Just a thought about the rioting in Charlotte, North Carolina. We have moved a long ways from people who cared about whether shootings of black men by police (often black cops) are justified or not. There is a growing group that merely waits for something to happen, so they can burn and loot (steal). They wait not for any findings of the facts, they move to destroy and steal as quickly as possible. We have a President who once again fails to lead when it comes to crime and criminals. Recent speeches indicate that he only considers ISIS and the terror and death they inspire, to be a mild inconvenience. Cities burning, ISIS killing. I guess it’s easy to be cava leer when you live surrounded by protection and will for the rest of your life. Not the case for the rest of us.

When politicians become buffoons!!

It seems “the pres” and Hillary Clinton think that cops should shoot for the legs first when confronted with potential violence and death by suspects..

It seems to me that criminals shoot with their hands not their legs. They hold the guns in their hands!!!! Maybe their next suggestion is that cops learn from a 1955 episode of the Lone Ranger TV show, and shoot the guns out of the hands of potential threats. These aren’t episodes from TV. They’re real life and death decisions that have to be made in a split second. They don’t create the circumstances that they deal with. You and I, black, white or any color, are safer for the service they perform. If you are stopped by a cop, just do what they say. They all have protocols they have to follow. Start by not committing crimes, but if that is too hard, just listen, and follow directions. Millions of people of all races do that everyday, and get home safely.

I would suggest to Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton, that maybe they could disguise themselves as cops, and grab a patrol car in Chicago, or Baltimore, or Milwaukee for a few nights. Of course it’s hard to “shoot for the legs” when you’re running in the opposite direction.

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This next paragraph is somewhat redundant.

The question seems to be in America (from a select few) , what do I do if I am black and stopped by the police? You can do what thousands of people of all colors, including black, do everyday when stopped by the police. Keep your mouth shut until you are asked something, and follow the instructions given by the police. Do what they say.  I have been stopped by the police and I did just that, and nobody shot me. I personally know black Americans who have been stopped by the police and did what I listed above, and they were not shot. They were not tased, they were not sprayed with pepper spray. Life gets complicated when you make it so.

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Well I see there is a petition signed by thousands for the hamburger chain In an Out Burger, demanding that they begin serving veggie burgers. Now I have nothing against veggie burgers. I used to eat them myself. This is just a suggestion to the signers of that petition. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE! MAKE YOUR OWN VEGGIE BURGERS! DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE WITH YOUR LIVES! It’s In an Out Burger’s own business of what they sell, and your’s is where you go and spend your money. Momma and Daddy spoiled you, but you are grown up now, the rest of the world isn’t your Momma and Daddy.

I am forever grateful that my parents lived in another time and were spared all of this.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House is set to vote on a bill to prohibit the United States from making cash payments to Iran and require that Congress be notified before any future claims settlements with Tehran are conducted. The vote on the bill is scheduled for Thursday.

The legislation is backed by Republicans aiming to rebuke the Obama administration for paying Iran $1.7 billion in cash earlier this year to settle a decades-old arbitration claim over a military contract.

Democrats have accused Republicans of trying to score political points with the bill.

GOP lawmakers decried the payments as ransom, a charge the White House has rejected. Citing Iran’s status as a leading state sponsor of terrorism, they’ve also contended the untraceable cash will be used to finance terrorism around the world.

As I see it. We (the U.S.) have been paying large sums of money, to the world’s leading promoter of terrorism. This was not a “sudden” attack of conscience that led our current President to begin funneling money to Iran. He clearly cares not about paying our own domestic bills. I would imaging that Iran, can/will produce a lot of terrorism with $1.7 billion dollars in cash! Of course (sarcasm), nations always do their trading with one another in cash. Right!!!!

Don’t you feel safe with him at the helm? Hillary Clinton of course had intimate dealings with Iran before the ransom, oops excuse me, cash payout was given.

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Once again our cyber oriented world displays its risks.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo said hackers stole personal information from 500 million of its user accounts, a massive security breakdown it attributed to a “state sponsored actor.” The breach disclosed Thursday, the latest setback for the beleaguered internet company, dates back to late 2014.

That’s when high-tech thieves hacked into Yahoo’s data centers, the company said. But Yahoo only recently discovered the break-in as part of an ongoing internal investigation.

The stolen data includes users’ names, email addresses, telephone numbers, birth dates, hashed passwords, and the security questions — and answers — used to verify an accountholder’s identity.

Last month, the tech site Motherboard reported that a hacker who uses the name “Peace” boasted that he had account information belonging to 200 million Yahoo users and was trying to sell the data on the web.

Yahoo recommends that users change their passwords if they haven’t done so since 2014. The Sunnyvale, California, company said its investigation so far hasn’t found any evidence that information about users’ bank accounts or credit and debit cards were swiped in the hacking attack. It said it has “no evidence” that the attacker is still in Yahoo’s network.

News of the security lapse could cause some people to have second thoughts about relying on Yahoo’s services, raising a prickly issue for the company as it tries to sell its digital operations to Verizon Communications for $4.8 billion.

That deal, announced two months ago, isn’t supposed to close until early next year. That leaves Verizon with wiggle room to renegotiate the purchase price or even back out if it believes the security breach will harm Yahoo’s business. That could happen if users shun Yahoo or file lawsuits because they’re incensed by the theft of their personal information.

Verizon said it still doesn’t know enough about the Yahoo break-in to assess the potential consequences. “We will evaluate as the investigation continues through the lens of overall Verizon interests, including consumers, customers, shareholders and related communities,” the company said in a statement.

Yahoo is of course a high-tech, 21^st Century, savvy company. The question I always ask is, how do companies like Yahoo, Google, Facebook and so on, protect us from their own employees? They have knowledge of how those companies work, from a technical and a business standpoint. It cannot be that difficult for an unscrupulous employee, especially if they are angry at the company, to download credit card numbers, email addresses, cell phone numbers and more. The theft of 200 (maybe 400) million identities, almost guarantees that you, I, or someone we know will be affected.

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Several years ago when I initiated this blog, my purpose was (still is) to share photography, both mine and that of others, and write about what I shared. I also wanted this to be personal. Not just the offering of opinions, but my personal (not too personal) life’s experiences. In addition to that, I would comment on the world around me. Those comments would include political and social issues. My feelings were that I would share both negative news on those issues, and inspirational. Whatever was out there. I have to admit, that it is much easier to find negatives than it is to find inspiration. In fact, if you watch TV news, and click on the stories that appear on social media and search engines, it is pretty close to being all negative. Pretty close to being the view of only the political left as well. I do try to confirm the stories I share. The more places I see it, the happier I am, and if I can find it on conservative (news not opinion) sites as well as the liberal mainstream media, that helps. Or if I find it on conservative news sites, few as they are, and can confirm on the liberal mainstream media, I run with it.

There is a lesson in everything, and the lesson is that most of us manage to survive regardless of what the world around us does. We still laugh, we still appreciate friends and family, we still crave entertainment and art, and we still love. So much hate, yet we still love. Our bodies can be killed but the human spirit will survive with God’s help.

Have a great day,                                                                                                                           Wayne