Starbucks restroom policy

Wow! A restaurant that offers free usage of the restroom to the regular public. I've never seen that before. Why people are making a big deal of this is beyond me. Virtually every other restaurant in the country does this, and Starbucks was always sort of behind the times in having a policy where only paying customers could use their restrooms. I'm saddened as to how it came about though.

Sometimes I think I could make a daily post about the drama that Starbucks seems to be swimming in. I know I blogged about it last month. From Christmas cups that don't mention Christmas to the CEO telling gun owners to take their business elsewhere to a certain restaurant being accused of racial insensitivity it seems that Starbucks is always in the middle of some controversy. Some of it comes with size-when you are number one, you have a huge target on your back. Some of it is because that Starbucks seems to try to be as politically correct and pretentious as humanly possible, so they open themselves up to parody.

Eventually, they'll be shot in the back by their own troops.  They already have been-social justice warriors have accused Starbucks of not being PC enough-and it'll happen again. Perhaps Howard Schultz will shut the company down weekly for social justice meetings. I can see that coming.

Roseanne cancelled

Well, that didn't last long did it?

In a previous blog, I mentioned how I admired her anti establishment attitude even though I never saw the show and I had zero desire to start watching it. She shot her mouth off with an angry and vile Tweet and now ABC immediately canceled the show. Anyone who knows anything about the internet age could see it coming, and let it be a lesson to everyone.

Yes, there is a double standard. Trump supporters are under much closer scrutiny than those who are part of the elite establishment. Unless your sin is grave (like what Kathy Griffin did) you need to accept that everything you do will be magnified and jumped on. Her true crime, aside from being angry and tactless, is not understanding the world we live in. Her naivety was shocking.

Of course, if this was someone you agreed with and she said something about someone you disagreed with, you'd be much more willing to forgive her. That's the second double standard that we are dealing with today, and it's much more common. Much more repulsive too, because that's an issue you can actually do something about.

Terminally Ill patients allowed to try new medicine

Finally, your Lord and Master, big government, has determined that you are capable of choosing what medicine to try if you are terminally ill. A bill passed the congress (largely on party lines) allowing terminally ill patients to try medicine that might cure them.Of course it might not cure them, but I'd rather be given the opportunity to at least try and save my own life or the life of a loved one rather than watch them slowly die while you do nothing.

I'm proud to be a limited government guy, and often times in life, there is not much in politics that gives me hope. This bill is not perfect, but I'm very glad that it passed and hopefully will become law. You've got to be one cold hearted bastard to not allow a terminally ill person to smoke pot or try something, anything, that could might give them a chance to survive. Too often it's the right that is considered cruel or lacking in compassion, but this proves that yes, even the left has a cruel streak when it comes to politics. How anyone could be against this bill is beyond me.

Armed citizen in Oklahoma stops shooting...

An armed citizen stopped a potential mass shooting in Oklahoma. It's being largely ignored by the main stream media because it doesn't fit their anti gun narrative, but it speaks well that USA Today published the story.

No, not every citizen should be allowed to carry a gun. However if you get special training and have no criminal record than yes, you should be allowed to carry a gun. Almost anywhere you choose. Does a business have the right to let you in or not? Of course, but it's in the best interest of the business to keep everyone safe, and the blunt, uncomfortable truth is that you only stop a shooting by also having a gun.

Criminals prefer victims that don't shoot back.

Scripture Sunday Mosiah 5:5

Are we willing to make covenants with God? Yes, most people are willing to make covenants-it's the keeping them that is the hard part.

Anyone who tells you that being LDS is easy is lying. When my friends ask why I converted (which happens from time to time,even though I've been LDS for years) I usually tell them because I wanted to give up three hours of my Sunday, wear uncomfortable clothes and no longer drink or smoke pot. Most of my friends get the sense of humor that I have, thank God.

We are all human and we all make mistakes, so no one goes out and says "I'm going to break my covenants with God today, ha ha ha." while shaking your fists as God. It doesn't work that way. I'm not sure how it works, but covenants are sort of a weird thing-it's better to try and live them and fail rather than not make them in the first place and never try to be better.

Opioid crisis

One does not need to obsessively watch the news to see that there is a major drug crisis going on in American today. I'm not one to buy into government hype. I don't think global warming will kill us, I didn't believe the Ebola hype. Most government/media panics are garbage that drive ratings up and make politicians feel like they are getting something done. This crisis, however, is a legit crisis and there is no easy way to cure it.

Trying to limit prescription pain pills to those who really need them is like...well, trying to limit the sale of guns to law abiding citizens. You aren't addressing the fundamental problem-it's just window dressing to make yourself feel better. Those who are dying of cancer and desperately need the pain pills in order to make their last few months on earth "comfortable" aren't selling their pills to the local junkie. And if the local junkie is breaking in to their house to steal from them, they need to be punished. Severely.

The root causes of drug abuse need to be addressed, and I'm not talking about D.A.R.E or "Very Special Episodes" of teen television shows (do they even have those anymore?). The opioid crisis is a major problem, and it's not going to solved by doing, or not doing, any one thing.

Album of the weekend

Collective Soul-Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid

This is grunge music combined with prozac and therapy. The album has a sound that reminds you of Soundgarden and Sonic Youth but the lyrical content of something much more uplifting. Maybe it's because the biggest song, and undoubtedly their biggest overall hit is called, "Shine" and talks about letting your light shine down. Ironically it's not one of the songs on the album that I prefer.  

Grunge music is antiquated-it's from the past and it's often thought of to be gloomy, sad, overall depressing with the lead singers frequently dying young of drug overdoses brought on by depression. If you are looking for grunge music without the melancholy, this album might be for you. That said, it's the only album I own by Collective Soul, so it might have been their magnum opus-which isn't good if it's your first album. You can only go down from there. 

NFL response to players kneeling

In an attempt to save face and try to solve a PR disaster, the NFL decided that there will be a penalty administered to the team whose players don't stand for the national anthem.  To polish off an old cliche, the horse has left the barn already and closing the barn door will do nothing. It might make the NFL feel better and give them good PR, but it's impossible to enforce. Enough players will either ignore it or just accept the penalty and move on with the game.

Poor Roger Goodell. For a man who is apparently "the most powerful man in sports" (and he might be. After all he does "run" the most popular sport in America) he sure seems like he's in way over his head and as absolutely no idea how to run the NFL. No, I'm not saying I could do a better job. In fact, I probably couldn't. Goodell though seems to want to do whatever is popular and sometimes in business, you can't do that. You need leadership and the ability to make tough choices. Goodell doesn't seem to be able to do that.

Civic meetings

Recently, I've gone to several civic meetings in regards to a proposed highway that could cut right through my small town. I'm vehemently against it, and it seems like most people in my area are as well. The mayor of the town where I live (it's very small, under 5,000 people) and my town administrator have spoken out against it. So have all the county commissioners of the much bigger county near me. Our elected leaders of all political stripes have listened to the people and are all against it as well. The only people in favor of it is the Florida Department of Transportation. Putting aside my personal views for a minute, it's very interesting to see the people band together and become move involved in their government process.

According to one mayor who has lived in the town for over 60 years, "I've never seen more people come out against something in my entire life." I believe him-I've been involved in one way or another for many civic issues and I've never seen it either. It's one thing to engage in Facebook activism, it's another thing to actually go to meetings and protests and put your time and money where your mouth is.

As I get older I have increasingly less and less sympathy for people who spout off about politics while never leaving their couch. This goes for your drunk uncle who never left his hometown at Thanksgiving spouting off about illegal immigration and border walls and your sister who at age 24 tweets about Trump being a Nazi yet she's never registered to vote in her life. If you really want to be taken seriously-get off your ass and get involved.

"No one cares about the royal wedding"

Have you seen that saying this weekend? I have. I'm going to give it to your straight, no bullshit. Yes, people care about the royal wedding. What no one cares about is what you have to say about it. It's the height of arrogance to say "No one cares about X". Obviously someone does, or else it wouldn't be newsworthy. No one cares about your wedding because you aren't famous.

Oh sure, I think the Kardahsians are silly and famous for just being famous. I'd never say that "No one cares about them". Obviously someone does, because they are on the cover of magazines and have their own television show. If no one cared, you wouldn't know who they were. It's the same with the royal wedding. If no one cared about royalty, they wouldn't be in the news so much.

You have every right to complain about whatever you'd like. You have every right to be arrogant, obnoxious and look down on other peoples hobbies and interests. Guess what though? Your opinion doesn't matter. Like it or not, other people have different interests than you do, and the people have spoken. Nickleback is famous. Dave Matthews is. The Royal Family and the Kardashians are. You don't have to like it, but when you say "No one cares about them" you are showing great ignorance and your delusion.

Another school shooting

Everyone is heartbroken over school shootings. Even the most ardent second amendment supporter doesn't want anyone, especially innocent children to be shot and killed. No one has a monopoly on virtue on this issue, but the anti gun crowd certainly acts morally superior. Before the bodies are counted you'll see people calling for full gun confiscation. Yes, the opposite is also true-you'll see people demanding that those calling for even the slightest gun control are "Coming for your guns."

First off yes, some people truly are coming for your guns. They want total disarmament of the population. It's delusional and never going to happen. In fact, the rabid anti-gunners remind me the anti abortion crowd. Both political parties use the issue to raise funds, then when in power, they do nothing to further the cause. The pro lifers are too obtuse to understand this, and so are the anti gunners.

Obviously, we need to stop school shootings. We need to look at all factors-from the mentally ill owning guns to putting more officers in schools, and maybe even arming certain teachers after in depth training. Whatever we do, both sides of the gun issue need to ask themselves tough questions.

Scripture Sunday Alma 38:9

There are all sorts of controversial things in the book of Mormon, and in Christianity in general. In 2018 though, the most controversial thing that Christians teach might be the fact that salvation is found under no other man but Christ-and this passage says the same thing. In fact, I think the majority of authentic, non politically correct Christian churches teach basically the same thing. Do I think it's a foundational claim to Christianity? Yes, I do.

LDS definitely have some views that aren't in line with mainstream Christianity (the Trinity comes to mind but there are others) but when it comes to the belief that Christ is the only way to salvation, they are pretty much right in line with all the other churches.

I understand that in our accepting and tolerant world, the thought that there is only one way to salvation is offensive to many people. I also understand the famous conundrum of why a serial killer who accepted Christ would achieve some level of salvation while an atheist who lived a blameless life would not. Do I understand that? No, not at all. I have no answer for it either. It's one of the teachings of Christianity that I understand in theory, but there are legit questions to it.

Should you force a child to go to church?

First off no, I'm telling you how to raise your kids. I've noticed that the immediate (and frankly, stupid) reaction whenever anyone says anything about kids is "Oh look, we have someone here who doesn't have kids but is telling us how to raise them!" I've gotten that before, but the guy later admitted he didn't bother to read my entire post. Don't be like him. And yes, it's your house, your rules-so do whatever you want.

But you need to ask yourself-do I want my child to grow in the faith, or am I just forcing it on them because I'm the parent and they must do what I say? Again-yes, as the parent you have every right to force your child to do as you wish (Within reason. You can't force them to commit a homicide for you and expect to get away with it) but could you be doing more damage to their faith in the long term?

I'd like to read a valid study about people who grew up in strictly religious households and if they practice in their adulthood. Or more importantly if they do practice, do they do so only to not disappoint their parents and family? I'm totally open to seeing the results, these are just my thoughts.

Album of the weekend

Dio-Holy Diver

When you think of traditional heavy metal you often think of Iron Maiden, early Metallica-but not many people think of Dio. I hope I'm wrong, in fact, I pray I'm wrong but I don't hear his name being mentioned much in the metal conversation unless it's by hardcore metal heads. 

The casual metalhead might forget about how great Ronnie James Dio was. He's iconic but he never achieved the popularity that he deserved. This album is a classic and should be on the "must listen to" list of everybody.

Atari VCS

Well, it's been leaked that the new Atari console will come with a few classic built in games. At first, I was pumped. After all, I love my Atari Flashback and the Activision Anthology games for the PS2/PS1 generation are among my favorites. However, there has been some troubling developments that really make me reconsider how excited I am for the release of the system.

Rumors are that it's going to be two hundred dollars. Which is a lot of money for some of us. Usually when I make a purchase like that, I go back and forth, trying to justify spending all that money. It better be worth it and it better be something I'll be using a lot. I can understand the price if the games released are going to be stunning....but Atari hasn't shown us anything that make me think the games will be stunning.

In particular, because you can most of the games already on much cheaper platforms. If I have to choose between old school PS 1 games I already have-like the Activision Anthology Ps1 game or an Atari Flashback console for 40$ and then spend 200$ on a new console, what are the majority of us going to choose?

Bar throws out Trump supporters...

A judge has ruled that bars are allowed to throw out Trump supporters. This is the correct ruling, a business has every right to pick and choose who they serve.  Of course, this brings up the homosexual-baker controversy. The hypocrisy is obvious. The same people who think that the bar was wrong have no problem with the Christian baker choosing who he serves-and vice versa. The people celebrating this ruling are the same ones who would march in the streets if the court ruled in favor of the baker.

One of the benefits of adulthood is that you can pick and choose who you want to associate with. One of the miseries of childhood is that you are forced to associate with people you don't like in school, your small town, your church, etc. The drawback of free association is that you can't force anyone to be associate or serve you. While it might be cruel, it might be bad for business, a company of any size has every right to tell you to go away.

Supreme Court opens the door to legal sports gambling

The Supreme Court has essentially legalized sports gambling. It's an odd decision by the court. The conservatives lead the way with the liberals on the court dissenting. So much for conservatives being the ones who are the killjoys and moralists.

I'm totally against gambling. In fact, I think it's the worst thing you can do with your money aside from starting a cocaine habit. Both a cocaine habit and gambling will eventually lead to your ruin, but at least with a cocaine habit you'll finally be able to say that you have something in common with Eric Clapton.

Libertarianism is an unforgiving philosophy for those who take it seriously. If you are for people making their own life choices and don't want to interfere with them, than eventually you need to accept that their life choices will not always be what you would do, or what you'd approve of. Conservatives and liberals are both guilty of twisting their ideologies to suit their personal beliefs and yes, even libertarians can be guilty of this-but I try not to be. The ruling was correct, even though I have to set aside my personal distaste for it.

Arizona woman accused of stalking...

An Arizona woman was accused of sending 65,000 texts to a man she met online and dated just once.  She was arrested, and from jail she posted a video explaining her actions. It's one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen.  Watching it you will see the horrors of untreated mental illness. No, this isn't me making a joke on her behalf-we'll get to that in a minute.

I'm becoming a snowflake in my old age, because I find the jokes about her mental state to be offensive. I'm not going to repeat them, because I find them so tasteless. Straight up, I feel sorry for the guy and yes, I think he dodged a major bullet by having her arrested before she could inflict any major damage on him. Mentally ill or not, no one has the right to hurt others.

This woman is a danger to others, and she's also a danger to herself. In the internet era we forget that these are real people, with real thoughts, dreams, and sicknesses. This is mental illness in the purest and most untreated form, and it's not only disturbing to see, it's also heartbreaking. It is my prayer and hope that this woman gets the treatment she desperately needs-and that treatment isn't jail. She belongs in a hospital.

Scripture Sunday Alma 37:37

Believers in God wonder sometimes how we can speak to Him. The obvious answer is prayer, and in this passage, it reminds us to"Counsel in the Lord with all they things". I have yet to meet an active LDS who doesn't pray. A lot. While I don't want to say that all active LDS pray every day, the majority (including myself) at least try to. We might pray at night, in hopes that He, "watches over us while sleep" and when we "rise in the morning." 

This passage touches on an interesting thought. It tells us to pray "In the morning and let they heart be full of thanks unto God." Many people only pray when they want something or when things are going awful in life. I understand that of course, I've done the same, but I do try to pray now and then prayers of gratitude. Just a prayer to God to let him know things are going well in my life and I'm thankful for all of my blessings. 

Schools removing analog clocks

File this under the "People will complain about anything" category. Some schools in the UK are removing analog clocks because kids can't tell time on them.  I know what some are thinking. Those damn kids and their cellphones, digital watches, and iPhones are ruining it for everyone. But hold on a minute.

Can you use a telegram machine? Can you speak in Morse code? Probably not. In fact, few people can these days. But in the 1800's I'm sure it was a popular way of communicating. When the telegram machine was phased out, I'm sure people complained about the telephone and how those damn kids and their phones are destroying society. See a pattern?

Just because technology changes doesn't mean it makes life worse. In fact, in 85% of cases, advancements in technology make our lives much better than before. Analog clocks are cool to me, I still have an analog watch. But this isn't a big deal. In fact, if your life is so good that this is all you can complain about, than you should drop to your knees and thank God for being alive right now.

Album of the weekend

Kiss-Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions 

Okay, I'll be honest with you. The idea of Kiss singing grunge songs is highly amusing and against everything that grunge stands for. Even Paul Stanley knew this. In his autobiography he says "What are we going to be sad about? That our limo wasn't on time? Our maid missed a room? It ain't that dark in Beverly Hills." He was right. Being a super rich rock band you can't really talk about how bad your life is. 

Putting that aside from a minute-this album sounds good. It sounds dark and much harder than a Kiss album should.  Some of the songs are, of course, over the top and a bit silly in their lyrical content. Though musically it sounds very grunge like. Kiss took a risk with this album and I do respect them for doing that. It's not a home run but it's still a solid record if you can put aside the fact that Paul Stanley was right-when you are super rich you have no right to complain about how bad life is. 

Bill Cosby

We like to think that evil is obvious to us. That we'll be able to tell right away if someone is a good person or not. That's how a five year old thinks. In reality, evil is incredibly complex. The Bill Cosby "scandal" is proof that evil comes in all forms, and we truly never know about what lies beneath our public figures.

Make no mistake. Bill Cosby is evil. I've heard people try to explain that in his generation, raping a woman with pills was different because she couldn't say no. That's bullshit. Rape is rape, and there is never an excuse for it. He's a rapist, pure and simple. All of us are flawed humans, but I do not believe that "anyone is capable of anything." In fact, I think only 2-5% of the population is capable of crimes of this magnitude. The term "sociopath" is overused by our society. No, just because your ex husband cheated on you, that doesn't make him a sociopath. No, just because someone is mean or selfish, that doesn't make her a sociopath either. Bill Cosby, however, is a sociopath.

The actors that portray a certain character in media are often nothing like who they present. Logically, I think we all know that, but emotionally we can be upset when the sweet little character you grew up watching is in reality, a diva, a bitch, a drug addict, or just egoistical and out of touch. All of those characteristics are sad and unpleasant, but not illegal and criminal. Bill Cosby was the clean cut father figure to many of us, but in reality he was a monster.

He deserves nothing less than prison time.

Church dropping Boy Scouts

In a divorce we all saw coming, it's now official. The LDS church has severed the bond they had with scouting.  The church would never do this when Thomas Monson was alive, and now that he has passed on, the break has finally occurred.

To be honest, you didn't need to be a prophet (pun intended) to see this coming. When the church allowed gays and girls to join it's ranks (and by the way, I have no problem with either joining the scouts) the church felt like it had no choice but to move on and create their own program.

I was never a Scout, so I don't really care about this. The week I spent at summer camp was among the worst weeks of my life and I've never camped since. In fact, the idea of camping is repulsive to me. This break is sad to many people, but I am not one of them. 

Another road trip up north

So I had to cross the Mason-Dixon line again this weekend, which I don't like to do. I love living in the south. I do like road trips though and I was eager to see a close family member before he leaves the country for a year, so the trip was a resounding success. I also noticed that it was about my twentieth year going on road trips that require 20+ hours of driving one way.

I remember dreaming about taking long road trips when I was in high school. I've always been attracted to the freedom that the open road allows. I want to tell my 18 year old self that this is what you'll be doing later in life, and you'll be having so much fun doing it. We often adapt quickly to what our lives have become and we forget what we yearned for when we were younger. That's sad, but I try no to think that way and fall into that habit myself.

The technology of the last twenty years amazes me. I drove up this weekend with just an iPhone. Not even cd's this time. The rental car didn't have a CD player. I bought a new car last November and it still had a CD player, so I was a little surprised by the rental not having one. Twenty years ago, I would bring about 10 CD's and two books on CD. I'd also stop frequently to make phone calls back home and tell family that I got to my destination safely. Now, I  can pull off to the side of the road anywhere and call whoever I want to and tell them my progress. I also don't need to stop at every off ramp and see if a hotel has vacancy. I can check with Hotels.com. I stopped at a welcome center in North Carolina on 95 and I saw that they still had old fashioned paper maps. They had many left over. I wonder how many people use old maps instead of just their GPS.

In twenty more years, I'm assuring you I'll see self driving cars on the interstate. That's a huge blessing-all this technology is wonderful to see and it's making our lives so much easier.

Kiss planning "one more tour"

I'm a big Kiss fan, but I have zero interest in going to this tour. Zero. And it's not because I don't like them anymore. Once a Kiss fan, always a Kiss fan. Like I mentioned before in my blog, last January I even went to the Kiss convention in Atlanta where Vinnie Vincent made his first public appearance in years. I also intend to do a few more of their albums as albums of the weekend. I take them seriously even though no one else really does.

The sad truth is that Paul Stanleys voice is shot, and it's not coming back anytime soon. For a guy who was so vocal (pun intended) about other bands staying on too long, he himself does not know that it's time to quit.  If you Google "Paul Stanley voice problems" you'll find some remarkable videos that show that he can't sing anymore. Time waits for no man, and he had a great run-over 40 years. I'm glad I got to see them twice. The World Domination tour in 2003 in  Manchester NH and the Alive 35 World Tour in 2009 in Boston. Those were great tours, Paul still had his voice. Not so today.

They need to title this tour the "We're back to screw our few remaining fans" 2019 tour.

Scripture Sunday Helaman 5:30

We often think that it's easy to feel the spirt. After all, if God is speaking to us through the Spirit shouldn't it be easy to tell? Growing up I always thought that God shouted at you. Sometimes He might, but this passage is very interesting. It says that when they heard this voice, and helped that it was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noice, but behold it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul." Beautifully said, and I often wonder if we ignore the spirit when it talks like this.

How God speaks to us varies from person to person. I'm sure He can get His voice across in multiple ways, but it's important to remember that He doesn't have to shout.

Album of the weekend

Jimi Hendrix-Are You Experienced

Icon and legend are words that we throw around too easy in culture today. I'm surely just as guilty of this. One album, no matter how good it might be, does not make you iconic or legendary. The words "icon" and "legend" are cheapened. Louis CK has a bit about the same thing (cheapening words) where he talks about the word "awesome". Funny bit from a very, very funny man.

Jimi Hendrix is both a legend, and iconic. Without him the genres of rock and metal wouldn't be here right now. His influence of course goes far beyond the two genres I mentioned.

Hendrix is of course known for his breathtaking guitar work and this album is full of it. This should be on everyones "must have" list. 

On the road again

I'll be traveling these next few days, so I might be a bit quiet on here. Hopefully I'll have time to post an album of the weekend. If not, I apologize! 

Kanye West, his fans, Donald Trump and the Dixie Chicks

No, I'm not a fan of Kanye West and yes, I think he's unpleasant, rude, and generally a nasty character. No, I'm not a fan of Donald Trump. Who I also think is unpleasant, rude, and generally a nasty character. What I find fascinating though is that so many fans of Kanye West apparently can't handle his dissenting views on politics. Obviously, the fans have every right to pick and choose who they want to support with their own money-the right wing does this all the time too. The Dixie Chicks learned this the hard way, and Kanye is about to as well.

You need to put politics aside sometimes. Oh sure, it can be hard. After all, if someone disagrees with what we stand for who wants to give them your hard earned money? However if you choose your entertainment strictly on politics, you'll quickly realize how limited your options are. If you like the Dixie Chicks, you can enjoy their music without subscribing to their politics. If you like Ted Nugent, you can like his music without agreeing with him.

Most of my favorite musicians and I do not agree on politics or religion, but my life has been greatly enriched by going to their concerts, enjoying their music, reading their books, and watching their movies/TV shows. You need to be able to flip the switch if you want to enjoy life.