ISIS Tweaks Its Branding

In today’s social media world, even terrorists understand the power of marketing and image.

ISIS, the Islamic terror group that’s been making waves lately, has a branding problem.   No, not the beheadings; that’s part of its terror strategy and it’s working just fine to help craft the image the group wants.  No, not the crucifixions, which are accomplishing the same purpose.  No, not its habit of lining up prisoners in front of mass graves and then opening fire until the weapons run dry.  Same deal there.  ISIS obviously subscribes to the notion that anything worth doing is worth overdoing.  And when it comes to terror and brutality, it’s clearly emerged as the best in its class.

I’m Bitter about the Cats

I used to have cats.  Now the Bride does.

I try not to be bitter about the cats.  But it’s difficult.

Bride of the Bloviator (BOTB) never had a cat in her life until she met me.  My silver tabby Travis charmed her immediately.  When I went over to her apartment one day to ask her to marry me and move with me to Texas I took Travis with me to assist me in my suit.   I'm pretty sure he clinched the deal for me.

The Problem with Pieholes

In our country, you open yours at your extreme peril.

America is often celebrated for its right of free speech, as guaranteed in our constitution’s First Amendment.  But what no one warned you about in that high school civics class is that exercising this right can destroy you.  Never has that been more true than it is right now.  In some cases the destruction is appropriate.  But not always.

Despite the alleged constitutional protection, the actual language of the First Amendment only forbids Congress from doing anything to abridge freedom of speech.  It says nary a word about businesses, bosses, political leaders, or your fellow citizens.  They’re free to abridge away. 

The Psychology of Illegal Immigration

The written rules aren’t what matters.

I once worked for a company whose employee handbook laid out very specific rules governing attendance.  Excessive tardiness and excessive absences were not to be tolerated.  The handbook contained the language you’d expect to see about what might become of those who broke the rules—words such as, “Violators may be subject to disciplinary action up to and possibly including termination of their employment.”  Scary stuff.  So, having read that, employees showed up every day and on time, right?  Wrong.  The supervisor in my department wanted to be popular, and let such matters slide.  Predictably, certain people dragged in when they felt like it, if they felt like it.  They were least likely to feel like it just before or just after a weekend.  As a consequence, we were chronically short-staffed on Fridays and Mondays.

The Toilet Zone: The Adventure Continues

And I thought my adventures in trying to secure a new health policy and keep my doctors under Obamacare were over.  Silly me. 

Okay, where were we?

I’ve posted five previous entries about the grand time I’ve had trying to get a new insurance policy and keep my doctors after Obamacare erased the old one, all of which I had to do in the midst of a major medical crisis (“Mr. Carr, how are you today?  Never mind, we’re about to tell you:  There’s a four centimeter mass on your left kidney”).  In the course of trying to deal with this, I received confused, incorrect and conflicting advice and directions from the fine folks at Healthcare.gov, and confused, incorrect, and conflicting advice and directions from my new health insurance company.  Among other things, I was led to believe that my doctors were on the new plan when they weren’t, which forced me to switch from the government Exchange policy to a private one offered by the same company.  Then I was told the new policy was in effect when it wasn’t.  For a period of several weeks no one with the company could tell me what premium or premiums I needed to pay or when I needed to pay them.   

Our Country's Officially Approved Human Smuggling Ring

The administration’s immigration policies are undemocratic and arguably illegal.  What do to?

Picture this scenario:  You’re waiting in the desert to meet a family of undocumented immigrants.  The meeting takes place as intended.  Once you link up with the family, you arrange transportation into the interior of the country, to whatever destination the family wants.  Then you get caught.  Called upon to explain your actions, you deny having broken any laws, but refuse to say how many times you’ve done this before.  If the immigration laws were to be enforced in your case—which, in today’s climate, is not a given—what charges do you think you'd face?