jamie gray's personal blog, featuring his always unique perspectives on life, love, politics, corruption, traffic...and whatever else makes him rant. and rant he will. count on it.
Quarantine has been tough. I basically haven’t left the house for a year and a half. I’ve had a lot of time to think.
That’s not usually a good thing for me.
But I’ve also had a chance for reflection. Introspection is an art, and looking inward isn’t always easy to do. It’s necessary. Sure. But enough is e-fucking-nough.
COVID-19 Vaccines – Countdown to Immunity
I got my 2nd shot last week, and I am completely looking forward to freedom.
But it’s got me wondering…
What happens after you’re immune, and you get exposed to the Coronavirus? Say you breath in a big batch of spikey deathblobs. Do they stay inside you? Lurking. Waiting for your body to let your defenses down? Or does your body attack. Send out the hungry phagocytes and macrophages to gobble up all those yummy virus nuggets… or whatever.
I think it might be the last one. But don’t believe me. I’m a musician, not a damn Doctor.
If you’re only getting your news from one source, or from a handful of sources that publish opinion stories that you agree with, you aren’t getting the Truth. The Truth can only be confirmed by multiple, objective, independent sources. The Truth can only be confirmed with facts.
Rumors you read on Reddit or Facebook, or theory-based reporting from partisan ‘news’ outlets like MSNBC, FOX, OAN, NewsMax and others should be taken as such: they are THEORIES. That means you still need FACTS to confirm or disprove.
Being objective means you base your world view on EVIDENCE.
Because a bunch of comments on Tiktok posts say the same thing, doesn’t mean it’s true. ‘A lot of people say’ doesn’t make it true. It just means a lot of people THINK it’s true. If they’ve been lied to, and didn’t fact-check their information, how would you know?
I’m an independent. To stay objective, I read news from all around the world. I take each story in context of ‘Who Published It’ and ‘Who else can confirm it’. If I read an article in Russia Today, I take it as probable Russian spin, possible propaganda. Yet some of the stories are perfectly factual, confirmed by multiple other news outlets.
Musician & Independent Thinker, Jamie Gray
MSNBC will put a left wing spin. Fox will spin it to the right. If you watch BOTH of them and CNN, the facts will be the one’s they all agree on. Sometimes you may have to ignore one side or the other because they are ignoring the facts. Some of the ‘News agencies’ do that more than others, but that’s a rant for another time.
The bottom line is pretty fucking simple: Confirm EVERYTHING by other sources. MULTIPLE sources. Multiple OBJECTIVE sources. That’s the key. What facts are confirmable? Which ones are guesses? Spin?
The truth will set you free. It’s out there…you just have to take the time to look FOR the facts. So you can look AT the FACTS, not the spin they WANT you to believe. If they have to TRY to convince you, it’s probably bullshit. ~jg
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
#IMO I don’t think adults should be barred from most bars due to the presence of their offspring (UNDER SUPERVISION BEHAVING WELL).
Parenting is hard. Mastery of substance abuse is foundational to your success.?
As a caveat, there are some places kids just don’t belong. You know the places I mean. There are also some simple courtesies that must be followed.
Take responsibility. And take your screaming babies outside while I’m eating, or especially if there is live music. It’s just rude. Overall, control your fucking kids. They should behave like human beings, not crazed pack animals…and keep them away from the booze. They are YOUR responsibility, and the bar is within their rights to kick you and your unholy brood to the curb if anyone gets drunk or stupid, so DON’T.
And if you don’t have kids, don’t be a dick to people who bring their beloved block chips to the bar. Treat the little fuckers like they deserve to be there until they don’t. At least treat their parents like the thirsty fools they are, and cut ’em some slack for taking the hard road.
Parenting is hard. Alcohol and herbs make it softer and easier to swallow.
Jamie’s thoughts are his own.
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
Once upon a time, the Republican party stood for small government, family values, low taxes and States’ rights. Not anymore.
Honest Abe would shudder at the state of the Republican Party, The Party of Lincoln.
As an independent, I’ve voted for Republicans because they were people of honor and character. These days, it’s hard to see any truth for all of the lies.
Trumpian Republicans aren’t real Republicans. They are just using the GOP, a party that had already lost its center thanks to right-to-life extremists and an obstructionist platform, to sully the American drinking trough with the foul and muddy water of propaganda and lies.
Republicans embraced the Big Lie because they are being held hostage by the Big Liar.
Instead of embracing new technologies and sustainable energy, they spread fear and lies. Green energy will cost jobs. Clean energy is too expensive. Whatever it takes to keep things how they are.
But, it turns out that everything they say is a lie. It turns out they’ve never embraced truth or science or morality. It turns out that none of that matters to them.
The only thing they live for is party loyalty, as the party desperately clings to power. Power vested in a minority of rich white male egomaniacs, who believe they are better than the rest of us. They talk about America, but not about the America of many cultures. They mean WHITE America.
Jamie Gray – Musician, Writer and Critic of The Idiocracy.
The America most of us live in is NOT the America they pursue. In their America, the strong dominate the weak. It’s every wolf for himself. Mercy and compassion are a weakness to be overcome.
They say ‘If you’re poor, you’re a failure. Probably lazy.’ The wealthy love to blame people for their predicament.
Capitol under siege by Trump loyalists on January 6 2021
It’s time to stop blaming, and start doing something about it. It’s amazing to me that we COULD fix so many of our problems, but our leaders CHOOSE NOT TO, and Republicans lead the way in the obstruction of every policy that benefits anyone except their rich, corporate overlords.
It’s pretty obvious that the Republican party needs to change in order to survive. They will probably continue down what looks like a path to their own destruction, but it’s important to note that the GOP could seize the opportunity, and do a LOT better. Maybe even become a force for positive change.
More likely, they’ll just keep changing for the worse. ~jg
Trump Lost The Congress and The Presidency, and is currently under numerous criminal investigations, yet the GOP now demand allegiance to this loser or risk censure. Why would they back such an epic loser?
When Carter lost after one term, he went back to Georgia and started building homes for poor people with Habitat for Humanity.
When HW Bush lost his 2nd bid for America’s highest office, he shut up, and went back to his country club in Connecticut, rarely to be heard from by anyone, except for woulda shoulda coulda, Iraq War, around the dinner table rants with Jr.
They didn’t lead their parties afterwards, or try to demand allegiance. Their opinion no longer mattered to their parties. At all.
Because they were losers, and everyone knows losers make shitty leaders.
Everyone, that is, except the new Republican Party, who rally around their half-wit, criminal tyrant, for fear of being blacklisted. Just like Mccarthyism. Just like Putin. Just like every other authoritarian regime in history.
Jamie Gray – musician, writer, thinker and ranter.
My advice to real Republicans: Resist.
Time to stand up and be real. Like Rep. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. Denounce the Big Lie, and all the other lies spewed by Fox News super-Trumpers and Newsmax profiteers. Denounce the Trumpian dictatorial control over your party, and work with President Joe Biden to heal the Nation, the people who voted for you, with the Truth, vaccines, money, jobs, and food they need.
Reject Trump. Save the Republican Party and The American Democracy. No institution, however great, can stand without a foundation of Truth and Reason.
Republicans will do ANYTHING to support fossil fuels and the companies that make huge profits from them. They’ll even pass laws restricting first amendment free speech rights.
Hypocritical Republicans posture as the party of free speech. Except when it’s speech they don’t like.
#politics #pipelines #protests #GOP #Montana #jg
