Yes, I am aware that I am late to the game with this topic, but I wasn't going to touch on it originally. I've got some feels, and I don't like to write articles that have a lot of feels involved. In this case, it is blind rage. But I'll explain that later. This was actually requested by a viewer at our YouTube channel who goes by Scroatie McBoogerballs Sr. and no, I don't know if there is a junior. :) 

This article will end up being a script for a video if you decide you'd rather see a video than read the article. That should be available in the next day or two. 

What he said in the quote above is absolutely true. We should treat HIV as a public health issue, and people with the disease should not be treated as criminals or shunned by society. People need to be educated about how the disease is contracted and how to protect themselves. And I think we're almost there.

The thing he is dead wrong about is making it a misdemeanor to knowingly infect someone with the disease without their knowledge. 

Now, according to some things I've heard, there are people called "bug chasers" who go out to intentionally get infected for some reason. This video is a YouTube video by a guy going by "Prince of Queens," and since he's a west coast gay man, I'll let him explain it to you because he's got more knowledge on it than I do. I'm not even going to pretend to understand any of that. 

​But when you knowingly infect someone with the disease... you are not only altering their lifestyle and forcing them into a regime of medications and doctor appointments, but you are shortening their life. I know the lifespan of someone with HIV has been greatly extended, but they are most likely not going to live to a ripe old age. You are affecting this person and their family and loved ones. You are altering the course of their lives. You are opening them up to what ignorance and discrimination still exists. 

Here's where my feels come in. I have a good friend who is a gay man with HIV. He's living this nightmare. He was infected by a man who knew he was HIV+, but chose not to disclose this information to my friend. On top of that horror, my friend contracted Hepatitis while deployed with the military some years ago, so he's battling both illnesses at the same time. 

My friend's life was altered. His family was left distressed. And he hasn't been in a long term relationship since. And I know that my friend won't live to a ripe old age. All because this one person was selfish enough to decide that he was mad at the world for having contracted this and he wasn't going to disclose it.

And let's face it, a lot of the stories we see in the news about people who have intentionally infected people with HIV somehow come back around to them being mad at the world and wanting to take people down with them. People who infect someone with a potentially deadly illness knowingly do not have good intentions! They aren't people who need to be treated fairly, because they aren't treating other people fairly! For whatever reason, they believe they are entitled to taking others down with them. 

What this results in is babies born with HIV, people having to discard their dreams of being parents, families in distress over the illness of a loved one, and much more. It can cause issues with people who need blood transfusions, because they aren't going to criminalize knowingly donating blood while infected with HIV, either. So now, if you are in a car accident and need surgery, you could leave with HIV. If you bled heavily during child birth and need a transfusion, you could leave with HIV (and could potentially give your child HIV if you breastfeed and don't know you are infected). If you have surgery to remove cancer, you could end up with HIV on top of it all. 

It also opens the door to more discrimination towards people with the illness. People become suspicious. If you know someone with HIV, some people may move away from them in fear. People are going to be afraid to go to the hospital. There will be more lawsuits with hospitals if someone does get sick from a transfusion, which will raise medical costs. It perpetuates the idea that HIV is a gay disease, and pushes the "it's just a matter of time" mindset. This is taking us backwards, not forward. 

I'm sorry, but I also believe there are ulterior motives here. Someone is dumb enough to think this will win points with the LGBT community, and I hope to God they are wrong. The LGBT community should not be supporting this at all. Aside from this, felons can't vote. As much as lefties like this want them to, they can't. Reducing the amount of felons helps that for them. 

The guy who infected my friend was charged with a felony and is in prison. Where he should be. What he did to my friend was cruel and vindictive. My friend now has to spend countless hours at doctor appointments, he's spending the bulk of his income on medications, he's limited as to who he can date (because he's a good, honest man who discloses his illness to potential partners). His mother is sick with worry about him all the time. He worries about friends stepping away from him in fear of catching it from him (some people still don't understand how it is contracted). His life is forever changed. And shorter, most likely. That should be a felony. The guy knew. It's one thing if you don't know or didn't test positive yet. It's a whole other thing to knowingly get into bed with someone and not disclose the issue, or to donate blood knowing you have HIV. At that point, you are no longer human and don't deserve to be humanized. 

Update: OK, video is here... I chucked the script above for it. I became aware of an article about a court case in Ohio on this topic, one which may end up in the Supreme Court. So this video was a little more off the cuff instead of scripted. 

Oh, good! The Oppression Olympics continue! This week's competition - how to admit you are a racist, woman hating piece of trash! Brought to you by the editor in chief of some magazine no one reads! But hey, at least she got you to look at her and maybe someone will read the rag now!

​From her tweet storm:

1. Overcome your own transphobia. Trans women are women. Accept the lived truth of NB and GNC people, whether or not they are women.

Men, forget about the preferred genitals of the person you want to sleep with. If they have long hair and wear makeup, they are female. Or the bass player of a death metal band. They'll let you know. 

Trans women are trans women. If the person I am about to hop into bed with was, at some point, another gender, I'd like to know, especially if they still have the equipment of the previous gender. I may not be attracted to identical genitals. And if you want to argue with this, fine. I never want to hear you complain about a man with a small penis again. The genitals don't matter, right? 

As an aside, how come very few people ever seem to argue this or anything else really on behalf of trans men?!

2. Be pro-choice and be vocal in support of reproductive rights. (And generous! Give to @abortionfunds) Understand that the opposite of reproductive choice is forced childbearing.

Everyone wants your money. If you throw money at it, you win points towards not oppressing them! What you don't know is what amount you need to throw at any given cause to be considered as someone who is not oppressing them! 

Also, give up on your personal beliefs, religious beliefs, and morals because it oppresses them! You are only permitted the morals and beliefs assigned to you by the left!

3. Support subsidized birth control. Support nontaxed menstrual products. Ask your workplace if tampons and pads are free. Get over your embarrassment about menstruation.

Wow. OK. Again, throw money at it. Pay for their birth control. Support raising taxes to cover the cost of that birth control and every other social issue, but fight to make sure they don't have to pay into those taxes, because that's not fair, apparently. Demand that your boss pay for their feminine hygiene products, and it better be the good stuff, too! Discuss women's periods with your co-workers over lunch. But don't ever, EVER ask a woman if she is on her period if she is in a bad mood! Also, stop being embarrassed by something that you probably didn't give a crap about to begin with. 

4. Vocally advocate at your workplace for longer and more egalitarian paid parental leave, whether or not parenthood is part of your life. Advocate for lactation spaces. Advocate for on-site or subsidized childcare.

Tell your boss that you believe parents should get more maternity/paternity leave. But because you chose to not have kids, it isn't fair that they get that leave and you should get that leave, too, so you can bond with your cat. Advocate for lactation spaces, which is everywhere a woman wants to breastfeed. And don't freak out if you walk into a business meeting with three women breastfeeding. And don't look. And tell your boss that when they're done paying for their pads and tampons and birth control, now they have to foot the bill for childcare, too. Because all of this really entices bosses to hire more women. But we can complain about that later.

5a. Actually prioritize women's issues when you decide who to vote for. Understand that women's issues are your issues.

Vote democrat. Because no one else cares about women's issues. The democrats don't either, but they talk a lot about it. They don't actually do anything for women, but they talk about it. Just like they do with minorities! And talking is great! 

6. Whenever you are in a group of only men (social, work, church, etc.) ask yourself why. Then ask out loud why. Force an honest answer.

Never, ever have time and conversations with only people of the same gender. You should always feel comfortable having any conversation around mixed genders. After all, this is PC fairy land, so you couldn't possibly be talking about man things or telling jokes or anything like that! But don't disrupt us when we're having girls' night out or we're talking to our girlfriends. This doesn't involve you. And we need to escape men sometimes. You, however, should never need time away from the women in your life!

7. Cultivate genuine, intimate, nonsexual friendships with women.

Because I'm sure none of you have any female friends in your life that you don't want to nail. That never happens. You want to nail every woman you see, don't you, you pig?! 

8. Seek out women to be your heroes and mentors.

​Don't look up to people who actually inspire you! Are you out of your mind?! Make women your heroes no matter what! A woman with a male hero, however, is a gender traitor. 

9. Any time you see a building, street, institution, etc. named for a man, see how long it takes you to spot another one named for a woman.

Just because! We should randomly name streets, buildings, etc. after women who didn't do anything and no one ever heard of. 

10. Ask yourself what you don't do, for whatever reason, that you also think of as something women tend to do. (Sew? Send birthday cards? Care about skincare?) Try doing it for a while.

Yeah... the metrosexual thing died out and we don't like it. So get your man-bun on, slather yourself in lotion, and spend time at the park knitting me a scarf to stick that cute birthday card to, you pig! Because I'm sure you never bought a card for anyone and you probably don't even bath yourself. Women, on the other hand, have a self imposed two hour morning skin routine and a one hour evening skin routine. Be more like us! Next week, we'll talk about your foundation shade and how to contour. If you don't like it, you're part of the patriarchy. 

11. Talk less. In all spaces. At all times.

Never speak. No one wants to hear your voice. And your opinion is invalid because you are a white cis male heteronormative.... omg, I can't speak Tumblr. Fill that in yourself. 

12. When you need support, reach out to men as well as women. Create a culture of openness around yourself.

Uh... because... I'm sure you don't ask men for support? Ever? You only go to women for that? Actually, guys, when you need support, go to a close friend. Their gender doesn't matter. And you aren't required to create a "culture of openness." You spill your beans to whoever you want, and everyone else doesn't matter. 

13. Consume media marketed to women. Don't perform your consumption.

Read those 400 page magazines that contain 350 pages of advertisements. Learn about weird sex positions, take ridiculous quiz things, and look at pictures of models in clothing that cost more than your car, so you can understand why the women around you are always talking about other people's privilege. Then, even though the magazines are saying women like this, ignore all of it.  

14. Deprogram your beliefs about thinness being an optimal state of feminine beauty. Deprogram your beliefs that your desire matters.

Stop being attracted to whatever attracts you. If a woman approaches you and wants to sleep with you or date you, you must accept and tell them they are pretty, even if they are 5 foot tall, weigh 650 lbs., and have a face like a potato. 

15. Jerk off without porn for a while.

Mmmm. That houseplant is HOT! Stop being attracted to women. In this case, you can ignore the last statement. Women shouldn't turn you on. At all. Stop looking at women in a sexual way. At all. Admit to yourself that the women in those porns aren't being paid for what they are doing and don't want to be there. They might say they do, but deep down, they don't. You are objectifying those women who openly chose to work in the sex field and you should stop, forcing them to maybe leave and become dancers or street walkers instead.

16. Learn about racism and intersectionality, and do everything you can to empower and amplify black women and nbwoc

Or don't. Because no matter what, you are born a racist, sexist piece of trash, and nothing you do or say will ever change that. If you ever disagree with any woman or black person or non-binary person you are immediately racist, sexist, bigoted, etc. Even if you have overwhelming evidence. So you could learn about all of this stuff and descend from the heavens as a person with no bias at all, but if your skin color isn't right, if you are straight, or male you are still a racist, sexist, bigot. Because 2017!

​17. Befriend children.

Yeah, stop eating your young, damn it! Men never befriend children. All men hate children. Pigs.​

18-infinity. Please add more! I've got to go do other things now.

Yeah. Stuff. And PC culture. And stuff. Pigs. 

When hashtag campaigns start up, I usually roll my eyes. They aren't usually good for much other than feel good showboating, like we saw with the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. That particular one was infuriating because a bunch of girls were kidnapped by a terrorist organization for Lord knows what reason - well, we know, but we don't want to think about it - and somehow our feels and a hashtag were supposed to stop the horror. Then no one ever spoke of it again. They did their part! They talked about it! Which is all people like that usually do... talk. 

And after the ordeal began with Harvey Weinstein, the #MeToo campaign began. I assumed it would be more of the same. The difference this time, though, was that they admitted it wasn't going to do anything politically or stop people from doing what they do. The point behind it was to bring to the forefront how bad the issue is inside and outside of Hollywood. It was a way to give voice to women who were victims, including the ones without the platform given to Hollywood actors. 

It's a good idea in theory. In theory, it brings women together and points out that they aren't alone. Some people are claiming that it does nothing because no names were named. That's not true. There were reports of numerous women actually naming names, and lawyers contacted the women. Which may point out an issue, if the women had filed complaints officially beforehand. Otherwise... yeah, I'd get my lawyer involved, too. Innocent until proven guilty. 

But my issue with this is on several levels, so let's discuss. 

First off, define sexual harassment. It used to be fairly clear. As the years have gone on, though, PC culture has moved in and the simple act of saying hello can be seen as sexual harassment. Now, as a transplant, I can honestly say I get it. Different things mean different things depending on where you are, and some areas of our country are a lot more rude. I grew up in NJ. In NJ, you don't walk down the street and make eye contact with people, and you certainly don't say hello or give "the nod" to passing strangers. It was a rough area of NJ. When I moved to NC it became more commonplace to make eye contact and say hello or at least nod (as more people move down and refuse to assimilate, this is also disappearing here). That took me a long time to grasp. It was a good two or three years before I began nodding to passing strangers, and now I refuse to not to do so. If you pass me on the street, I'm acknowledging you. Period. But in our current culture... that could be sexual harassment. 

​This video went viral some time ago and blew a lot of minds for different reasons. Some of those guys needed to get a reality check, and they were the point of the video. The guy that just walked next to her for five minutes. The guy that wouldn't stop trying to get her to talk. Etc. But the people that told her to have a good evening? Or said hello? Sure, they probably thought she was pretty and were trying to flirt. But that's human nature and they weren't being rude or creepy. 

Basically, with the broad definition of sexual harassment, we've all pretty much been victimized many, many times in our lives. 

And I'm sorry, but this broad definition makes life harder for us. I can't tell you how uncomfortable it is to be at a job where your male co-workers won't talk normally around the women because they are scared something they say could be misconstrued and they end up being accused of sexual harassment. Personally, I don't appreciate being treated like a fragile child, but they didn't feel they had much choice. And I got that. 

Besides that, how in the world are we supposed to get dates?! Any type of flirting or anything along those lines is becoming questionable. Women are claiming it "creepy" if an unknown man approaches them at a bar or club. That's how dates used to be made! I guess you can only get a date online now. Boy, remember back in the day when you were warned about the creepy people you met online and should only date people you meet in person first? Good times. 

​Second, an entire portion of our population was pushed away. Men were not only told they couldn't take part, they were attacked for doing so. They were told they were the problem and they needed to just listen.

That's not fair. Male actors came forward about sexual assault and harassment in Hollywood, and they were treated OK. Their stories weren't always front and center, but they got to speak and it was covered. But if you are just an average dude? Nope! This is about the ladies!

Men can be sexually harassed and/or raped by women or other men. It happens a ridiculously high amount of times. And due to societal standards, it is incredibly brave for a man to come forward and admit he was a victim. But he has nowhere to go, because when he does come forward, he's told to get back and shut up. No one talks about it. No one creates campaigns to bring awareness. No one tells women they need to check themselves, too. And let's face it, ladies. You yourself may have been guilty at some point of sexually harassing a man. You may have even catcalled a man at some point in time. 

Why aren't you being held to the same standards? Why are men expected to just take it, while you get to be a victim? 

If you really want to tackle the issues of sexual assault and sexual harassment, then you have to address all of it. No one gets a pass. The ladies need to reevaluate themselves as much as the men. And the men should be allowed a platform as well. After all, wouldn't it be nice to let other male victims know they, too, are not alone? That there is no shame in what happened to them? That it wasn't their fault and it doesn't make them weak or less of a man? 

The #MeToo campaign had good intentions. But until we can define sexual harassment to be less broad than "anytime a man speaks to me" and we can learn to include men and allow them a platform, it really isn't going to accomplish much but getting your feels out in a crappy headline at HuffPo. 

Further Reading:

The Problem With the 'Me Too' Campaign - Intellectual Takeout
Men in France Face on the Spot Fines for Sexually Harassing Women - The Local

I'm sure, by now, you are all aware of Google Maps and the corresponding app for it that you get with your Android phone whether you want it or not. Maps has come under light fire for several issues, including creating a map of everywhere you have gone and when that was stored online (you can turn it off). 

Apparently, they issued an update the other day that had to be withdrawn within 24 hours because people got all kinds of triggered. The app includes information about how long it will take to arrive at a destination depending on how you are getting there. A bubble pops up to tell you - in this update - how many calories you will burn if you walk there and corresponds to foods, telling you how many calories are in certain items. Now, anyone who tracks this sort of thing understands it is a guesstimate, not completely accurate, because how many calories you will burn depends on several factors including speed, terrain, body weight, etc. 

Google most likely assumed this would be a useful tidbit of information, especially considering the amount of people who wear fitness trackers, myself included. It has also become common to find the calorie counts for foods on menus, around me there are signs up telling you this information Google gives, etc. In these instances it was "a good idea." When Google adds it to an app, it's "fat shaming." Que the body positivity movement.

Don't get triggered here, but I'm no fan of the body positivity movement as it currently stands. Because of garbage like this. Before you get into a huff, I'm one of the people this movement is supposedly "protecting." I jiggle. I am, by no means, the correct weight for my height. The difference is, I am working on changing that. 

What I hate about the current status of the body positivity movement is a list of things. 

• They don't seem to place value in changing your size. Apparently, if you are fat, you shouldn't be ashamed of it and don't have to change it. Be proud and stay fat. No. This isn't right. If you are overweight, admit you have a problem. It doesn't mean you have to hide yourself away or do unhealthy things to lose the weight. But remaining fat to spit in the face of societal norms isn't healthy for you. And you are the one who matters. If you really want to show you love yourself, take steps to make your health better. And if you are fat and your health is currently good, that's great! It isn't going to stay that way. So start working now. 
• They thin shame people. Time and again I watch fat people attack thin people for being thin. I'm sorry, but screw you. Here you sit, demanding people treat you better as a fat person, and your response is to abuse thin people? Treat people as you wish to be treated. 
• They don't support fat people who have lost the weight and become thin people. I watched a video one time where three fat women started brutalizing this woman on a TV show insisting she was just as happy and healthy when she was fat as she was when she got thin. If you meet a person who is formerly fat and is now fit, congratulate them! That took work and discipline.

​Now, don't get me wrong. I don't have time for people who go out of their way to brutalize people for being fat, either. People who legit fat shame by tearing a person apart aren't doing it to help people. They use "helping" as an excuse to be an asshole. Maybe you'll get someone to lose the weight that way. But the majority of the people you meet actually won't be inspired to lose weight because you verbally abused them for your own pleasure - and it is only for your own pleasure, it's time stop kidding yourself, because no one believes you. You are more likely to end up with that person going home and eating an entire pie or locking themselves away in their house for a few days with their own depression than you are of inspiring them. There is a difference between encouraging a fat person to lose weight and verbally abusing someone for being fat. You can argue with me about that all you want, you are full of it. Period. Save it for someone gullible. If someone fat shamed you by tearing you apart and it worked for you, great! But understand that it actually doesn't work for most people. 

​At the end of the day, both groups are wrong. Both groups are spawned out of each other. And both groups have agendas that they are desperately trying to hide. The body positivity people who thin shame and tell you to stay fat don't want to make lifestyle changes and put in the required work to lose the weight, so they put the effort into trying to force people to accept them as they are. The fat shaming people who tear people apart for being fat just want a free pass to be jerks. They can yell about how much they are helping until the cows come home, but they are doing more harm than good, and deep down they don't care because they enjoy destroying people. 

What Google did in their app was a good thing. And I hope they decide to bring it back. If you felt "fat shamed" by the Google Maps app, it wasn't Google, it was you. They weren't doing it to tear you apart. They were doing it as encouragement, and as stated above, there is a difference between encouragement and tearing someone apart. You don't have to use the app or pay attention to the bubble. It is for information purposes. And personally, I would have found that useful and interesting. Maybe you need to know how far you'd have to walk to burn off that double cheeseburger, fries, and milkshake you had for lunch. Maybe you'd reconsider next time you were ordering lunch. That's not a bad thing! That's the point behind putting the calorie counts on menus, putting the signs around town, Google putting a calorie burn count on their app... it's to encourage you to make better choices for yourself. Not to destroy you or tear you apart. Maybe it will encourage you to walk to the grocery store that is a mile away instead of driving. Maybe it will encourage you to order a salmon dinner instead of a greasy burger loaded with cheese and bacon. Maybe you'll reconsider the 32 oz cola drink if you realize you have to walk for several hours to burn it off. Maybe it won't. That's up to you. But if you got offended by the encouragement, your problems run deeper than that. 

Guys. This isn't something I would normally discuss here. But I think a point can be made with this article. 

For those who may not know what AB InBev is, it is Anheuser-Busch, the company that makes Budweiser, Bud Light, etc. 

AB InBev, if I have followed their story well enough, is actually owned by a group out of Belgium. It started out as a small American business and grew into "the king of beers." They have, in fact, bought a bunch of craft breweries in recent years, in an attempt to cash in on the craft beer craze. 

What this group wants to do is buy AB InBev to prevent the purchase of more craft breweries by large beer manufacturers. It will apparently take $213 billion to do that... which they want to crowd fund. 

I like craft beer, but I don't $213 billion like craft beer!

​Now, on the post I found this, it doesn't appear they have a whole lot of support for this idea, but I could be very wrong. What people post in the comments section isn't always how they act. 

What I did notice was lacking was a general understanding of how this works. AB InBev isn't stealing craft breweries. They are purchasing them... openly, fairly, and without twisting arms. These craft breweries are selling out to these manufacturers of their own free will. They are not being forced to sell out. 

I spent two years working for a beer distributor. I wasn't high up in the food chain, but I was friendly enough with enough people in upper management that I got some of the inside scoops. I even got friendly with some people in high places in one of the big manufacturers (one company, that's how distributors work). 

I won't name names, but several of the craft breweries we handled were chomping at the bit to get bought out. That was the ultimate goal. They weren't struggling, they were in no trouble, the owner just wanted the pay day that came along with selling his entire brand to a big beer manufacturer that has money coming out of their ears. Some of them had succeeded before I left that company, and some are still trying. But these breweries wooed these people all the time in an attempt to seduce them enough that they'd make an offer on their brewery. Now, yes, there are craft breweries out there - a lot of them - that do not want to sell out. Those aren't the ones getting bought out. The ones getting bought out are the ones where the owner wants to sell.

So AB InBev isn't wantonly buying up all your favorite craft breweries and putting Americans out of jobs because it's fun. They are buying because the craft breweries are selling. Period. 

And you can't get mad at the craft breweries, either. Well, you can. But why? Who goes into business without big dreams? And in many cases, those big dreams include big dollar signs, and there is nothing wrong with that. If the way these people can make their millions - or billions - is to sell their craft brewery to a big manufacturer willing to buy... then do it! Retire young and live the dream!

Bottom line: this happens every single day in business. It doesn't always make headlines, but big companies buy small companies every day. I'm sure not 100% of those were completely amicable, but the vast majority of small businesses that sell out to larger ones do so because they want to. 

And if this group manages to crowd fund enough to actually buy AB InBev, it's no guarantee they'll sell. Even if they do, what then? You just crowd funded a huge beer company with a butt load of employees, and that business spills out to a bigger reach than you can imagine (those distributors? They aren't owned by these beer companies, but they can't function without them, and the amount of say they have with those distributors means they basically own them). Their customer base is massive. If you can't keep up - which you mostly won't be able to - the company will go under. That means a ton of distributors across the country and elsewhere will also go under. And if the distributors go under... that craft beer you love so much? They'll all go under, too, because those distributors pick them up to sell along side the big manufacturers. If the distributors vanish, the craft beer doesn't get to restaurants and bars. They won't die immediately. Some of the distributors will hang on for a few months. But the vast majority of what is purchased is the big beer company, the craft stuff is an after thought to 90% of their customers. So if the distributor isn't selling a big beer brand, the customers don't have the time to order from them or deal with the bs that comes with dealing with it. The customers will stop coming. And unless the craft breweries can get out of those distributors and into one still handling a big name beer company, they won't last long, either. 

How about you think this out a little bit more there, Skippy? Crowd funding a big beer company isn't going to be all rainbows and unicorn farts. It could mean disaster for the craft breweries you seem to think you are saving. 

This is business. It is also capitalism. It's just how it works. As I said, the companies getting bought up are the ones that want to sell. And you can't blame them for that. Sure, it sucks to see your favorite craft beer get sold out to a big company and know that in a few short months it's going to be basically flavored water. But at the end of the day, those breweries are there to make money. And if what they want is a fat pay check and early retirement, I don't blame them for that at all! Get a ridiculous amount for your brewery and live your days out on a beach somewhere! That's excellent!

The dream of this group is out of hand. If they can do it, again, more power to them. Get a piece of that pie and make your own billions. But know what you are getting into and what the outcome could be, good and bad. 

​And realize, before blowing a gasket, that your favorite small business of any kind could one day sell out to a bigger brand. It might not be what is best for you, but it is for the owner if that is what the owner wants. That's business. That's just how it works. 

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Back on inauguration day, I wrote an open letter to Trump and the American people. One of the things I said was that I would call him out when he was doing something wrong. And I have. But this one I need to speak on specifically, because this is beyond wrong if he ever acts on it. You don't get a pass just because I voted for you. 

Look. I am no fan of the mainstream media. Not by any stretch of the imagination. But I am a fan of the Constitution, so let's talk. 

The first group of tweets there are fine. I don't mind him ranting about the media, because in all honesty, they have been overly harsh towards him, and on several occasions they have reported information that was unsubstantiated or downright false. So I understand his ire towards them. The American people, for the most part, are starting to see that the media is, at the very least, very selective about what they report. Most of the good stuff he has done goes unreported. Bits of stories are left out because it doesn't fit their narrative. And they aren't even trying to hide that bias anymore. At one point they at least tried. That's long gone. That became obvious with the polling data about the last election.

However. I do not support a president calling for licensing to be revoked for any media outlet. I don't care who it is or what his reasoning for it is. I don't care if they are only reporting the bad things and none of the good things. I don't care that every so often the stories are misleading, baited, biased, or false even. The press has a right to exist, and the president does not have a right to tell them what to write about nor does he have a right to threaten them because he doesn't like what they write about. 

I do support the president writing his own op-eds from time to time to correct whatever he believes is wrong. He is followed by a lot of people on Twitter, correct the information there. Have a staffer who writes op-eds and sets the records straight. Have press conferences. Whatever you feel you need to do that does not infringe on the media functioning. 

Now, I know what a lot of folks are going to say about the media, and I already pointed all of those things out above. It doesn't matter. The media is protected under our Constitution. They are going to report what gets ratings, we know that. We understand that. Advertising leads all. It doesn't leave the White House hog tied. Trump and his staff have options. 

Leave the media to us. We'll take care of them. If the news is so slanted, change the channel. Bottom line is... if you really give a crap about what is going on, you won't get your news from one source. I don't want 100% of my news coming from Breitbart, but I don't want 100% of my news coming from CNN, either. Write in. Call in. Write your own op-eds. Get loud. Stop staying silent! 

There are an awful lot of media outlets out there that I don't like, both mainstream and small outlets. But I will never, ever push to have them shut down, unlicensed, or silenced. That isn't how the country works. 

And remember, everything done now will come back to you. If Trump starts revoking licenses for news agencies he doesn't like, you can count on the next democrat president pulling the licenses from the ones you do like. 

The first amendment has a lot going on. It isn't just about your right to say whatever you want. It isn't just about Milo Yiannopoulos and Ben Shapiro being allowed to give speeches. It grants you your freedom of religion, to protest, to petition the government, and it is freedom of the press. You don't have to like what they are saying or doing. You also don't have to watch or support their advertisers. You can contact their advertisers. You can take part in the media yourself. You're on the Internet, for God's sake! Anyone can be the press here! Take advantage of that! No, it won't be easy. But it is possible. 

​So no, I'm not happy about our president talking about revoking licenses for the press. I don't like him barring people from press conferences. I don't like only being force fed a liberal agenda, but I don't want it replaced with government sponsored conservatism, either. Use the press against itself, don't shut it down. 

You can read the full statement here.

According to the statement, there are basically two reasons they are doing this. To bring the values of scouting to both boys and girls, and because parents can't be bothered to drop their kids off at different groups.

On the first note, what was the Girl Scouts doing, then? Teaching the girls how to knit? I was a girl scout. My mom was a girl scout. We did the same crap as the Boy Scouts. We sold cookies. We earned badges. We learned survival skills. We went camping. We had educational meetings and trips. We did community work. It was just a cluster of girls instead of boys, and we wore a different uniform. Big whoop. 

So what, exactly, is the big deal with getting your girl into the Boy Scouts? 

On the second note... I'm going to try to stay family friendly here and not say what came into my head. Or the several comments that came into my head. The bottom line here is this: if you have multiple kids, odds are, they aren't going to want to take part in the same activities. You should have probably gotten a firm grip on that reality before popping out multiple little ones. You might get lucky like one of neighbors. She's got four kids, and they are all in swimming. She did move them to a different swim team because the original team wanted the older kids in one location and the younger kids about 45 minutes away from them, and practice was at the same time. But she got lucky. However, her one son also plays basketball. Two of them take piano lessons. This is a reality. When you have multiple kids, you are going to have multiple activities. You find a way to work it out or you start trimming down activities. Single parent? Married but your spouse really doesn't or can't help? Same outcome. If you didn't realize the kids would have different interests because they are different individuals with their own personalities, that's on you. And when you start getting into a herd of children, you have to come to the reality that not all the kids are going to get to do all the activities they want to do. That's just how it is.

From my own perspective, I liked being in the Girl Scouts. I liked having a girls only activity to enjoy and learn in. I got a feel for how life was that way. Being a tomboy at that age, I learned that it was OK to be a tomboy. But when the time came to learn some various things, it was far more comfortable to be among girls with female leaders than it would be in a group of mixed gender. 

I know not everyone likes the idea of splitting genders for activities, but I do. I hated the fact that my high school was all girls back when I was a teenager, but as I got older, I am grateful that it was. My high school experience was different from a lot of people I talk to, and for that I am also grateful. Yes, I still knew how to interact with the opposite sex, but our schools days were not filled up with girls swooning, endless gossip about who was dating who, etc. And I was more comfortable at school because I didn't feel like I had to impress anyone. And it was the same in scouts.

Like it or not, there are biological differences between girls and boys. If you put a girl like me in the boy scouts, there would be a terrible problem. I am and always have been very competitive. I don't like to be outdone by anyone. And I do understand that there are just some things a man is going to outdo me on. That does not, however, stop it from frustrating the crap out of me. I have always been the type who would downright hurt myself to outdo everyone else. Separating me from the boys, at that age, probably saved me a great deal of bodily damage. And we know this because I did play on a unisex indoor soccer team as a kid for one season. Soccer was always my sport. I got so horribly hurt that season from slide tackling boys and playing that game like a downright beast. The only reason I didn't cripple myself was because one of my teammates - a boy - was one of my best friends from school and he regularly played interference. 

But a lot of folks these days don't want to admit this. They don't want to admit that, yes, there are some things a boy is going to outdo a girl on. And yes, there are girls who will hurt themselves to prove they can do anything a boy can do and possibly better, because mommy told them so. I'm not saying to coddle your girls and treat them like they are made of glass. I'm not made of glass. Anyone who knows anything about me knows I'm a little more rugged than your average girl, something that carried over from my youth. I do compete with the men, I do work jobs that are seen as "men's work," and I do it well. I've never been worried about getting dirty or getting hurt. And I do think we need to encourage our girls in this nation to at least try. But we also need to let our girls know that you aren't going to win every time, and that's OK. Sometimes a man is going to best you at something, and that's OK! 

​We also need to teach our girls and our boys that it is OK to do things separate from each other, It's perfectly fine to be in boys only groups or girls only groups. It's OK to be more comfortable in certain situations separated from the opposite gender. Let's face it, there are certain things kids are going to learn or do that they are more comfortable not being with the opposite gender for. I don't see any of this as forcing kids into gender rolls. I see it as allowing your child to be safe, comfortable, and able to form themselves. It's the same idea I have about kids playing with toys designed for the opposite gender. I don't care if little boys play with dolls or little girls play with trucks. But I do care if you force a little girl to play with trucks when she wants to play with dolls or you force a little boy to play with dolls when he wants to play with trucks. 

Your girls and your boys are not the same. All your kids are not going to have the same interests. And it's OK for boys and girls to do some things separately. Let your kids be kids. They aren't a social experiment, they are human beings. 

It appears all eyes are on the bump fire stocks found on several of the Las Vegas shooter's rifles. And today has been bad news for the companies who make them. 

​The NRA has made a statement about them:

Slide Fire, the maker of bump stocks, has suspended new orders on the stocks. 

And a Republican-led bill to ban the bump stocks is expected shortly. 

First point, and I won't dwell on it. Bump firing does not require a stock. If you don't know how to do it, you won't learn here. But bump stocks are for people with too much money.

Now. As I have stated before, I spent seven years working for two different gun stores. In the second store I worked in, we saw the release of the Slide Fire stocks. My boss was instantly in love with them, and put one on his personal AR-15. We all got to try the thing out. It was fun. I saw it as one of those things that was fun to try out if a shooting buddy had one, but it was a waste of ammo to own. Plus, it was horrendously ugly. I know, guns aren't about looks. But some things you can't just look past, and that was a deal breaker for me. My AR-15 wasn't getting one. 

​This video is a few years old now, but most folks seem to be taking down their videos about them, understandably. If for no other reason than they don't want to deal with the hate being spewed. But here's how the Slide Fire works:

Anyway, he kept his personal rifle around to show customers how it worked. We had a butt ton of these things for sale in the store and online. 

We couldn't give them away. I'm not kidding here. Yes, we sold a few. But not tons. We began selling them online at cost just to move them along. And eventually we stopped reordering them. I thought about this when our local news did a report where they admitted to trying to find them in gun stores and couldn't. To be fair, before the other night, I didn't even remember the things. I forgot all about them. No one ever talks about them, I don't know anyone who owns one, and now that I don't work in a gun store, I don't have to try to convince people they were worth the price to own one. 

Yeah, that wasn't easy. At the time, they were about $120. Which isn't a lot of money, but when you think of the amount of ammo you are going to blow down range, plus the fact that the stock isn't required to bump fire, and how god awful ugly the thing was, it wasn't an easy sale. And I didn't lie to my customers. When they inevitably asked me if I had one on my personal AR-15, I honestly responded no. 

Now, the big question. Do I support banning the Slide Fire stock?

No. 

Now, considering the fact that I got graphically detailed death threats on a YouTube video because I came out against more gun control, I know what's coming. And I don't care. I do not support punishing the people who didn't commit the crime. I do not support the government telling me what I can and cannot own. The Slide Fire stock was used to commit a heinous act of murder and violence by a man with an evil heart. The rest of the people out there who own Slide Fires didn't do it. The gun owners in our country didn't do it. But when it comes to guns, the "if one than all" mentality is not only accepted but encouraged. We're the last group of people that applies to these days, especially with the added label of "white men," because as you all know, only white men own guns. And as a former gun store sales person, I can tell you that is a complete load. 

The thing is, Hollywood celebrities, late night hosts, and politicians grasping at the last straws of some semblance of power are poking themselves in the eyes to bring on the water works and tell us all how much they care about human life. How much they want to protect us from ourselves. So they have to "do something." All the standard gun control pushes are, of course, being pushed. Mental health. Universal background checks. Assault weapon bans. But the screaming obviousness of their failure to prevent Las Vegas is slowing that down (the shooter has no history of mental health issues, no criminal record, and his guns were all bought with background checks). Somehow, "silencers" were brought into the fray, because it was supposed to be looked at for loosening up regulations on taxing them. But even Politifact is calling BS on how much deadlier the shooting would have been with suppressors being used. For those who don't know, firing a gun in full auto will actually melt a suppressor. 

Heck, if you go full auto long enough, you'll melt the damn barrel. Which can, of course, account for the armory this shooter had in his hotel room. 

In the end, this is being done to give the appearance of "doing something." It is assumed it causes little harm, almost no one will notice, and the gun grabbers will be somewhat sated for a few days. 

But I still stand on the side of stop banning stuff. 

Gun control is a never ending battle. It actually will never end. It's been going on since the country was founded and will continue long after all of us are gone. Even if they manage to ban all the guns on Earth, they will move on to something else next, most likely knives. It's what they are doing in Great Britain. And with the endless amount of gun laws on the books, many of which aren't enforced and many of which are either on the books multiple times or are being pushed to be put on the books again (like the gun show loophole... you actually can't just buy a gun without a background check at a gun show; private sales don't require a gun show), as well as my knowledge that it will never end, no, I'm not willing to give an inch. Not anymore. We've given enough. 

Look, let's face it. These things play out the same way every time. Shooting happens. The gun grabbers start slinging words before the shooting is even over. Memes start flying like they're going to save us all. And everyone on both sides start yelling the same talking points back and forth. We all know the arguments and the come backs to them from both sides. So I'm not going to go into all of those and why gun control won't work and hasn't in the past. 

What I will say is this. If Trump is taking a page from Hillary, he needs to reconsider. She lost for a reason. And considering one of her major platforms was strong gun control, he really needs to look into that and think hard. 

The guns are already here. They exist. Bans won't change that. The border is not secure, and you can bet your ass the cartels and everyone else are cheering for American gun control because their black market over the border is going to surge. Gun grabbers who argue that Chicago is how it is because the rest of the country didn't fall into lockstep should recognize that. Yeah, the guns in Chicago may be coming from out of state. A gun ban in the USA will cause guns to come up from Mexico and other countries willing to use their border. And guess what? You can't trace those! 

I don't want anyone to be surprised if there is a shift here. The 2nd Amendment is a deal breaker for me. I have a few deal breaker issues and I abandoned my political party over one of them. 

Yes, I am going to give Trump the benefit of the doubt and hear him out, hoping he doesn't go Hillary on us. But Trump desperately wants to be Reagan. Reagan openly and enthusiastically supported the Brady Bill.

If Trump starts talking gun or magazine bans, his chances at re-election in 2020 are not good. And if people do vote for him at that point, shame on them. He should get primaried out, that would be the best way, because if he isn't, there will be a crazy dem in the White House in 2020. And it could spread further than that. So far there's no repeal of Obamacare, no wall, and possible gun control. Gee, it's like we elected Hillary. 

As I said, I'll hear him out since there was no specifics mentioned. But it isn't looking good. Gun control will cut my support for Trump. Just be aware, there will be a shift. I won't be able to support him anymore, and will treat him the way I treated Obama. And I will not vote for him in 2020. Period. If you can't handle that, I understand. But I must support my beliefs and my Constitution before any man or woman. I am not above writing my dog in for political office. I wrote her in for governor of my state in the last election.