I will follow you...until you piss me off...

Chris Hayes has a show on MSNBC, 7pm Chicago time. (Full disclosure: I barely, rarely watch his show) He has 1.56 million Twitter followers and, until yesterday, I was one of them. He also follows 1,118 people there. I'm not one of them. I guess the reality of it all is that I could probably never be one, the way Hayes handles his Twitter.

He revealed yesterday that he has his settings adjusted to where he only sees replies from people he follows. I imagine many celebs and journos do the same and I kinda sorta get that. But, I also kinda sorta don't get that. What's the point of being on a very public venue of social media if you don't actually engage with the public? You don't even give them a chance. These people might as well email.

Fuller disclosure: I really only followed Hayes because he's a Cubs fan. On a promo for MSNBC, it showed Michael Moore pointing out that, on the screen on set, Hayes was interviewing Moore AND watching the Cubs playoff game! I decided then, I like this fucking guy! That's a fan! So, I gave him a follow on Twitter. No big effort on my part.

Last Fall, he tweeted a lot about the Cubs. I tweeted back a lot about the Cubs. I noticed I never got a single like from him about those Cubs tweets. I don't expect a lot of feedback from *famous people* but it struck me as odd that several supportive Cubs tweets would not get even one like. Well, now I know why. I wasn't one of the 1,118 people he calls "inners" so, he wasn't even seeing my tweets at all. It was like posting into a void. I wasn't blocked, mind you, as others could see my tweets, just not Chris. He couldn't be bothered because other peoples tweets bothered him. He's not interested in them no matter what they have to say or what team they love. To put it into perspective, if all 1.54 million of his followers tweeted him at once, only 1,118 of those tweets would be viewed by Chris. Quite a disparity.

Quite arrogant too. A few weeks ago I began following Rex Huppke, a clever columnist who writes for the Chicago Tribune. I bounced him when he posted a similar sentiment to the Hayes' one where he pointed out that he constantly blocked people who displeased him. I doubt I was one of those people but, maybe I never even got the chance? I never got a like from him no matter how clever I was and that leads me to believe his settings might have been like Chris Hayes'. I bounced him- even though I still think he's clever and funny- because I also think he's a dick for being so obnoxious about blocking people.

I've gotten at least one like from almost every other famous person I follow and there are a few I follow who do not follow me that are regularly appreciative of my tweets with likes and comments. I respect the hell out of that. They take the time to actually read some of the comments made to them! Imagine that! These people get the real purpose of social media- the social part. Hayes has both beat by more than a million followers each but, in my book (blog) he can't touch them.

So, am I a hypocrite? Eh... I block people who annoy me. The key is, I give them a chance to annoy me in the first fucking place.

Troll Farming

Nice piece in the Washington Post about a Russian, former employee of a *troll factory* in St. Petersburg, Russia. The guy was an unemployed teacher who had taken the gig to make himself enough rubles to tide himself over until he got a teaching job. He speaks English but, not well enough to pass himself off as an American so, he worked the floor that concentrated on trolling local Russian sites. To make more money and work the American sites, one had to be better versed in American life than he was. You had to be able to speak American as an American would and be familiar with all things American to make the big money, influencing American elections.

It seems the Russians work sorta similar to how Topix trolls work. They worked the Russians in threes at least. One person would take a contrary stance and the other two would work to convince him of how wrong he was. After a number of posts, he'd be convinced of how wrong he was. A Moscow Miracle!

Topix trolls, though they do work in teams, were more streamlined and frugal than the Russians. On Topix it's usually one troll playing several roles. Yeah, basically one person talking to his or her selves, hoping someone else bites. They used to have teams- the original Chicago Regulars were an example of that- but, if that wasn't too expensive(?) it was a lot of trouble. I was invited to join the Yahoo group where they gathered to get their marching orders each day about what would be the topic of conversation but, I declined. I wasn't exactly sure what was going on then but, I knew I didn't want to be a part of any organization that would have a very thinly drawn out *therapist* as the head of it. I've got some writing talent and it's nice that folks notice that. I wasn't exactly honored to be nominated but, I definitely wasn't going to serve. Of course, someone wasn't happy about that.

I didn't know what they were trying to accomplish. With the Russians they were at least obviously trying to reinforce political harmony at home and sow discord in the US. Though Topix gets political and nearly every troll there is a misfit republican, there never seemed to be a political goal at all. Nothing clear. Even in it's heyday back up until '09, Topix never had that much of a following as to influence a good number of people. I can still only surmise that, in the case of the Chicago Regulars, the agenda was only to masturbate the *therapist*. Maybe help pad the post count for Topix itself. Not a very ambitious or even nefarious agenda. It's kinda like some of the celebrities who recently were caught buying Twitter followers. If you gotta cheat...

I haven't posted on Topix in like 14 months. I look at it from time to time though. It can move at the glacial pace of a soap opera. The same people are still fighting about the same stupid things they been fighting, some for more than ten years. As I mentioned previously, some are arguing with the voices in their head just as they always did. Mental illness is what keeps the lights on in that troll factory as the bulk of the very few posters there are decidedly mentally ill. I don't actually mean that malevolently like these people are school-shooters or anything like that. I just mean that they are idiots is all.

Topix was just not a good model for the Russians to follow. We can't even TROLL as good as our adversaries! Not even useful idiots...

Out Of The Closet, Assholes!

Why the fuck does anyone get into the bakery business only to fuck themselves out of an entire market of customers? How is it that conservative Christians- who are almost to a man- anti-government, petitioning that government for the right to discriminate? And why is it always bakeries?

Jeebus! These assholes get sillier every day! But, ya know, maybe we should let them go ahead with this, with one proviso. The bakery must prominently display a sign proclaiming their non-service to gays. And that sign must detail all the races, creeds and colors surely to be discriminated against should the US Supreme Court rule in favor of this asshole baker. The case isn't about gay wedding cakes. It's about bringing back the "separate but equal" Jim Crow laws of the recent American south and expanding them to include anybody today's white, male Christians would be against. Lay it all out there, white supremacists. Let US know where we should spend our money. Get out of the closet, assholes, and let us know who you are.

It's not easy being a Ferrerman, especially in these Trumpian times when stupidity has been injected with political and social steroids into a new ab-normalcy. Dedicated non-readers know how I've poked fun at the various real and imaginary dumbfucks of Topix, in the past. The reality is that for every dreg or cliquer on that site there are hundreds of thousands (millions?) of real-life assholes just like them- or worse. There are a buttload of them in the White House, both houses of congress- fuck it: everywhere. Donald J. Trump is POTUS. This means that a freak like Sublime really could be POTUS. Any malignant narcissist you may know could become president. Well, unless they pass a law against it, I suppose but, don't hold your breath.

I guess that Trump legitimizes them. If the USSC rules for the baker, that will do the same. So will the eventual passage of the current GOP Tax Scam. We've long been a nation of assholes in so many respects but, we've never been thisclose to it being official policy. Up is down. Right is wrong. Wrong, is right. There are good people on both sides of the Nazi issue. The earth is flat if you think it is. It's not only okay to be stupid, it's encouraged. It's damn near a birthright now.

Courage, good people. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Just watch the signs and keep up with the changes.

Solar Neutrality

Let's talk about Solar Neutrality. What is Solar Neutrality? Well, it's a liberal, communist program where the Sun is shared with all people, whether they are deserving or not. Solar Neutrality was quite likely signed into law (probably via an illegal Executive Order) by disgraced former President, Barack Obama. That's exactly the kinda shit he did all the time, isn't it?

It's fairly true that the Sun can be useful as a source of power but, solar power has been virtually stymied by communist Barack Obama as he endeavored to share the wealth of the Sun by spreading it around in a somewhat equal fashion to as many undeserving people as possible. How, when the Sun is free to all, does an entrepreneur use his genius to develop the Sun for the betterment of mankind and to, perhaps, make a few dollars for his hard work? This is the problem with the development of solar power today.

My solution, to foment solar creativity, is to lease the developmental rights to the Sun to the good folks at (perhaps) Exxon. This must be done at a proactive, pro-business, capitalist, friendly avenue in it's approach. Let's say, one dollar a year for 100 years for complete AND total rights to the Sun and it's development as a useful tool in energy exploration and function. Pardon my French but, you'll see some shit get done under this program! Shit that couldn't get done under Obama's share the warmth nonsense.

Think about it. Haven't we all had a beautiful, sunny day ruined knowing that the same Sun you are enjoying is also being enjoyed by those people on the other side of town? Don't you hate that? I know I do.

Call your senator or favorite Fox News host and tell them that you want an end to Solar Neutrality! Ask them why- this November, for example, are we getting shafted with cold, shorter days while Australians are enjoying our summer. They'll be as flummoxed as you at this abomination and surely will take this ball and run with it.  

Papa Don't Preach!

Looks like I picked a bad time to lose interest in the NFL. It's nothing personal and it has little to do with standing or kneeling or even how mediocre the Bears are. The timing is unfortunate because so many reichtards have followed in the goose steps of Hair Furor and condemned the NFL for employing uppity black players, and are protesting the league. I'm certainly no part of that. And this week, the douche bag that owns Papa John's (alleged) Pizza actually blamed the NFL for the drop in sales and stock value of his business. He, you may recall, previously blamed President Obama and the ACA for his then business failings. So, I'm not lumped in with these guys. Then, where's my beef?

Well, that's a rather personal question! Oh, I guess I meant my beef with the NFL. Well, it's a combination of the game devolving into a slow, predictable, non-spectacle 3 days a week and CTE head trauma literally bludgeoning the game to death.

The latter really did it for me as I saw old time players struggle with the effects of dementia after retiring from the game. It killed Dave Duerson and a few others. It became painful to watch a guy take or give a good hit knowing that they would pay dearly for that hit, early after the end of their career. Not necessarily that hit, but certainly a culmination of all the others. All the runs up the middle trying to break through the line for a big gain- that seem to only work 5% of the time anyway- seemed that much more senseless and brutal with the knowledge of brain injuries that would follow.

And most games seemed to drag too with TV time outs and the pandering to commercials and, like the NBA and NASCAR, you could tune in for the last 5 minutes and spend 30 minutes watching the end of the game. It got boring really.

I hear viewing is down. I think it's for a combination of all the factors above as well as the controversy over Colin Kaepernick's kneeling during the anthem, WHICH I will remind is a protest against police brutality and the systemic murder of black folks. You knew that, right?

The reichtards don't. X number of them have turned their flag-draped backsides on the NFL because their leaders claim the protests are anti- military, anti-US. Who knows how effective that has been? That the Papa John's scumbag has shamelessly volunteered his douchebaggery to the mix pretty much tells me the protest of the protest is yet another lost cause for the reich. Like they needed another one... 

America Gets Felt Up But- FREEDOM...

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/10/10/terry-crews-reveals-was-groped-by-unnamed-hollywood-executive-amid-harvey-weinstein-scandal.html

Would you sexually harass that man? Someone did. And that someone lived to not tell about it.

We don't know how prevalent the sexual harassment of men is in Hollywood (or the real world) but someone boldly grabbing the privates of Terry Crews makes you wonder and it absolutely highlights how prevalent and despicable the harassment of women in and out of Hollywood truly must be. That Crews didn't pound the creep- and why- is the story of every woman who has ever been felt up or raped in any work place.

It's about survival. It's about keeping your job and moving on, even if it means moving on from your dignity. It's also about America's future.

Nearly a year ago we elected (sorta) a scumbag who had a veritable Stop and Frisk policy regarding women. Even people who voted for Trump may have objected to his pussy-grabbing but, in these omelet-making times, many think that you gotta break a few eggs and, if the shells get in the mix, you gotta eat them too because, well, this is THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD and, if you don't like it, you can leave. If you want a Wall or a USSC court that will effect the change your minister wants, you got to have the Trumpy scumbag that can make that happen. Life's evidently about taking the bad with the worse.

Look at Trump and his NFL bashing. The common take on the internet and several news outlets is that black players who make damn good money in the NFL just better shut up and stand for the anthem because they earn a great living here. To me that idiotic sentiment overshadows the faux sentiment that these men are disrespecting the troops or the flag/country itself. They are not. Remember:  Kaepernick and the other fellas are protesting racial injustice and the police murdering unarmed black men and women. It's not a slam at your dad who was in the Navy for two years. Not about him at all. And not about disrespecting the flag. If it was about the flag, there would be no beer sales or bathroom visits allowed during the anthem.

Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan, Terry Crews and untold numbers of famous and unknown actresses and actors have all found out the hard way that, if you want to work in this town, submit and move on. The country has been going on like this, hot and heavy, for the past few decades. The notion that being poor in America is better than being poor anywhere else seems thisclose to being policy. It's the same notion that, yeah- your people may be getting murdered by cops but, they probably deserved it and you make millions so, shut the fuck up!

That someone may get molested or even raped but, be rewarded with employment is normal for many people. I've seen this with waitresses in the restaurant business. You've probably seen it at your job. These women don't get their names in lights. They're just hoping to make rent and move on, another day. Maybe a better one than today or yesterday is on the calendar.

I don't know about that. The republicans have been training their people to survive with as little gubmint help as possible- and to like it. And to be proud of it! Your rights, wages and sensibilities may be eroding but- dammit- they are eroding in THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD! Accept it or leave it.

For Republicans Who Find It Hard To Hate When Murder's Not Enough

Hey- remember that gun massacre last week? The worst in modern US history? That was soooo last week, I reckon. It seems to have devolved into a discussion of the guns used since no one yet knows why the motherfucker sought to kill all those people. One of the retards on Fox & Friends actually said it was hard to hate the guy because there was no obvious reason to hate him like being Bin Laden or a "mutant living in the basement" like the Sandy Hook kid. Other than him murdering 58 people and wounding nearly 500 more, he seemed so normal. Well, to them, I guess. He's dead so, we might never know.

Without any manifesto to read, and without brown skin or Islamic religious convictions, most of the media is going with usual "mentally ill" explanation given to just about every white scumbag mass-murderer. Republicans are especially big on that. So big, in fact, that earlier this year they rescinded an Obama edict that mentally ill people NOT be allowed to own guns. There's that mentally ill interpretation of the Second Amendment that is so prevalent on the internet. NRA republicans think every American should have guns... until they can find a way to deny guns to black, brown and liberal Americans, that is. That 2A really is a double edged sword when it comes down to it. Who knew a vaguely worded amendment could be so troublesome 240 some years later?

I'm not sure what part of ...shall not be infringed that the GOP/NRA is suddenly forgetting but, they are suggesting that "bump-stocks" be infringed. It's surprising, at first, until you realize that it's what pundits these days call a "nothing burger". The ATF allowed one version of bump-stocks during Obama's terms, largely because they didn't want to fight the powerful NRA on that issue. Bump-stocks attach to a semi-automatic rifle and allow it to fire as if it were a full-auto machine gun. Serious gun owners scoff at them, considering them to be toys for less serious gun nuts who don't mind wasting expensive ammo while sacrificing accuracy. They are for the "hold my beer" crowd.

But, now we know they are also for murder. This asshole in Vegas had 10 or 12 of them. They are inexpensive and not reliable so, he was prepared with extras when one jammed. But, 400 yards away from a thick crowd of people, from an elevated position, we now know how effective they can be at killing and wounding human beings.

The NRA acknowledges this and, since it was an opportunity to blame Obama, they've seemingly agreed to not fight legislation against bump-stocks. Only the dumbest republicans would believe that the guy who they still believe spent 8 years trying to confiscate their guns, was OK with converting semi's to full-auto but, they believe what they are told to believe. Besides, their big concern now is making gun silencers 50 state legal and easily accessible for ALL (white?) Americans. That's been temporarily shelved until the Vegas massacre is completely out of the news cycle.

Ever notice how on the news after pretty much every shooting, witnesses note how they at first thought they were hearing fireworks? Evidently the NRA is tired of hearing that. They want quieter murders/massacres. They claim it's in the interest of protecting shooters hearing but, that's what fucking wearing hearing protection is for! If you're going to shoot guns, wear the headgear made for that, snowflake. If you happen to shoot it out with ISIS or bank robbers and have your gun handy but no earmuffs, tough it out. You'll be fine. I promise you. Yes, guns are loud. Yes, they sound like some fireworks. Imagine though, how asshole in Vegas's guns would have sounded from 400 yards away, with a concert going on- if his weapons had been silenced? Guntards on the 'net are quick to point out that silencers are "not like in the movies..." Some even note that they don't even work that well. Yep, it's not like the "pfffttt" in a James Bond film. Yes, fucktard, I know that. My question then is why do you need one then? If they don't work like the movies and it's simple to put on some earmuffs when shooting, why the nationwide push for legalization? 'Cause freedom?

Imagine being in the crowd that night in Vegas and not hearing something that sounded like fireworks. People are dropping all around you but, you don't know why. You'll figure it out as the blood starts flowing but, how many precious moments will pass while you figure it out and, will a silenced bullet find you before you do? However ineffective guntards may ironically claim silencers to be, the Vegas massacre was a perfect example of how effective they could have been. The question in the warped minds of NRA staffers might be, why didn't the shooter use silencers? What can they do to make them more popular? Well, that's what their *hearing protection bill* is about.

You want to hate somebody? Hate the fucking NRA. They don't hate you but, they fight every day to make it easier for someone to kill you. They don't mind losing customers to the products they shill because each death promotes more sales. Does a cycle get more vicious than that?