What Insanity From The “News” Does This Week Hold For Us?

By Melanie in Blog, The Media 0 Comment

Something that has been happening with news and mainstream media that has claimed my attention. Only because of the sheer absurdness of it all.

That’s why I titled this post this post the way I did.

What Insanity From The “News” Does This Week Hold For Us?

For the sake of politics, this post will be pretty neutral and objective. I know our current POTUS is not a lot of people’s favorite topic. Plus a host of other issues with our current members of Congress have people hopping mad from all sides of the political spectrum.

I’m going to focus solely on the media and how it reports and behaves.

First, some background information.

Our current form of mainstream media is the result of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This was signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton. This law was the first massive overhaul of telecommunications in the US in over 60 years.

The goal of the law was to foster competition and let anyone into the telecommunications through deregulation. Although the claim of allowing competition on some levels is extremely questionable.

The most controversial part of the law allowed for media cross-ownership. Media cross-ownership is the ownership of multiple media businesses by a person or corporation. These businesses can include broadcast and cable television, film, radio, newspaper, magazine, book publishing, music, video games, and various online entities.

Why is media cross-ownership so controversial? In 1980, 50 corporations owned American media. As of 2017, just 6 corporations own 90% of American mainstream media and that is subject to change at any given moment with new mergers. This infographic better explains it:

Who Controls The Media

Major news outlets such as NY Times, Washinton Post, The Chicago Tribune, and the San Francisco Chronicle do not fall under the umbrella of these corporate entities. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t be influenced by the media outlets in under corporate control.

For instance, the Washington Post is now owned by Amazon.com’s very own Jeff Bezos.

The intended role of the media is to act as a balance and an advocate for ordinary citizens against possible abuses of power and authority via the government and corporations.

Considering that so many sources of media are owned by so few corporations, the question begs to be asked, whose side is the media really on? Are they on the side of the people or are they on the side of the stockholder?

Whoever Controls The Media Controls the Mind

You Are Probably Wondering Why Should You Care.

Those who run the media have massive influence in the ability to control public opinion, influence popular culture, what your children think, the ability ruin someone’s life, cause civil unrest, and make or break the presidency regardless of who is in power.

While trying to find resources for this post I ran across some pretty interesting videos.

Considering that a handful of corporations own the mainstream media, how far fetched do you think the chances are that the news you watch is scripted?

The following video is a little over 6 minutes of news clips from different stations around the country all repeating the exact same story. If you go on Youtube, there are several videos showing multiple examples of this. Here is one example:

Another video I came across is a clip of Mika Brzezinski from Morning Joe complaining that the current President is undermining the messaging and trying to control what people think, because that is their job.

What she said was so shocking that it made news on several independent news sites. She tried to come out social media and defend what she said but too many people just weren’t buying it.

So if the media is scripted and they admit that their job is to control what people think then how can we even trust that mainstream media is telling the truth about anything? And how long has it been like that?

Think about that.

At this point in time, I personally do not trust anything that mainstream media reports. So much so that I have started to take the time to research what is being reported by corporate media for just about every topic. From reports of crime, the possible criminality of the current president, vaccines, public health scares, atrocities that are being reported from overseas, the European migrant crisis, climate change, and more.

Corporate media journalists/pundits have even come out against those in independent media and independent journalist saying they are fake news if what they report contradicts what is being reported by corporate media.

I just can’t trust mainstream media and the “news” anymore, and neither should you.

Business and finance news channels are pretty much the only channels that can be trusted at this point. Too much money is at stake.

My suggestion to you is to take the time to your own research. Youtube has tons of videos coming from directly from regular people like you and me who have no agenda who have first-hand experience in just about any topic and is able to show sources. Check out Ron Paul, Based in LA, AMTV, Rebel Media, Lauren Southern, and Tim Pool for starters.

Same goes for independent media sites.

The “elites” in corporate media think the American people are stupid and will do and say anything to control us, influence our children, subvert our values, and destroy what we as Americans hold sacred.

Don’t believe that the likes of those who work at CNN think that we’re stupid, watch this:

Carr’s statement is in regards to those who voted Trump but that is really what they think of us. Jonathan Gruber, the architect of Obamacare, and for calling the American voter stupid on video. Congress called Mr. Gruber to testify about his statement regarding the American voter, among other topics.

People like that shouldn’t have that kind of influence over Americans much less public policy.

Interested in checking out what independent media has to say about current events? Check out the following:

Zero Hedge
Drudge Report
Antimedia
Conservative Treehouse
Activist Post
Fair.org
Infowars
Counterpunch

Infowars gets a bad rap but they regularly have people who are former employees of the government or have worked with the government in some form or fashion explaining what’s going on in our country and around the world. As well as people reporting from around the world about breaking news from their region.

Alex Jones can be hard to watch sometimes but the message is more important. Luckily he has other hosts that report the news.

Just listen and read what these independent media sites have to say and make up your own mind.

Sources:

PBS

Media Helping Media

Forbes

Spring Is In The Air – Here Comes The Allergies

By Melanie in Blog 0 Comment

It’s that time of year again in the Northern Hemisphere. Nests and dens are full of baby animals. The flowers are blooming and my orange tree is full of oranges. The earth is in renewal.

Even April the Giraffe finally had her baby

California Super Bloom – Facebook

California has managed to bounce back thanks to the end of the state’s multiyear rain drought. The deserts are in“super bloom” and the visuals are absolutely breathtaking.  

With Spring Comes Pollen

That horrible green powder is covering everything. I washed my car not even two days ago and now it lookslike I never touched it with soap and water.

Not only is that horrible green menace covering the landscape it’s also giving everyone horrible allergies.

California Super Bloom – Facebook

Luckily, as I have aged my allergies do not give me such a hassle anymore. My baby girl, on the other hand, has come down with a mild case of it. When I was her age I could barely breathe through my nose and my eyes watered constantly when my allergies would flare up.

 

I’m grateful that as of right now she doesn’t have that problem but if her allergies worsen, I will make sure to find the most natural way possible to tackle it. I’ve read too many horror stories of the dangers that over the counter medicines are posing for people.

Just last month or so, articles started circulating online that ibuprofen significantly increases a person’s chances of heart attack or stroke for people over 40 and it could be causing people’s deaths. Ibuprofen will eat a hole in your stomach if you don’t eat prior to taking it and that’s scary enough.

Springtime also brings spring cleaning

During the summer, Florida can get blisteringly hot. Right now is the perfect time to perform what people in t
he army call a GI Party to my house. The dust bunnies have accumulated in corners as well as behind and underneath furniture.

That surely can’t be helping with anyone’s allergies.

Spring cleaning will also allow me to go through my stuff and pull out the stuff I don’t use to donate and get the rest organized. It’s amazing to me how much stuff people can accumulate after a few years. My family only moved down here like four years ago and prior to moving, we unloaded a huge amount of stuff in yard sales and to the local thrift store.

Do you like to spring clean? What are your methods to get your home springtime fresh?

Presidential Election 2016: Welcome To The 3 Ring Circus

By Melanie in US Politics 0 Comment

Presidential Election 2016: Welcome To The 3 Ring Circus

Every 4 years in the United States, the 3 ring circus comes to town. It’s called the Presidential Election or as Stephen Colbert likes to call it, The Hungry For Power Games.

Potential candidates from every background and political ideology come forward to prove to the masses they have what it takes to run the most powerful country in the world. According to Ballotopedia, as of April 2016 there are 28 distinct ballot qualified political parties in the US.

 

As of July, after months and months of debates and rallies we are finally down to our final nationally recognized candidates. There are four of them.

The candidates are as follows:

Hillary Clinton – Democratic Party

United States Department of State - Official Photo at Department of State

United States Department of State – Official Photo at Department of State

Jill Stein – Green Party

Credit: Huffington Post

               Credit: Huffington Post

Gary Johnson – Libertarian Party

Official Campaign Photo

                     Official Campaign Photo

Donald J. Trump – Republican Party

Donald Trump New Hampshire Town Hall / Michael Vadon -FlickrDonald Trump New Hampshire Town Hall / Michael Vadon -Flickr

If you live in the US and do not know who at least two of these people are, you have a lot of catch up reading to do.

The Democratic and Republican parties are the two oldest political parties in the United States. The big money (old money) donors align themselves with those two main parties. Potential candidates from those parties will get the majority of print and television media coverage.

Politicians from both of these parties in various roles within the government are responsible for the shitty state affairs that plague this great nation. But that is a story for another day.

The Candidates And Their Relationship With The Media

Candidates from the two major political parties are no stranger to the public eye. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both have spent more than enough time in the media for their exploits, good or bad.

Both are no stranger to scandals.

Here are the most recent headlines that involve Hillary Clinton:

Hillary’s Email Scandal Is About Privilege, by Philip Klein

DNC Chief Debbie Wasserman Schultz Stepping Aside in Wake of Scandal by Alex Seitz-Wald

’60 Minutes’ Edits Out Hillary’s Response to the DNC Email Scandal by Catherine Dunn

Clinton Broke Federal Rules With Email Server, Audit Finds by Ken Dilanian

Hillary Clinton and her husband former President Bill Clinton have had book after book written about how corrupt they are and how mean and vile she is. Some of these titles include:

Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, by Peter Schweizer

Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate, by Gary J. Byrne

Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party, by Dinesh D’Souza

Partners in Crime: The Clintons’ Scheme to Monetize the White House for Personal Profit, by Jerome Corsi

The Clintons’ War on Women, by Roger Stone and Robert Morrow

Two of these books have been turned into a documentary. Clinton Cash can be found on YouTube and Hillary’s America: the Secret History of the Democratic Party is a major motion picture currently in theaters.

Donald Trump’s exploits are usually picked apart by the cable news outlets and tabloid media because of his wealth, business dealings, marriages, and larger than life persona. He’s a celebrity. Here are a few recent headlines for Trump.

The Many Scandals of Donald Trump: A Cheat Sheet by David A. Graham

Donald Trump: Three decades 4,056 Lawsuits by USA Today

California woman’s rape lawsuit against Donald Trump resurfaces in New York court by Leonard Greene

Most books written about him or by him are business/self help in nature or biographical. The only books against him were published in 2016 due to his current presidential candidacy.

Those books are:

Trumped!: The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump-His Cunning Rise and Spectacular Fall by John R. O’Donnell and James Rutherford

Trump Revealed: An American Journey of Ambition, Ego, Money, and Power, by Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher

Assholes: A Theory of Donald Trump, by Aaron James

The book by Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher will not be out until August 2016.

Jill Stein and Gary Johnson on the other hand are a much different situation.

Much of the information on the internet you find on them covers their voting records and where they stand on the issues. No fluff, no pandering, no scandals, nothing. It’s amazing that you can actually find candidates that actually do what they say they are going to do.

Gary Johnson does one opinion piece written against him from back in 2012 from his first attempt at running for president by NSFWCorp.

That piece is called:

The Gary Johnson Swindle and the Degradation of Third Party Politics, by Mark Ames

As of July 2016, there have been no new negative writings against him.

Jill Stein has zero negative articles or books written against her. Her track record is flawless. It’s amazing. She even produces music with a folk rock band by name of Somebody’s Sister.

My Thoughts On Election 2016

In recent events such as the DNC email hack, it was proven that Clinton, CNN, and MSNBC and various members of the DNC were in collusion together to help steal the candidacy from her opponent Sanders. That action is as unethical as it gets and is one of many.

If someone is willing to lie, cheat, steal,  and possibly kill to become the most powerful person in the world, how can you trust that person once they win? Hillary Clinton loves war. The US has been at war for the last 15 years. The planet (our only home) can’t afford it anymore and neither can the citizens of this country.

The citizens of war torn countries can’t take anymore as well.

Corruption in the government has become so wide spread that it affects all levels. We can no longer afford to elect people that cater only to special interests that line their pockets with money. 

And on top of it all, the federal governments debt which is owed to a privately owned bank, is around $20 trillion and counting. Millions of people are still out of work and 50 million on government food assistance programs. The cost of living and wages are not in sync. 

Do your research and vote for greater good and good governance instead of the lesser of two evils.

 

I like books. Do you?

By Melanie in Blog 0 Comment

I like books.

Do you like books?

I have a serious book collection and it’s all thanks to the creation of ebooks. My house isn’t big enough to handle all the books I would like to have. Most of the space on my spare laptop is full of ebooks. All kinds of them covering many different subjects.

I also have quite a collection on my Kindle. I even have a few gigabytes of hard drive space worth of audio books too.

Have I read/listened to all of them? Not hardly. Sadly, unproductive internet browsing has been a huge distraction. I am sucker for politics, history, UFO’s, business building related topics and spend lots of time looking up those topics.

Yeah I said UFO’s.

The internet is full of resources for all of those topics and a gazillion more. I have learned through lots of reading that what you learn in K-12 and main stream academia isn’t always accurate or just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to written history.

Another thing I have learned is that academics and intellectuals who have spent their life’s work chasing their theory on history, science, etc.. are hard pressed to change their views when new information has been gained. They will only change their view or admit the new information is accurate once the evidence is overwhelming and can no longer be ignored. Too much money goes into their work from outside sources that they don’t want to lose.

Thanks to the internet, I now am keenly aware of the real life Indiana Jones types that are making archeological history with their finds. Their work is not longer hidden or dismissed thanks to the instant access the internet gives these brave people to the rest of earth’s population that has the same technological capabilities.

Believe it or not, we still have groups of people living very simple lives in tribes around the planet. I’ll talk about that another day.

So yeah, I get easily distracted as you can probably tell. I have some character flaws to work on.

I have to take the good with the bad I suppose. My ability to be easily distracted online helps me find new books to add to my library. It’s even better when you are able get the books for free from the author. That doesn’t always happen but when it does, I take advantage of the situation.

Knowledge is power.

My Latest Additions

 

ilikebooks

Credit / Amazon.com

Over the last month I have acquired five new books. A couple of them I learned about from listening to podcasts.

The two I learned about from the podcasts are:

Both were free from the Author and in ebook form. The cool thing is, I have downloaded them to my kindle as well so I have them in a couple locations.

The rest of my books were purchased in Kindle edition on Amazon. I never leave home without that handle little jewel.

One of the author’s of my recent kindle book purchases has been on quite a few documentaries and TV shows on the History Channel. He has also written many books in his chosen field.

That book is:

Mr. Daniken has spent a lot of time in Egypt and his knowledge and insight on the history of that area is pretty fascinating. I can’t wait till I am able to dedicate the time necessary to reading this book.

The other two books that I acquired through Kindle fall under the subjects of Self Help and Finance. They are:

These books are not light reading. They touch on some serious subjects. One is about the origins of humanity, the others are for improving my financial position and stopping crappy habits.

Conscious Millionaire is first I started on that book over the weekend. I plan on being done with it by Thursday. I have a feeling I will have lots of homework involved.

My question for you is….. How many books have you bought and read over the last couple of months?

If you are froggy tell me in the comments below.

Until my next post always remember, knowledge is power.

 

 

 

Why Is Staying On Task So Hard?

By Melanie in Blog 0 Comment

Just like most of the abandoned projects in my life, I swore that I would stay on task and dedicate time every day to keep this blog updated.

I have failed miserably. The funny part about this time around I actually feel somewhat guilty about it.

Why Is Staying On Task So Hard?

Why is it damn near impossible for me to stay on task when it comes to certain things? I know that I am not the only one that has this problem.

Focus has become such a problem for so many people, that Microsoft Corporation of all companies decided to do a study about it. Basically it said, goldfish’s have a longer attention span than we do now.

punygoldfishA goldfish!

That really sucks. At one time, saying someone has an attention span of a goldfish was an insult!

Seriously, people?!?!?!  When did this happen and how?

Thanks to those little idiot boxes we keep in our hands at all times (smart phones), the human attention span in countries where smart phones exist, has dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds.

Like we need more distraction. TV is already full of mind numbing “programming” that rob people of valuable time they will never get back.

What Can I Do To Fix It?

On the topic of learning to focus, a Google search reports back a total of about 4 billion website submissions for that topic. Apparently, this is a huge deal. That’s a lot of website submissions.

learningtofocus

Hopefully out of all these sites, I will be able to find real usable information that will help me get a grip on my ability to focus. Business related blogs and sites I feel would be the best places to start.

The world is changing at a rapid rate, we must maintain our cognitive abilities. Not giving my brain a workout damn near guarantees a one way ticket to dementia.

I for one want to try to stay as sharp as possible mentally, to keep from being much of a burden on people when I get older.

Every day I am thankful for the internet and the access it gives to the copious amounts of information available that can make my life better. It also adds to my short attention span problem.

Now that I know what my problem is and the path to take to start correcting it.

I will give you an update on how well I am progressing in my getting my shit together!

Till then, leave me a comment below.

 

 

 

Spring Is here! But I’m Stuck Inside…

By Melanie in Blog, Domestic Life 0 Comment

It’s Monday. Hooray!

I hate mondays

tableatny/Flickr

Spring is here! But I’m stuck inside…

Who am I kidding. No one likes Monday’s. Nobody! If you do there is either something wrong with you or you really like your situation.

Hopefully it’s the latter.

My typical Monday is housecleaning while listening to a podcast. Which in all reality, that is my whole week.

Kinda sad really, considering that I live six miles from the beach!

Not only do I have a sad little routine during the day. I also try to convince myself that I need to work out. Shortly after the idea pops up something will start aching. It’s almost like my body is protesting.

A tiny little obscure joint or muscle will yell out in a weak little NO!!!!

Shitty excuse I know. LOL!

Fortunately, small aches and pains is the worst thing I have going on. My heart goes out to my friends and family whose health has not fared as well at the same age. Every situation is unique.

Valencia Orange Tree

Valencia Orange Tree

IMG_20160411_112401517Spring is in full bloom where I live. Beautiful blooms are everywhere. Fruit trees are blooming and filling the air with a candy sweet scent. The roses are a resplendent display of beauty.

My husband bought a Valencia Orange Tree and Purple Rose Bush in pots last week. They were both transplanted to larger planters once we got them home.

The cool thing about orange tree is that it is producing fruit. Right now they are the size of a pea.

There is something very satisfying and exciting to the prospect of being able to eat fruit that I grew myself. Not to mention the whole flowering/fruiting process smells amazing.

I have stop writing for now.

Never ending laundry calls my name and I have books to read. Not to mention I totally need to find a way to get organized. Ugh!

If you’re lucky I’ll write about what I’m reading. It may come in handy for you and be a new source of inspiration, or become a new dust collector.

What do you have planned for the week?

Internet Real Estate

By Melanie in Tales From Internet Land 0 Comment

Internet Real EstateInternet Real Estate

Boy have I come a long way since I purchased my first piece of internet real estate and set up a WordPress site. I’m not as good at it as I would like to be, but I know more than when I started.

Since starting my first website back in 2012, I have come to realize that not all website hosting companies are created equally. To illustrate this point, I just dumped the first hosting company I’ve ever used. It was kind of a bitter sweet moment but it was for the best.

The name of this company is Global Domains International.

My reasons for leaving Global Domains International:

1.) Lackluster technical support.

Every time I performed an update within WordPress,there was always a database error. It didn’t matter if the update was a plugin, a theme, or even WordPress itself. The hosting server would suddenly develop schizophrenia.

Their solution was always reset the database. Once they do that, everything you had worked on went was gone. POOF!

Then you had to through the process of restoring database with your backup.  After experiencing this a couple of times, it was apparent that I needed to learn how to use an FTP Client or risk losing my mind.

2.) Major lack of features.

For a whopping 10 bux a month, I was allowed access to one domain and 5 sub-domains. As consolation you did get a grand total 60 email addresses. 10 per domain.

If you were completely clueless on how to create a website. they did have a nifty drag and drop website building software you could use.  For the more adventurous types, you had small handful choices. WordPress, Drupal, Image hosting and a Forum Software.

I will say for the website building novice, that is probably all you need.

Little did I know there were other companies that offered you unlimited domains, autoresponders, video conferencing, etc.. for roughly the same amount of money! The list of offered features is significantly higher with other companies.

I’m usually a huge champion of people doing their research to make an informed decision. In this instance, I should have listened to my own advice.

Live and learn, I guess. Knowledge is awesome. It keeps people from making the same mistakes if they pay attention.

Have you ever thought about creating your own website? If so, what did you want to make it about?

Leave your answers in the comment section below.

 

My Kind of Crazy

By Melanie in Blog 0 Comment

imbackI’m BACK! Since you are probably new to this blog you probably don’t know and don’t care about my declaration.

This is my 4th blog. The first three went down in flames thanks to poor planning on my part and bad technical and customer support from my previous domain host. So here I am again in all my basic blog glory.

This time is different. My last few attempts at blogging, I really had a hard time to find something to talk about that I thought people would want to read. This time I’m writing about what I care about, what drives me, what pisses me off, and everything in between.

Welcome to My Kind of Crazy..

More to come…