|
NOTE:
as of June 6, 2024, Congestion pricing postponed by New
York Govenor Kathy Hochul.
A
reminder to fellow
citizens When
you walk down the street, just remember that every person who you
pass by, regardless of their race or physical appearance, or if they
are rich or poor, has their own goals and aspirations, trials and
tribulations and each person must be treated with basic respect and
dignity. It is essential to individualize and not generalize. Each
group has their good and bad and one must not fall into the trap of
assuming that everyone in a particular group is the same or thinks
the same. Sometimes in our rush or arrogance, we forget these basic truths.
DO
NOT DEFUND THE POLICE With
skyrocketing crime, it is clear that NYC must have an effective and
well funded NYPD otherwise we will be like the wild west.
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2024
Paris Olympics Update
Please
note: for a wide variety of
reasons, we have decided not to cover the Paris 2024 Olympics and
ParaOlympics, beyond what we have already covered.
Olympics
Controversy
Rather
than Men's Olympics and Women's Olympics, if the International
Olympic Committee insists on allowing transgender athletes, the
Olympic Committee must establish transgender men and a separate,
transgender womens division. Clearly it is not fair for Olympic Women
athletes to compete against biological men who identify or who have
had surgery to appear as a woman.
Global
Controversy There
is huge massive, global controversy over the opening of the Paris
Olympics which is said to have mocked 2.4 Billion Christians. For
information on the Paris 2024 Olympics and ParaOlympics, including
further details about the controversies surrounding the opening,
please click 2024
Paris Olympics and controversy
--------------------------------
Are
people really living longer today, than in the past? Time
and time again, we are told that people today liver longer than in
the past, but is this true? The answer is that people have about the
same life expectancy as people had 200 years ago. As proof, one only
has to go to a 200 year old cemetery, and look and see how old the
average person was when they passed on. You will find that the
average was between 75 and 85 years old. Also of interest, This
writer purchased an English cookbook from 1795 and discovered that
most recipe required heavy cream, butter or lard. Seed oil, such as
olive oil was very expensive and not widely used back then. Most
dishes were meat or dairy based with very little vegetables, since
vegetables were only available for a few weeks per year. They did
have dried vegetables and also jams. Many nutritionist today would
object to the diet of 200 years ago, but the fact is that as per the
tomb stones, people seemed to have lived as long then as they do
today. Life was arguably less stressful back then and also their work
day was not organized and the people probably worked considerably
less than today's 9 to 5 job. If we go back a thousand years, the
number of days people worked in the fields or work shops was much
less than today, being on average, 150 days per year because of the
numerous "Holy Days" or holidays! It is true that during
the industrial revolution, the factory workers were extremely over
worked, often working 12 to 14 hour days and lived under very dire
conditions. Essentially those workers were worked to death and thus
the average life expectancy did decline during that period.
The
Purpose of Government
The
purpose of a government is to empower, but not to provide. If the
government provides everything for the citizen, the citizen becomes
essentially a ward of the state and loses freedom and society becomes
stagnant. Why work if everything is provided for? Why attempt to
improve one's life by branching out and risk losing all of the
freebie's? Communism and socialism has never succeeded in any country
in the world. It failed in the Soviet Union. It has failed in Cuba
and all other socialist countries. China and Vietnam WERE socialist,
but ultimately they embraced free market principles. Do not be swayed
by any politician trying to seduce you with free rent, food, busses,
etc. It is the road to failure and slavery.
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
Traditionally,
taxes are based on profit. Under socialism, taxes are based on envy.
Socialism pushes
confiscation through taxation.
Socialism tends to
push an anti-merit policy, rather than having the most effective
person do the job.
Unsuccessful
are jealous of the successful.
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.
America
is a country built on freedom, independence and self sufficiency
Failed countries promise their populations "free "
government handouts.
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.
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.
Humor:
Enjoying the warm glow of socialism after one year.
2023
Full Year |
WAR.
Are
we headed towards a global war? It sure looks that way.
Every action by almost all European countries shows aggression. Every
TV program, every newspaper, every podcast, and all information
sources are all talking about war. Even science magazines are
discussing such ..read
more
Home
Front.
What will happen inside of the United States if a major war breaks out?
Is it wrong for
a company to make
a payment in order to protect the reputation of the company? Large
international companies often make payments for certain
"business expenses" such as ransoms paid to pirates to
release ships, kidnaping ransoms, or suppressing unfavorable news, or
paying off people who make false allegations and then deduct such
expenses as business expenses. The companies make a business decision
to determine if it is better to fight an allegation in court, that
may generate bad publicity and damage the company's reputation, even
if the allegation is completely false.
It is
essential to maintain law and order in New
York City There
has been a type of collapse of law and order in NYC. Shoplifting is
rampant, with little chance of punishment, even if caught.
Shoplifting is so prevalent that some stores have simply closed their
businesses. Unfortunately, the recent state law that removes the bail
requirement for many smaller crimes has given the green light to
criminals to continue their criminality.
Besides the
shoplifting and new bail rules, New York City has become like the
wild west when it comes to motorcycles. Today, very few motorcycles
seem to even have license plates, which means that they are probably
uninsured, unlicensed, and unqualified to even be riding. Further the
motorcycles rarely obey traffic laws and almost always go through red
lights, ride on the sidewalk or ride the wrong way down one way
streets. In the past, Police commissioner Bratton and others
maintained that by enforcing smaller regulations, the larger laws
also benefit.
We must have
reasonable police enforcement in New York City and certainly let us
not even consider reducing funding to the NYPD.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Medical
Business
Since
the recent cold blooded murder of the CEO of United Health, which is
the largest private for profit medical insurance company in America,
many questions have emerged regarding the medical business. As it
turns out, many medical insurance claims are turned down, leaving the
patient to pay the bill themselves. The patient may have paid medical
insurance for years, thinking that they are protected, only to have
their claim denied. According to some published sources, United
Health has the highest denial rate in the industry with an estimated
32% of the claims denied. Other private medical insurance companies
are not far behind. In the case of "Managed Care" programs,
such as Medicare Advantage, many people on Medicare are tempted to
sign over their direct Medicare and go with the private insurance
companies. With Medicare Advantage, a person must use the insurance
company approved doctors and even then, some of the medical
procedures must be approved by the medical insurance business. The
more procedures turned down, the greater the profits to the medical
insurance business. It is time for Congress to reign in the abuses of
Medicare Advantage, regardless of the insurance industry campaign donations.
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
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.
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.
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?
2023
Full Year |
