You can live here rent free! Just give up Facebook!

Have you seen this before? I have, several times. If you are a regular reader (and I thank you so much, both of you) you will not be surprised to find out that I find posts like this absolutely asinine because people (surprise!) post this on Facebook and are incapable of seeing the irony. You would think that if these people hated Facebook that much, they wouldn't post about it...on Facebook. Like the famous "No wi-fi, talk to each other" pic that I also think is idiotic (read my blog about it here) it's posted on peoples Facebook page to show how cool they are for Facebook and how much they think people who enjoy Facebook are idiots.

California breaking from the union

If California wants to break from the union, by all means let them. Everyone was talking about Texas leaving the union during the Obama years and of course that was fine with me as well. Now there is chatter about California leaving. Of course I'm not a lawyer so I don't know the details of how it can happen or even if legally can happen-but why couldn't it? After all, if you want move from a state, you can. Why can't a large group of people who want to leave the United States do so?

In my dream world, the residents of California, Texas, New Hampshire, West Virginia or wherever can do what they want, when they want. No matter how complex it might be or the consequences of their actions, they should absolutely be allowed to do whatever they wish. Forming a new country is complicated of course and once you get what you want, it might lead to a disaster-but if a the residents of a state want to commit a mass suicide-we shouldn't be asked to stop them.

Scripture Sunday Jacob 2:13

In general, the Christian view on wealth is complex. Just like the verse "judge not lest ye be judged" it's completely misunderstood and used against wealthy Christians. After all, shouldn't Christians give their money away to the poor and live simple lives? Even Christians themselves are confused about this. I've seen several active LDS post that "money is the root of all evil." Which is wrong of course-it's love of money that is the root of evil.

Jacob 2:13 is one of my favorite verses on wealth because it shows that the pride and not helping your fellow man are the sins, not the money itself. When you put money before everything, that is when the punishment comes and that's when your behavior needs to change.

In fairness, I see some wealthy people doing what is described in this verse. They are proud of their hard work and effort-and they should be-but they also might look down on people who don't have what they have. That's why I wish they had more blue collar apostles. Let's see some apostles with grease on their hands or work in less glamorous jobs than academia, law, etc.

How not to communicate online

If you are over the age of ten, don't use emoticons to communicate. I and everyone else expects you to put on big people clothes and talk like an adult. Even online. When I see someone who can't speak in words and uses only emoticons I want to contact the local sheriff and see if you are on a certain list.

Using excessive vulgarity. I curse sometimes and frankly between close friends I don't see a problem with it. Not everyone in 2016 is like an antebellum southern belle who falls to pieces if she hears the words "Damn" or "Hell". I fact, I think it's priggish (a wonderful British word, look it up) to act mortally offended over curse words. However, like everything else in life there is a balance. If you can't communicate without using the F-word every two minutes it might be a sign of rudeness or a lower education level.

Typing everything in capital letters. This shows a sign of raving instability. When you type in all caps virtually no one will take you seriously and the majority of people will just ignore you. I'm not sure why people do this. If they want to be ignored, they could just not go online much. And don't tell me that people "don't care" if others are listening to them. If they didn't care, they wouldn't post anything.

Constant boasting. I am all for talking about how much your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse loves you and how wonderful life is. In fact, I think people who insult others who do that "Oh, your life isn't as a good as you think it is" are jealous and full of envy.  Like Eric Clapton said "It's in the way that you use it". Talking about how rich you are is obnoxious and will often times lead to you getting in bad situations-people asking for money or even worse. Be careful with this one.

Talking about how much you hate being online and how everyone online is a loser-posting this on Facebook makes you a grade A asshole who doesn't realize how foolish it is to talk about how much you hate those losers who go online too much from your Facebook account. 

Album of the weekend

Filter-Short Bus

Better known for their sweet and sentimental song "Take a Picture" (I remember that song being played when Cal Ripken had his last game) Filter is, much like Sponge and The Cranberries, a different band than what people think. "Short Bus" has an alternative sound that reminds me of Sixteen Stone by Bush. While it's true, there aren't as many good songs on Short Bus like there are on Sixteen Stone, this is still an album that is worth getting at your local used CD store.

Upfront, I don't know much about this band. It's one of the albums that I bought, listened to a few times than forgot. Apparently the lead singer, Richard Patrick did some work with Nine Inch Nails and their influence is pretty noticeable.  Like all good bands that have been influenced by other bands the sound is more homage than copycat. You can hear the influence but it still has a unique sound of it's own.

Don't hear much about scary clowns anymore do you?

A few months ago the latest fear craze was scary clowns. I posted about them and you can read about it here.

It's gone now, the media doesn't report about it anymore. Is it because less people are dressing up in clown costumes and scaring people? Partially, but I think the amount of people who do that is going to stay pretty level.  I don't see sane people suddenly deciding to do this as a hobby, but then again, they do have furry conventions so anything is possible.

The more important and sadder issue is how the media over blows everything. I get it, news reporters have never been known for their integrity and scientific knowledge but I really do wish they would apply some common sense. The risk of being assaulted by a dude in a clown suit is actually incredibly slim. The risk of getting a shark bite or an alligator attack is also incredibly slim, same with plane crashes and pit bull attacks. Too bad the media loves talking about those things.

I'm not sure it's going to change much in the near future. Like we all know the network news at 11 and 6 O'Clock are losing viewers by the truckload. Now people can get their news how they want it twenty four hours a day. With fewer people watching I get the impression that the news stations will go to further extremes in order to get new viewers.

Women's Marches

While I do find the protest marches inspiring and I'm glad there was not any arrests or mass destruction of private property, I'm doubtful that it will accomplish much in the long run.

Obviously, the majority of the people who marched this weekend didn't vote for Trump. They overwhelmingly voted for Hillary, probably close to 70%.The remaining 30% were split between Bernie-third party voters and professional protestors who would show up to protest anything but stayed home on election day. Essentially the protest "spoke to the choir" and "preached to the already converted." It's estimated that 1 out of 100 women in the nation showed up at some march and while I think that might be a bit high, doesn't that mean that 99 out of 100 women didn't show up to one of those protests? I understand that those 99 probably didn't vote for Trump, but some of them certainly did.

It's also interesting to me that for people who preach about diversity, a lot of those women were white and well, biologically women. I thought gender was a social construct (by the way, I think it IS, at least partially, a construct) by proclaiming it a Women's March I think you are excluding people who might be sympathetic to the cause .

Madonna

Of course, Madonna, like everyone else has a right to their opinion. However just having a right to your opinion doesn't mean you shouldn't be critiqued about what you say.

Yes, the comments Trump made about women are offensive, vulgar and stupid. Personally if I was a woman I probably wouldn't have voted for him just because of that. Women apparently disagree with me because many did vote for him, and they are just as powerful and independent as those who marched this past weekend.  The marches were peaceful, legal, and inspiring to me. What Madonna said was both illegal and asinine.

No, you can't threaten to bomb the president or the White House in the name of free speech. That's a threat of physical violence against people and you should be arrested for it. Will Madonna be arrested for it? Of course not. Her supporters would be aghast (rightfully so) when some Tea Party dumbass threatened the White House or Obama in 2008-2016 but now that there is a mean, nasty republican in there-nothing to see folks, move along. No matter who is in office, these comments are totally crossing the line.

Another thing-you lose the right to complain about anyone objectifying women when you've done the things Madonna has throughout her career. She has absolutely no credibility on that issue.

Music from your own generation

Something that really bothers music geeks is when we hear someone say "I only like music from the era that I grew up in." Good music transcends generations and it should be obvious. Liking music from your childhood-teenage years and disliking everything that came after it is a sign that you don't really like or understand music. It also means you've fallen into a societal trap-the majority of people think that way (that the only good music was music from their era) so maybe you haven't thought the issue through and just regurgitating what you hear others say.

Yes, you can honestly believe that your era was the only good era of music and no, there is nothing morally wrong about that. To each their own. But you are wrong. Every decade had great music. The 50's had Elvis, Buddy Holly. The sixties had Motown, The Beatles, the Rolling Stones. The seventies had The Ramones and Kiss. The eighties had the hair bands and the nineties had grunge. This is just off the top of my head, not an in-depth analysis of what bands/music genres came from what era. Again though, just this very brief list shows my point. Good music is like a great novel-it's truly timeless.

And that's another interesting thing. You rarely hear people say "I only like the books I grew up with." Music is the only one held to that standard.

Scripture Sunday Alma 50:39

In case you can't tell, there has been a new president inaugurated this past week. And in case you can't tell, most LDS lean conservative and vote republican. There are a bunch of reasons for this. Most religious people lean republican (no, just because you know one or even several religious democrats that doesn't mean what I said was wrong), and active LDS are among the most serious and intense people about their faith out there. 

This passage is partly why. In this passage a new leader is told to "judge righteously, keep the peace and freedom of the people, and to grant their sacred privileges to worship the Lord and their God to support and maintain the cause of God and to bring the wicked to justice according to the crime." That's an LDS way to run the country. It's also more aligned with the platform of the GOP. Like I said, there are many reasons that the majority of LDS lean slightly to the right, and this might be one of them. 

Speaking Truth to Power

Speaking truth to power is a good thing, a very good thing. Most of my heroes in life (Johnny Ramone, Joseph Smith jr) have been people who are unafraid to buck the system and yes, speak truth to power. That phrase is truly one of my favorite phrases of all time even though it's a huge cliche and aside from "judge not, lest ye be judge" it might be among the most misunderstood phrase of the last thirty years.

When people think they are "speaking truth to power" nine times out of ten, they are wrong. They only speak truth to power if the power disagrees with them. When people are in authority positions who they agree with-they meekly obey. Look at anti-war liberals. When Bush was in office and he (wrongly) started wars that were illegal they were outraged and took to the streets demonstrating. When Obama bombed countries or refused to pardon whistleblowers-nothing to see folks, move along. This is without question one of the worst things about modern politics. Very few people are consistent in their views.

Speaking truth to power means being yourself no matter who is in charge. It doesn't mean hating all authority, but it means being skeptical of all authority.

Album of the weekend

Dirty Looks-Cool from the Wire

Another late 80's hair band that missed the hair band era, Dirty Looks is a band that I've just barely started getting into. I have heard the song "Oh, Ruby" before but it didn't catch on for me. Recently I heard it again and loved it. It sounds great, and you can easily compare it to the other classic hair bands of the era. Since I liked this song so much I had to download the entire album.

Like Kix, Dirty Looks is a hair band that doesn't get the credit it deserves. I think it's because they came onto the hair band scene at a later time-they were apparently formed in 1988. They also have a huge amount of turnover. The New York Dolls had people come and go, but this band had more people go though it than the toll both on 95 on a holiday weekend. I'm not an expert but I'm not sure that helped the band in the long run.

Shame too, because the album is very good. Just asking around I found out that not many people have heard of the band-so I might have been right thinking that they were underrated. The best song is "Oh, Ruby" but the title track and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" are also good. 

Democrats skipping the inauguration

I can't blame them, even though it's not something I would do. Some of these men and women sharply disagree with Donald Trump and his policies, it's a bitter pill that he got elected in the first place and having to see him take what is essentially a victory lap must be another kick to the stomach. When you passionately see the world one way and your side has not been successful-you feel lost, isolated and a man or a woman without a country. Believe me, I know how it feels. In past elections I have felt the way many democrats feel right now. The big difference?

No one on the opposing side said the above words to me when I expressed these feelings of loneliness and worry for my country. Is this a bitch fest? No. It's making a bigger point.

In politics, it's always a good idea to ask "Would I behave/think the same way if someone I agreed with did something?" Ask yourself "If Republicans skipped the Obama inauguration in 2008, what would I say, do or think?" This is going to shock and appall you, but I think republicans would suddenly support those skipping the inauguration while democrats would denounce them as traitors and unpatriotic.

A little more compassion and understanding takes effort, and people don't want to do that. The next four years are going to be brutal for people who don't agree with Trump, just like the last eight years were tough on people on didn't support Obama.

Presidential historical ratings

Every now and then you'll see lists of who scholars think are the most influential or successful presidents. it should come as no surprise at all that these lists partisan and not subjective in the least. Democratic scholars think that FDR was the greatest president of all time. They'll ignore his economic policies prolonging the great depression and his approval of Japanese interment camps-the same way republicans will ignore Iran-Contra that happened with the Reagan administration.  Personally I think Reagan and FDR were both great presidents regardless of their faults and missteps. 

George W Bush will be a tough one to historically evaluate. The hate he got was intense, and it was mostly from people who claim to be tolerant and loving.  W will be correctly evaluated for the Iraq War and the bailouts-but his leadership during the aftermath of 9/11 was superb and it should be recognized as such. 

I don't agree with much that Obama has done, but he also deserves credit for authorizing the execution of Osama Bin Laden. I was surprised when he did that, given that liberals are against the death penalty and generally against military involvement. I will give him eternal credit on that one, and most Americans should too. 

Presidential historical ratings are like presidential debates. The person you liked before won and the person you didn't like lost. Virtually no one can be objective when it comes to such a personal subject like politics. 

Chargers leaving San Diego

Los Angeles, the second biggest city in the country, has an issue with the most popular sport in the country. It's strange, isn't it? Even if you aren't into sports it is interesting to ponder that. After all, you would think that a city that big would be able to support at least one football team.

The San Diego Chargers have left their home base of over 50 years to move up the road to Los Angeles. It's a horrible idea for them. The St. Louis Rams were once the Los Angeles Rams and they moved from St. Louis back "home" to Los Angeles and it's been terrible so far. After the initial homecoming very few people have been going to the games. Los Angeles is a very tough spots town. Unless you win, people don't care. Even if you win, you better do so in a flashy, attractive way or people won't care. In Boston, New York, Philadelphia or Chicago people will care about their teams win or lose. Why is Los Angeles so different?

I don't have actual demographics for this but I don't think Los Angeles has a high number of natives in the actual city. I assume it's like New York City in the fact that a large number of it's citizens are not born in the city. I don't think it's a majority-but the percentage might be high. If you care about sports and aren't from Los Angeles you are more likely to root for your home town team, even if you don't like your home town. That might be one reason why Los Angeles teams struggle a bit. Sports partially relies on history-it's not uncommon for several generations to like the same sports teams. Los Angeles might not have that either.

You also have the west coast lifestyle, which is vastly different from the east coast.  The east coast is much more intense and passionate about everything than the laid back and relaxed west coast. I'm not saying that's good or bad it's just my observations. A majority of Bostonians may not follow the Red Sox intensely but they surely know someone who does. Can the citizens of Los Angeles say the same thing? Probably not. Entertainment is king over there, not sports.

Obviously, the Chargers weren't making money in San Diego anymore or else they would have stayed there. In the world of sports winning is second only to money. Sadly, it seems like San Diego divorced their first wife to run off with the secretary. They will quickly find out that the grass isn't greener.

Adios Ringling Brothers circus

I'm not sad about the circus ending in the least. Their treatment of animals and in the past humans as "freak shows" has always been deeply troubling to me. Sure you can say that the controversial acts ended in the past but they lasted much too long. 

When something has ended people often get feelings of nostalgia that aren't appropriate. Like I've mentioned many times we over romanticize the good while ignoring the bad. We also love to blame the upcoming generation even though they are not responsible for all the problems and issues of the world they inhabit. It's not just the fault of millennials and their short attention span that the circus is no more. To the best of my recollection it wasn't wildly popular with my generation either. Like failing retail stores-if everyone was so nostalgic for it why didn't they support it with their personal pocketbooks so it wouldn't go out of business in the first place? 

The circus has gone the way of mumblety-peg. It's from a different era. 

Scripture Sunday Mosiah 4:2

Forgiveness is the greatest part about being a Christian. If you don't feel like you need forgiveness for anything I'm not sure why you'd become a Christian in the first place. To paraphrase CS Lewis (paraphrase, not an actual quote) "Christianity is a thing of unspeakable comfort, but at first you need to admit that you have done something to warrant that comfort." He is, of course, talking about sinful behavior. 

Too often Christians focus on the sin itself and not the forgiveness that comes afterwards. Like this scripture says Christians should focus more on the atoning blood of Christ rather than what they might have done in the past. 

Science

Everyone "loves science" until it conflicts with their values. That's why the right ignores evolution and the biological evidence for homosexuality and the left ignores evidence that GMO foods are fine and any economic science.

Rachel Maddow said that the funny thing about rights is that they are rights, they aren't supposed to be voted on. Was she talking about gun rights too? Probably not, but gun rights are still rights even if you don't like them too. It's the same with science. Science doesn't care about your politics, personal views or religion. What is history is history (and history is a type of science as well) even if you don't want it to be. 

Religious people are often accused to be anti-science, but that's not true at all. I personally accept evolution and go to church on Sunday, but even if you question certain aspects of Darwinian that hardly makes you "anti-science". In fact, if you accept everything about Darwinism than you aren't asking questions-which is in itself anti-science.

When a large group of historians or scientists agree on something and you don't, it's a good idea to at the very least, re-think your views. While it's true, even a group of scientists and historians can certainly be wrong, just because they say something you might not agree with doesn't mean that you are right.

The often maligned movie "Expelled" had some things that I disagreed with and some things that I agreed with. One scientist in there had a great quote. "You can be secularly motivated and you can do good science, and you can be religiously motivated and you can do good science." Very well said. Some of the best scientists out there have been religious. 

Like religion, science taken to an extreme an dangerous and destructive too. The works of Nathaniel Hawthrone show that science unchecked by morality can be gravely dangerous. It can be, but since we live in a world where science is borderline worshipped very few people accept it. Again, just because everyone agrees with something doesn't mean it is correct. 

Album of the weekend

Blink 182-Enema of the State

Aside from the immortal Dookie by Green Day, this one might be the most popular pop punk album of all time perhaps. Ask yourself-if you were of that age when this was popular, did you buy it? If you did not, did you know someone who did? The answer is probably yes.

I'm not a big Blink 182 fan but since my friend and I had a conversation about them I've given their entire canon a second thought and second listen to. I was wrong, they aren't the "silly pop band" that John Lyndon said they are. This album is absolutely more slick and polished than any of their previous albums, but wasn't it the same for Dookie from Green Day? In fact, even the Ramones (yes, still the greatest punk band of all time) might have had a few slick and smooth sounding albums. Did Blink 182 sell out with this album? Yes, that's why I never liked it before. I was wrong.

Anthony Weiner

I recently watched a great documentary on Amazon. It was called "Weiner" and it was (surprise!) about Anthony Weiner, disgraced politician and all around train wreck. 

Anyway the movie made me cry, in several parts. I have such a huge amount of sympathy for his (now estranged) wife, Huma. Seeing what her husband put her through again and again was absolutely heartbreaking. I do not however, think she is a victim of spousal abuse. Infidelity is bad, it's really bad and it's inexcusable in all ways-but it is not the equal of physical abuse.

You know what else was strange? I began to feel huge sympathy for Anthony too. Like everyone else, I laughed and took glee at his downfall. It's not easy for me to say this, but I was wrong, and I was a total asshole. I don't agree with him on much if anything politically so it was easy for me to laugh at him. I'm really sorry about that now, and yes, I am ashamed of myself. This movie shows a very passionate man who deeply cares about the ideas he has and more importantly, he cares deeply about his fellow citizens. He's a very flawed man who has serious anger issues and can't control his mouth or his sexual desires. Would I vote for him? God no, not under gunpoint. Do I feel much more sympathetic to him after watching this? You bet.

Mormonleaks

Mormonleaks has released some documents that purport to show living allowances of some high up leaders in the church.  One document shows that the living expenses for general authorities has gone up from  $116,400 to $120,000 in 2014. Another document shows what Henry Eyring was paid in the year 2000. The final few documents were records from some meetings. I have not read the documents yet.

You can argue about if these records should have been leaked or not, but that's a moot point. They were leaked. You can't wave a magic wand and tell people to forget or not read them. You can argue the legality of violating privacy rights and that's a fair point. I tend to be very sympathetic to whistleblowers. While I do accept that there are some things that the public doesn't need to know in the name of national security, the LDS church isn't in charge of national security. Mormonleaks would be completely out of line and totally unethical to release the private, personal matters (church discipline, social security numbers, etc) of it's members-higher ups or not-and they haven't done that so far to my knowledge.

If you have a problem with the church leaders getting paid, then you need to grow up a bit. These men could be making huge money in their private fields. Eyring was a chemist who could be living a fat and pampered life in academia right now. He, along with the rest of them are taking massive pay cuts to work for the Lord. Even apostles and their families need to eat and pay rent. 

Einstein and human interaction

First off, Einstein never said it (at least I can't find solid proof he said it). Second, we still have human interaction it's just in a different format. Third, how much you want to bet that people who post this do so from...their phones. 

I get it, I'm a buzzkill-but I love to debunk the bullshit that people post online. In fact I could easily make every single blog post about debunking things I see online, but that's not what I'm aiming for. 

Maybe I'll start Punk Mormon II dedicated just to debunking things...

Chicago torture

If you are anything less than outraged by this horrific act that I can say without question that yes, you are a bad person. Period. Even scumbags have things they won't do-like robbing old people, abusing kids, and yes-assaulting a special needs individual is right up there. Doing those things causes you to cross the line from "bad choices" to "human garbage".  I've never done serious time in prison before (yes, even I'm shocked about that) but there is a hierarchy there. From little I've heard the boys in the state pen don't look too kindly on those who beat up mentally disabled people.

Spin this any way you want. Make it political, make it socioeconomic, you can even make it racial. You can try to excuse what happened, you can blame other people. If you are so politically correct and warped in your sense of right and wrong that you try to excuse or downplay this, you are in some ways just as wrectched as those who committed this act.

I have no sympathy-none whatsoever for the people who did this, and I even less sympathy for those who excuse it.

The good news is that the overwhelming majority of people of all races and backgrounds feel pretty much the same way I do. No positive can come out of this-but perhaps in this horrific tragedy it might bring some people together.

Scripture Sunday Nephi 21:13

Some passages in the Book of Mormon can be dreary, violent or just plain boring. Oddly, LDS sometimes can't understand how someone could say that. They think it's an attack on the veracity of the Book of Mormon or somehow insulting to LDS. If your faith is so fragile that you can't understand why someone thinks that the Book of Mormon might be boring, violent or dreary-get over it and grow up.

Or, show them this passage.

It's an uplifting and joyous passage, and it's also one that is a pleasant little rebuke to the boredom or violence that might be getting you down. It starts off by telling the reader to "sing and be joyful" and to "break forth into singing" and then closes by saying that "the Lord hath comforted his people and will have mercy upon his afflicted." Uplifting and positive verse? You got it right here.

Gatlinburg thoughts

If there is a better definition of a Christian man, I have yet to see it. A man who lost his wife and two daughters in the Gatlinburg fire is forgiving and praying for the two teenagers who started it.

I can't imagine the pain that the families who lost everything are going though. It should remind all of us how incredibly lucky we are. If anything maybe it'll cause us to become more introspective and to consider ourselves very fortunate. 

The fires were started by two teenagers throwing lit matches on the ground. It is my sincere hope and prayer that the two kids didn't start this fire with the intent to kill people. If they did that, it would cross the line from criminal neglect to sociopath monsters. I can't read minds and I'm not a psychiatrist-so I don't claim to know how their thinking worked. If it turns out their intention was to kill people, then I have no problem locking them up for life. Yes, even teenagers know right from wrong. If they were just stupid kids playing with matches-frankly they should still go to jail but obviously for a much shorter time.

The only positive about this story (and I hesitate to use the word "positive" because the situation is so complex, tragic and people lost their lives so positive isn't the word) is how the community rallied together to begin healing. What Dolly Parton has done is nothing short of amazing. Shows that in great tragedy people can still do some wonderful things.

Album of the weekend

Eric Johnson-Ah Via Musicom

For a long time my all time favorite song was "Cliffs of Dover", which is track two on this album. A fantastic pure guitar instrumental if you don't like this song, you don't like the genre and you might be  horrible person who kicks puppies and steals from blind people. This song is worth a download in itself. In fact, if the download was ten bucks instead of just 1.29, it's worth it too. Has it dropped a bit from my number one? Yes, but it's still in my top ten for songs of all time.

The rest of the album isn't bad either. After all, it's Eric Johnson is one of the greatest guitar players in history. When someone is truly the best at their skill and you don't like their music-that's fine, it can be subjective taste-but it's a bit like not liking the movie the Godfather. If you don't like it, that's okay but if you can't see why others like it, then you are the problem.

Mariah Carey

You'd think her career couldn't take any more blows to the chin after the movie Glitter, but you'd be wrong. Seriously if you want to laugh your ass off watch that movie. Bad movies are immensely enjoyable but some people don't see how they could be. Shame.

As everybody surely knows now her New Years Eve performance didn't go well and she handled it in the most unprofessional way you possibly could. We all know that in the celebrity world when something like that goes terribly wrong you throw someone else under the bus (she tired and failed), blame a scapegoat, blame "exhaustion" or "acid reflux" and then hope for the best. After all that fails you ignore it and hope it'll go away.

But it is not going away. In the world we live in mistakes artists make are kept forever online and worse-they are talked about forever so even if the video clips strangely disappear, the memory remains. Mariah Carey didn't do any real damage to her career on New Years Day, after all she is immensely talented (no, it's not my type of music at all but talent is talent) and she'll always have a fanbase-but this does show the type of person she really is.

Glitter come back. all is forgiven.

Maine propane dealer refusing to serve Trump voters....

First off, I support this guys right to serve any customer he wants too. If you irritate him in any way, shape, or form, he can tell you to take a hike. The good news? You can go someplace else and give them your money instead of this guy.

According to Snopes (A website that is almost always right) a Maine propane dealer is refusing to supply Trump supporters with propane.

Obviously, leftists and democrats are praising the man and republicans are condemning him.The irony (and this is how politics works, consistency is only important if it's advantageous to your side)is that republicans who demanded that bakers not serve gay customers are now demanding that propane boy here serves Trumpers and democrats who worshipped gay customers as freedom fighters are now saying that a merchant has every right to serve whoever they want to.

Libertarians (true ones, not Gary Johnson) sit back and laugh. We are the ones who want the baker to serve whoever they want and the propane guy to serve whoever he wants. Libertarians might not have political success-but we can at least pat ourselves on the back and know that we are consistent.

Post Christmas blues

I've heard before that some people get depressed the day after Christmas. To me, I've always been slightly relieved it's over and we can get back to our daily lives but I admit I'm in the minority and if you are a regular reader to my blog (thank you so much!) you know my issues with Christmas. I have seen many people post that they feel a sense of sadness after Christmas day though.

On the surface of it, you'd think the day after Christmas would be in some way much less stressful than the days building up to it. Most of your friends and family have already enjoyed the opening of gifts, the big formal meal, they've arrived safely and are sometimes still there enjoying the holiday with you. So why do you feel depressed? Sometimes it's because people don't have anything to look forward to after the initial present opening. Obnoxiously, I had relatives who would say "Well, it's all over" after Christmas and I would think "What's with the buzzkill attitude? We know this, and we just got some new toys to play with so can you focus on that instead?"

I think human nature is inclined towards pessimism and complaining. You have to work hard to not give into that side of nature. Too many good people I know have given up and embrace the pessimistic side of their character. A rose would wilt in their hand. If you offer them a glass of lemonade, they'll complain about the lack of sugar in it. If you offer them soda, they'll complain about the sugar. Is it obnoxious? You bet. Instead of focusing on what is over for the Christmas season perhaps we should look at how lucky we are to have spent it with our friends and family. If you don't have friends and family close to you-be glad the season is over anyway and you can get back to doing things you enjoy.

Ronda Rousey

Ronda Rousey lost again in devastating fashion on Friday. She barely put up a fight. For the record I have nothing against her - I just think she was massively over hyped. People ignored her obvious flaws (and after two losses in a row, it's safe to say that she has serious flaws in her fighting game) and focused on her charisma and personality. She's an extremely likable person and a very good fighter overall, but she's obviously not indestructible.

In boxing and MMA, it's all about winning. One loss is crushing to your record and I've never understood why but that's the way it is. People love you when you win and it seems like a winning streak will last forever. To some fighters winning comes so easily to them that when they finally do lose (and virtually everyone will at one point) they don't know how to handle it. It effects them not only professionally but also personally. I think that's what happened with Rousey. After being so overhyped and told how wonderful she is on a daily basis she might have begun to believe her own hype. I don't think she stopped working hard, apparently she intensely trained for this fight, and it's clear she wanted to win badly-but it's obvious she never recovered from her first loss.

She needs to retire. Two devastating losses in a row will probably lead to a third. I hope MMA does the right thing and doesn't allow her to fight again. We don't want her to become seriously messed up over this.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone! 

One of the greatest things about America is that you can always start over if you have the courage to do so. Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you have a wonderful 2017.