed in every country that it was pushed in and only were able to keep communism up at the point of the gun. Communism and socialism is anti human nature. Communist countries that continued, such as China, ultimately had to allow private ownership. If people are given everything for free, then there is no incentive to innovate and work hard. After all, what is the purpose of working hard when you can not keep the fruits of your labor. Always oppose socialism. AI will kill innovation If people begin to completely rely on "Artificial Intelligence" or ÄI", and not rely on their own intelligence and intuition, society will stagnate and not move ahead. People will not innovate and create new ideas, technologies and inventions. To rely on AI will bring society to a new non innovative dark ages with a stagnated society. School. Education or Indoctrination? The general view of school is that it educates the young and the not so young. Prior to the "compulsory education", a young student in the 1850's was taught to read, write, mathematics, geography, basic history in just three years and only for about four hours per day. Today, children are stuck in school from 9AM till 3PM and forced to go to school for twelve years. Is that necessary? Further, a student is no longer free, but is required (indoctrinated?) to raise their hand to ask a question or for permission to go to the rest room. All classes are exactly the same length of time, usually 50 minutes. Until a few years ago, students wore uniforms. Essentially students from a young age are indoctrinated with obedience and steered to become good workers and good potential soldiers. Students for the most part are not taught how to critically think and they are not taught how to be independent and they are not taught how to truly prosper and get ahead. Since the introduction of "compulsory education " starting in the 1870's, it would seem that schools, all schools, fall under the category of Indoctrination centers. Conformist rarely become innovators who creates new ideas or moves society ahead. It is true that a person who conforms to their surroundings, and who adapts fashion, ideas and goals from others rarely moves society ahead since what the conformist does has already been done. Television, school, radio, magazines and the internet creates conformists, not innovators. One must learn to think on their own and overcome the fear of failure or lack of acceptance. Helicopters It is time to reconsider private helicopters flying into and out of Manhattan and certain areas of Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island. The take off and fly over noise of these aircraft often disrupts the entire community. This is clearly apparent in communities such as Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, Brooklyn Bridge Park and elsewhere. Why should the convenience of a few, disrupt the lives of an entire community? Organ Donation In 1969, with the first heart transplant by South African doctor Christian Bernard, medical associations worldwide redefined the definition of death by concocting the notion of "brain dead". This was based on concepts of brain wave detection and a few other, rather weak concepts. However, many so called "brain dead" people have woken up, after a period of inactivity. This is particularly the case where some people in a state of Coma, have awake years after going into that state. Further, it is possible that a so called "brain dead" person who is having their organs removed, to experience extreme pain. Perhaps it is not time to rethink and ban the highly lucrative medical industry of organ transplants. Self Driving Cars The United States National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) is supposed to protect drivers and people in general, from dangerous vehicle issues. It turns out that the NHTSA has not been releasing critical data covering accidents caused by self driving cars. The Washington Post has sued the NHTSA and the Tesla automobile corporation to review this critical data since neither entity has released this data. Tesla in their response to the suit is arguing that such a release would greatly effect their profits, since competitors would be able to learn to critical information on their self driving technology.
Freedom
of the Press
Subway
barriers: New
York, NY January 21, 2022 With falling and being pushed onto the
subway tracks becoming a daily occurrence, it is time to promptly
install subway barriers / gates on all 480 subway and elevated
stations. Frank Didik, who has been desperately pushing subway gates
to the MTA and other agencies since over a decade points out that
hundreds of people could have been saved over this period of time.
Further, thousands of people could have been spared hideous, life
transforming injuries, including by MTA workers. Further, the MTA
could have avoided paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in
liability, that could have already paid for the entire subway gate system.
Greatly reduce train noise A significant amount of train noise is caused by the train wheels rolling over the expansion joint of the tracks. This vibration creates noise, vibrations, an less pleasant ride and also reduces the life cycle of the train. The solution is relatively simple and cost effective..read more
Sunglasses
Dangerous?
Cell
Phone Etiquette
Time
to Rethink Bike Lanes
New York City is not ready for congestion pricing. The sensors that bill vehicles, are only at the entrance points in Manhattan and thus can only bill incoming cars, not cars already in Manhattan. Thus, presently, only outsiders will be billed for tolls. New York City is ONE CITY, consisting of Manhattan (Borough of New York), Brooklyn (Kings), Queens, Staten Island (Richmond) and the Bronx. Shouldn't every New Yorker have free access to all parts of the city? Didn't the unification of Brooklyn with Manhattan in 1897 specify this as being one city? Congestion Pricing favors the upper income people and will significantly reduce local business, while pushing middle class drivers to shop elsewhere that does not have this burdensome tax. Ultimately this will work against the city. Social Media or Vanity Media With the development of the so called smart phone, a new phenomenon of "social media" has developed that caters to the vanity and inner ego of millions read more Bicycle Lanes favors the young and healthy, while inconveniencing older citizens, drivers and delivery trucks. Further, for the most part, they are rarely utilized during the winter months... read more Fact Checkers "Fact Checkers" present an opinion rather than absolute fact. Further, who will fact check the fact checkers"? Recently read more
Time
to start enforcing the laws covering motorcycles,
powered bicycles and powered scooters: Other viewpoints and perspectives
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NEWS1
In
1826, John Quinsy Adams, the president of the United States, was
asked about the freedom of Private cars represents freedom A private car allows the owner to travel beyond the city and enjoy the countryside. Further, cars provides for the owner comfort, warmth and safety. In the 1960s and 1970s, most New Yorkers owned cars. Unfortunately since then, there has been a general decline in the standard of living in NYC. Also, many people from third world countries have entered the city, who never had the funds or opportunity to own a car. The result has been that many new New Yorker's say that they do not need a car, since they live in the city! Of course a car is always useful and again, a car represents freedom. Bike lanes are completely under utilized As written before, bicycles are used primarily by men and mostly under the age of 45 years old. Bicycles are almost never used in very cold or rainy weather. Bicycle lanes slow down more important traffic including trucks, ambulances, fire trucks, delivery vehicles and private cars, that often have passengers. Motor vehicles pay for the road through registrations fees, tolls, and gasoline taxes. The use of bicycles also represents a lowering of the standard of living in New York City, when compared to the 1960's and 1970's when there were almost 30% more cars in the city. It is time to reconsider where bicycle lanes are installed and further, reconsider the existence of bicycle lanes in general. As written before, bicycle should be registered, with clearly marked license plates and bicycles should have insurance.
The
Purpose of Government Food stamps holds people back Food stamps, also known as EBT and SNAP, was never meant to be a permanent solution, but rather was always meant as a temporary, critical emergency measure to help people truly in need. It has evolved into an entitlement whereby some people feel that they are entitled to be fed by the taxpayers. In the past, people on food stamps were ashamed to admit this. Today, over 40 million people are paid to eat, in the USA. Some estimates are that as much as 20 percent of the population are using and often times, abusing the system. Many of these people do not want to work since they want to continue to receive this free handout.
Quotes
on Socialism Unsuccessful are jealous of the successful. Declining birthrate caused by the effects of "feminism", student debt and no-fault divorce The declining birthrate and an aging population, is a major problem in all industrialized countries. Decline in marriage rates caused by declining real income, burdensome student debt and the desire of women to seek a career in business rather than family. Also many marital pleasures are now freely given prior to marriage. Further, men are afraid to get married since divorce is so prevalent and men tend to lose much of their wealth in a divorce. Divorce courts are universally favor women. No fault divorce does not take into consideration such factors as the woman or man cheating. Custody laws favor the women. All of this adds up to discourage men from marrying and easy divorce kills the notion of marriage till death do them part. Time to license, and insure bicycles. It is essential that bicycles in New York City be required to registered and to have clearly visible license plates and required to have insurance. So many pedestrians are being injured by bicycles, who rarely stay with the person injured, leaving the injured party to suffer and pay for their medical care. It is long over due that all bicycles follow the Vehicle Traffic Safety Law of New York State and follow all rules such as traffic lights, stop signs and more. Perhaps all bicycles should be equipped with a GPS/air tag type device so that the offending bicycle rider can be quickly identified. Anyone guilty of a any vehicle law should be prosecuted and fined, just like automobile drivers are. Time to install an electronic limiter to limit the speed of electric powered bicycles and other vehicles Electric bicycles, monopods and quadracycles, such as is now being used by major big box stores, must be equipped with an electronic speed limiter to the average bicycles speed which is 12 miles per hour. Presently electric bicycles, which really are motorcycles since rarely do the rider use the pedals, travel 25 miles per hour or faster. This must come to an end and traffic laws must be enforced. It is a simple matter to add an electronic speed limiter. New York State Human Powered, motor assisted laws are being vastly abused. The original purpose of a motor ASSIST was to help wheel chair bound people with motorized wheel chairs. The law was changed to assist the many U.S. Veterans who were severely injured and needed assistance to move about. Presently, the law is being abused and essentially electric powered motorcycles, that have hardly used pedals, are skirting the law requiring a license, registration and insurance. Further, recently, some big box on line stores have been flooding New York City streets with delivery trucks that are electric powered and have barely used pedals The law must be changed immediately for the quality of life of all New Yorkers. New York City has lost its vibrancy. As a result of the money grab "Congestion Pricing", NYC at night is empty, similar to during the Covid histaria. One can only assume that businesses are losing a huge amount of money and that sales tax revenue is down and as an added blow, the value of real estate will also decline. "Congestion Pricing" is killing the city. Congestion Pricing. If to reduce traffic congestion was really the purpose of the $9 toll to enter Manhattan below 60th street, the easiest method would be to eliminate the highly under used bicycle lanes and abandon the 25 mile per hour reduced speed limit and go back to the 30 miles per hour limit. Regarding bicycle lanes, on narrow streets, they reduce the roads from two to one lane. In other areas, such as on 8th Avenue and 32 Street, the bike lanes cause traffic jams by reducing the road from 6 lanes to only 3 lanes. The bike lanes are hardly used when the weather is bad. It is doubtful that any New Yorker wants the city to fall to the level of London.
Medical
Business
Film
Vs Digital
A Fuji 6x9 (2 1/4 x 3 x 1/4) film camera with many
rolls of Fuji Velvia 50 film, which sadly is very hard to buy today. Fuji
Digital Currency will represent a loss of freedom and privacy. Digital Currency will mean the total control of your money by the government. Thus what you (are permitted to) buy will be under the complete control of the government. Further, everything you do and buy will be known to the government and anyone who has access to this information. Thus everything that you buy or sell or are permitted to buy or sell will be known and potentially controlled. -April 11, 2023 It is time for the New York City to take action to control bicycles Lets face it, the quality of life in New York City is suffering from bicycles, electric powered bikes and scooters. The riders feel that they are above the law or don't even know the law. These vehicle almost without exception, never obey traffic laws, go through red lights and even go through crosswalks while people are crossing. It is time to start requiring all bicycles to have registration, and clearly visible license plates, and insurance. If cars and trucks have to "share the road" with bicycles, bicycles must also pay their fair share and obey the law. read more
App based taxi ride services often block traffic traffic while picking up customers. read more Vision Zero is without vision. Is the well intended Vision Zero New York City program started under former Mayor DeBlasio to reduce pedestrian deaths from vehicles working? Some of the actions taken was to reduce the speed limit in NYC from 30 miles per hour to only 25 miles per hour. In addition, when the cross walk light says walk, the traffic light for cars changes a few seconds later, allowing pedestrians to start to cross before cars start. In some areas, there has also been guides put on streets so that cars must make a larger diameter turn. Has these measures work? Actually these measures have not helped at all. Our speculation as to why these measures have not worked are as follows. The crossing pedestrians have come to take it for granted that the cars will always allow them to cross and unfortunately, the pedestrians do not look both ways. Further, many pedestrians are oblivious to their surroundings because they are staring at their smart phones and do not take a moment to carefully look to see if all is clear to cross and also many pedestrians wear ear buds playing music or talking on the phone that further reduces their attention to traffic. It should be noted that many years ago, the brother of this writer was hit and killed by a car. Other viewpoints and perspectives
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NEWS1 Copyright© 1977 - 2026 by Frank X. Didik, All Rights Reserved |
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Frank
X. Didik with former NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio and first lady Chirlane
McCray, at Gracy Mansion. Former
Mayor DeBlasio served two terms in office and then as per term
limits, had to leave office at the end of his second term. Mr
DeBlasio original birth name (May 8, 1961) was Warren Wilhelm Jr. and
later used the name Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm and then finally adapted
his mother's maiden name DeBlasio and today is commonly known as Bill
DeBlasio. Mr.DeBlasio was succeeded as mayor on Jnuary 1st, 2022 by
new mayor Eric Adams, who became New York City's 110 mayor.
