Ramblings from a mind that is often irrationally upset about things

Ladies and gentlemen, sit back and hear the story of  Cliff Young . He has seemed to enter the realm of half myth, half truth that surrounds all greats but his story is remarkable. Full disclosure: I got this story from a guest pastor at church Sunday. Here we go.  In 1983, people were gathered for the Australia ultra marathon. A 543 mile race from Sydney to Melbourne. Most competitors were in their twenties or thirties and had extensive training and corporate sponserships. Into this group walked a 61 year old man wearing faded overalls and rubber work boots. His name was Cliff Young. He was a sheep and potato farmer from just outside Melbourne. Most considered him a joke at best, delusional at worst. Several journalists questioned if he would survive. This is where the myth/truth comes into play. Some accounts have him running in overalls. Others say he wore windbreakers with holes cut by hand for ventilation. One account claims he wore 10 pairs of running shoes throughout th...

If your a proud Biden supporter that thinks he is going to fix everything, stop reading. If you think Trump is perfect in every way and does nothing wrong, stop reading. If you are with me in the middle 75% of the country that thinks both candidates are flawed, I give you  Jo Jorgensen . She is the Libertarian nominee for President and has some solid ideas. Jo is has a B.S. in psychology (don't know what that means) and a MBA (think that one is money related) and is a woman, making her the only candidate that isn't an old white guy. The qualifications are stacking up. She has been an active member of the Libertarian Party since the early 80's and seems pretty smart. She has taught college classes, mothered two kids, and ran several businesses. Neither Biden or Trump can claim all three of these. What about policy, you ask? Let's go. She has several key issues highlighted on her website and we will cover them all. (All quotes are from the link at beginning of blog.) Gove...

I'm not a medical expert by any means but I think we can all use a dose of common sense and take a step back and calm down for a minute. First things first, wearing a mask while in crowded areas where staying 6 feet apart is not possible/practical is a good idea. I'm not going all in on Biden's moronic statement that face masks should be required in public across the US. That's dumb. My front yard is public and, if you tell me I need to wear a mask to walk to the mailbox and back, I will tell you to kick rocks. I'm also not going all in on the "wearing a mask is a violation of my rights" argument. You do have the right to refuse and you also have the right to live the rest of your life wondering if your the one that killed grandma. Also, you can refuse to wear a mask and Menards can refuse to let you in. That is not a violation of your rights, it is Menards exercising their right to refuse service. Get in line folks, it's not that complicated. Don'...

Okay folks, here we are again watching the madness that is our current national media/political stage. This is the current equation that is governing national policy. Extreme left ideology plus extreme right ideology equals nothing really changes.  This is our  current reality. I am going to be taking shots at both sides today so if you don't like the first half keep reading to the second half. This extreme left vs extreme right is ruining everything. I'm going to take police reform as the example for this blog. I want to stary by emphasizing that there is a need for police reform. Spend a half hour on google or read my blog about the Minneapolis PD and that's obvious. That being said, here we go on why all y'all are screwing it up. We will take on the hard right first. Stop bringing up the number of white people killed by cops. It's largely irrelevant to the current conversation and, to the point that it is relevant, saying innocent white people get killed too is a...

So, I got married last Saturday and that's why I haven't blogged in a bit. But now I'm back and irrationally angry again. NASCAR has banned the Confederate flag at all their events. BLM and their allies have praised this move. This makes me angry, not because I'm going to get on my soapbox and champion the Stars and Bars, but because of the hypocrisy.  The same people that were irate about the NFL not supporting the player's 1st Amendment right to kneel during the anthem are the same ones celebrating NASCAR. The same people cheering the NFL censoring players are the ones angry about NASCAR. You can't have it both ways people. Either you are against corporate censorship or your for it. You can not support NASCAR'S decision banning to the Confederate flag and oppose the NFL not allowing players to kneel. You can not support the NFL requiring players to stand for the National Anthem and oppose NASCAR banning the Confederate flag. It is not a "heritage not ...

So after several heavy, data intensive blogs, we are back to a more light hearted topic. The rona. The semi forgotten pandemic has came roaring back into the headlines with  this awesome story . Great news!!!! It's "rare" for asymptomatic people to spread the virus. Awesome, we can go back to stay home if your sick right? Well, maybe not. If you take the time to read the story a not so clear picture emerges. Here's some quotes. In its recent  updated guidance on mask-wearing,  the WHO said that studies of asymptomatic transmission to date are small, but that virus spread via fomites (objects and surfaces) in those cases cannot be ruled out. So... it doesn't happen unless it does? I'm not a doctor or a nurse or even a CNA but I'm pretty sure that line is self contradictory. So asymptomatic transmission is small unless they touch stuff and you touch it?  This story  contains the following quote "The new coronavirus "does not spread easily" fro...

So here is another medium dive. I can't call this a deep dive because I probably could of spent another 3 hours pulling statistics and making arguments. I don't want to be that guy. I'm just going to give my take on each of these points and some supporting material. If you disagree with me and have facts that are relevant feel free to message me. I knew next to nothing going into to this and spent about 3 hours total researching it. I will definitely adjust my views if there is something I don't understand or didn't find the right information on. Ok, here we go on the 8 changes that can't wait. 1. Ban all chokeholds and strangleholds. I don't like absolutes. I can definitely see this one biting good cops in the ass. I understand that guidelines need to exist, but to say you can not, under any circumstance, use a choke hold? That seems a bit much. However, there needs to be guidelines. So, I checked it out. In December of 2019 the federal 9th Circuit Court of...

Welcome back everybody!!! I am going to preface this with some self promoting. 1, if you like any blog of mine share the shit outta it. Don't  worry about asking me or anything like that. If you want to share it do it. 2, there should be a follow button on the left hand side and if you enjoy reading this hit follow. If it's not an option let me know. Now, the blog. So, a friend of mine shared one of my blogs with a friend of hers and the following comment was made. "He(referring to me) is an interesting person because he is very conservative and very redneck but he doesn't drink the kool aid." I am paraphrasing a bit, but the comment struck me. At first, I laughed. It was a funny take. The more I thought about it the more I realized how profound this statement was. There is definitely a significant portion of the current population that is drinking the kool aid.  Both the CNN and the Fox News flavor are getting drank. There is a middle ground. You can believe that...

There has been alot of click bait and trigger pulling headlines and statements made recently. I feel like we need to relax the trigger finger and take the time to research and be aware of what is going on beyond the surface level. I have spent the last couple hours taking notes and thinking about this blog. First off, I support our boys in blue. I firmly believe 90% plus of people that put on a badge are good people that want to do good. That being said, there are bad apples. Second, I am fully aware that as a 36 year old white male living in a rural area I do not fully understand the situation. However, I can spend an hour or so on the internetz and have a little bit of understanding despite not living it. Those two points being made, here we go. I am not a fan of public unions. I understand the need for unions and protecting the workers and blah blah blah. Unions have changed from helping good workers to protecting bad. Google the MPD union agreement for 2020. I can't...

So I am getting unnecessarily angry about things on social media today and have decided to give my friends on the left some advice. I may be off on my percentages, but I would say roughly 30% of the country drinks the CNN flavored kool-aid, 30% drinks the Fox News flavored kool-aid, and the other 60% are somewhere in the middle ground. This election rides on that middle 60%. People on the left (and right, although I am mostly ignoring the right in this blog) need to appeal to that middle 60%. (Disclaimer: I understand I am using oversimplified numbers and most of the 60% leans one way or the other but, I don't like math so we going simple for this one.) Here is my advice, as one of the right leaning members of the 60%.  1. Stop using CNN talking points. (Fox News is just as bad, but this a blog about the left.) CNN is a biased source and I have previously blogged about at least two times that they provide sources for their material that contradicts what the article says. Most of th...

So I am sitting here after an eventful weekend watching a fire and I'm tired. I am tired of people screaming about protesters. I am tired of my phone blowing up with news about what burned down. I am tired of looting. I am tired of people. I am tired of the "protesters are criminals" headlines. We are better than this folks. There are good people on both sides. (By both sides I mean looting vs don't, everyone should agree a homicide occurred.) The protests are being hijacked by people with a different agenda. The fact that a man was murdered is getting forgotten amidst a political agenda. Everyone needs to take a step back and breathe. Was a man murdered? Yes. Was this a result of a corrupt and broken system? Yes.  Does change need to occur? Yes. Does breaking car windows and dragging people out accomplish anything? No. Does burning down the 3rd Precinct in Minneapolis make a point? Maybe. Does burning down resturaunts? No. Keep protesting. Keep making sure no one for...