Friday Afternoon News Dump and Stupid Commentary

Good afternoon from my Hunker-Bunker overlooking the Puget Sound in West Seattle. My pill caddy tells me it is a Friday around these parts and I am in my second day of a three-day vacation from the world. I slept in this morning because I stayed awake until 0100 this morning binge-watching Season 4 of Outlander on Netflix. I have to tell you that if you haven’t already watched this show, you should put it on your list. It checks off both of my favorite topics: History and Time Travel. Oh, and if you are into tits and ass, there is plenty of that to gaze upon. Season 7 just recently dropped, so I decided to re-watch the first six seasons.

Like I said, it’s a Friday out there. Fridays are the day that people like to drop bad news in hopes that people won’t spend too much time over a weekend to pay attention to the news. The theory of dropping news late on a Friday evening is that newsrooms will be empty for the weekend and nobody is paying attention to the news. By the Monday morning news cycle, much of that bad news will quietly fade away as the new Monday morning news cycle tackles the newest topics.

Hence the reason why this practice is called the “Friday Evening News Dump”.

I’ve been doing a bit of remodel here in my Hunker-Bunker Control Desk. My SQL project is evolving and I needed to create a test environment to mimic our network in our corporate offices in Bellevue. IT wants to host our own SQL-server, and I am pushing for Amazon Web Services to host. I would go with MicroShaft’s Azure, but their pricing scale is too ridiculous for our needs.

Today’s featured image above is of the Troll under the Aurora Bridge in Seattle. It is located on Troll Avenue in Freemont. I’ve posted it here for no particular reason other than it was in the image folder here and I needed a weird-looking feature image for this post. Here it is, the Troll under the Bridge. And yes, that is a real VW bug.

I’ve managed to come up with a bunch of headlines that do not include the follies of the current and previous presidential fossils. I don’t know about you, but I am already burned out with election politics — and it has barely gotten started.

Headlines That Caught My Eye This Morning

Item 1: Israel Conflict and World Attitudes

Jews and Israel is another topic that I am completely burned out on, but unfortunately I can’t just ignore it like I’d be inclined to do. But, since it is probably going to be one of the catalysts for the next world war, I probably should comment…

In re: War Cabinet ‘rift’. This is what I like to refer to as Israel’s “Stealer’s Wheel Cabinet”. (Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to my right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you…”)

Stuck in the Middle With You – Stealers Wheel 1972

The members of this ‘unity coalition’ is on the verge of dissolving, because Netanyahu is damned regardless of which direction he goes in. If he gives in to a ceasefire and an end to the conflict without completely destroying Hamas, then the members of the coalition to his Right will dissolve the government. If he continues on the path of utter destruction of Gaza, killing as many Palestinians as he can get away with, then the member on his Left will dissolve the government. Netanyahu is toast regardless of which party dissolves the government. His political career is over. Period. End. The fall will be spectacular, when it happens, mark my words.

In re: public attacks on Jews. The hatred of Jews has always been just below the surface of the water. Some of the very people who claim to “support Israel” tend to be some of the most “anti-Semitic” people on the planet.

People toss around the accusation of “anti-Semitism” any time someone dares to criticize the actions of Israel. For some reason, they are unable to separate the fact that while Jews make up the majority of the population of Israel, Israel is NOT Jewish. Israel is a secular state made up of mostly Jewish people. When people criticize the STATE of Israel, they aren’t criticizing Jewish people, religion, or culture, they are criticizing the STATE. In other words, the GOVERNMENT of Israel.

But like I said, some people have a difficult problem separating the two.

I a criticize the government of Israel, just as I criticize any government that acts out in ways that I personally disagree with and/or disapprove of. I am constantly speaking out against the bullshit that the United States government does — does that make me ‘anti-Christian’, since the majority of people living here claim to be some form of “Christian”?

SIDEBAR: For the record, I am ‘anti-religion‘ and my personal belief is that organized religion is for the weak-minded. If religion is the basis of your political viewpoints, then that, in my honest opinion, is the cause of most of our problems in the world today. So there is that…

The current government of Israel is corrupt. It is also proven to be inept. It has become the immovable problem. I trust that the PEOPLE of Israel will eventually flush the current leaders and replace them with someone with a fresh vision and a plan forward. Just as eventually, the United States will get past its current malaise and malfeasance. I should remind you that the ‘gilded age’ of robber barons and government corruption lasted for fifty years or so before it ended in a couple of world wars and a global depression.

(which era was the “great America” y’all wanted to get back to? But I digress)

In re: Hostage Bodies found. I’d be surprised if a third of the hostages are still alive. Or will be by the time Israel and Hamas agree to terms of an end to hostilities and a return of the hostages. The longer this thing goes, and the more that Israel continues to pound Gaza into rubble, the less chance there will be of finding anyone still alive. THIS is the main complaint being made by the families of the hostages in Israel: They want an end to this thing NOW, not later, because the longer it goes on, the less chance the hostages will ever be released alive.

Finally, the new supply pier is complete. A more controlled system for food and supplies can be accomplished.

Item 2: Teacher claims boy half her age became ‘very controlling’ after she got pregnant with his baby

Gee. So she’s the victim here?

Item 3: King County homeless count rises

Up until about twenty years ago, Seattle/King County used to have a rent subsidy program that was created when MicroShaft started attracting software engineers to the region causing the first income disparity and the rise of rents in the region. Back then, they figured that it was cheaper to provide rent subsidies based on income than it was to have to deal with SIXTEEN THOUSAND HOMELESS PEOPLE IN SEATTLE.

Seattle/King County has spent a few BILLION bucks in the past five or six years on trying to ‘solve’ our homeless issue. The results of that expenditure so far? A fucking INCREASE of homeless people, a fucking SHITLOAD of empty, over-priced housing units and crime running rampant wherever there are encampments.

Item 4: North Face closes downtown Seattle flagship store

This is totally related to the story above.

Item 5: 7 new movies and shows to watch this weekend on Netflix, Prime Video and more (May 17-19)

‘Bridgerton’ season 3 part 1 (Netflix)
‘Outer Range’ season 2 (Prime Video)
‘The Big Cigar’ (Apple TV Plus)
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ season 9 (Paramount Plus)
‘Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal’ (Netflix)
‘Challengers’ (Prime Video on Demand)
‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ (Prime Video on Demand)

Not one of them I would be interested in watching. I’ve been noticing that Netflix has been releasing as “new”, a lot of OLD crap that fell off of the other streamers a while back.

Paramount Plus is mostly garbage, with a gem every now and then. Peacock is only slightly better. AMC Plus has its moments. Apple WAS promising, but it kinda sucks now. Prime seems to have become a reseller of other platforms. Netflix appears to be experimenting with live broadcasting.

It’s all starting to make Xfinity look good again…

Item 6: The Mac vs. PC war is back on

I’ve used Macs. I don’t own one. I have a dozen PC computers running here in my Hunker-Bunker, and probably another two dozen in my server room closet. There are four right here on my desk right now. Is the “Mac” better than the “PC”, or vice-versa?

NOPE.

What it all boils down to is PURPOSE. What are you using your Mac/PC for? If you are a creative, then a Mac is your box. If you are into function requiring calculation, manipulation and data, then PC is your box. If you want the best of both worlds, you could always go with emulation or remote access…

Item 7: The Medicare Bubble Has Burst.

The can-kicking has come to an end.

Item 8: These ISIS news anchors are AI fakes. Their propaganda is real.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ‘fake news’ and propaganda. Soon it’s going to be extremely hard to determine what is real and what’s not.

Item 9: World’s top golfer Scottie Scheffler arrested on charges of assaulting officer at PGA championship event

“Drove around fatal crash scene with cop ‘attached’ to his car”

Item 10 Republican congressman files for divorce amid rumored relationship with House GOP colleague

From what I understand, there are roughly fifteen such relationships currently going on within the House.

Item 11: Oversight Hearing Turns into ‘SPRINGER SHOW’ as MTG Battles AOC

Amateurs.

This was in the Taiwan Legislature yesterday:

Let me know when AOC and MTG start doing something like this.

Item 12: As conservatives put religion in schools, Satanists want in, too

This is why there has always been this concept of a “Separation of Church and State”. You can even say it’s a biblical concept, considering that Jesus himself is alleged to have said something to the effect of “rendering unto Cesar …”

But the reason for needing such a separation is the fact that this country is SECULAR with a roughly 68 percent of the population that claims to believe in some form of Christianity to some degree. Of those, roughly 45 percent of them have only a vague idea of Jesus, and couldn’t even name the four Gospels, let alone any particular biblical story. Most Americans haven’t stepped foot in a Church other than to vote for years, if ever. They may claim the faith, but they don’t actually practice.

So, with thirty-two percent not being Christian at all, and with the majority of the sixty-eight percent that “identify as” ‘Christian’ being non-practicing, the idea that a public school would be trying to indoctrinate the non-believing, non-practicing students would be an afront to those parents, wouldn’t it?

Item 13: Charleston Police release investigation report of Boeing whistleblower death

The report, which states the guy had a history of “mental issues”, which I suspect had something to do with depression, ended up taking his own life — according to forensic science and the physical evidence available today.

Of course that will do absolutely NOTHING to shut up all the conspiracy theory people…

Item 14: Maverick surgeon wants to transplant living human head onto dead body

Which is probably a LOT harder than how they created most of today’s politicians:

By transplanting a dead head onto a live human body.

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What In The Hell Did I Just Watch?

Outlander – Netflix

I have to say, this is a VERY addictive show to watch. Especially on Netflix, where it will just glide from one episode to the next and be in the middle of action. I love the time travel concept, and I love the Scottish Highlander 18th century time period.